Trump Administration Captures Nearly 1 Million Migrants in FY 2019, Up 88 Percent From Year Before

Office of Field Operations Special Response Team Members from the Los Angels and San Diego Field Offices work together with Agents from the San Diego Branch of Air and Marine Operations to train and qualify in Helicopter Rope Suspension Techniques. Photos by Mani Albrecht U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Public Affairs Visual Communications Division

Customs and Border Protection commissioner Mark Morgan said to reporters at the White House earlier today that nearly one million migrants were apprehended at the border during Fiscal Year 2019.

This number is 88 percent higher than the apprehensions that were conducted over the previous fiscal year. This comes despite a September that has marked the lowest total for apprehensions in the past year with 52,000 migrants being arrested.

“This is an unprecedented achievement,” Morgan said, noting that President Trump’s deal with Mexico has resulted in that country taking more responsibility in keeping the migrants from reaching the U.S. southern border.

The Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) have required asylum seekers to wait on the side of the Mexican border while handling their proceedings in the U.S. courts. This has stopped tens of thousands of migrants, who are known to miss court appearances once in the U.S., from flooding into the country.

“The majority of them know they’re economic migrants and they’re not going to qualify for asylum,” Morgan said. “Now that the message is getting out, that we are, through this administration’s efforts, we’re closing those loopholes.”

“Mexico’s continued support of MPP and enhanced border security efforts along their southern border, in the interior and along the U.S.-Mexico border is something really for the history books,” he added.

The total number of migrants apprehended during the fiscal year ending last week was 977,000. Morgan pointed to the numbers to show the legitimacy of the national emergency the border crisis has caused.

“These are numbers [that] no immigration system in the world is designed to handle,” Morgan said during the briefing.

The administration is also getting ready to implement a regulation that would declare the majority of migrants who travel to a third country before arriving in the U.S. to be ineligible for asylum. A recent Supreme Court ruling affirmed the constitutionality of this policy, and they are expected to put it into effect shortly.

President Trump also points to the wall being built on the U.S. southern border as a testament to the progress his administration has made in curbing illegal immigration:

President Donald Trump has been given the green light by the Supreme Court to use military funding to build the United States-Mexico border wall along the southern border.

In what President Trump describes as a “win” for both border security and the rule of law in the United States, the Supreme Court has sided against a lower court and with the administration in their decision to allow military funding to be used to build the famous border wall…

Still, four of the court’s liberal judges dissented against the majority’s decision, showing the importance of President Trump’s election. Without Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch, it is likely the border wall funding would remain locked behind congressional approval…

President Trump is celebrating the victory on Twitter, writing that “The United States Supreme Court overturns lower court injunction, allows Southern Border Wall to proceed.” The president added, “Big WIN for Border Security and the Rule of Law!”

With the border wall going up and the flow of third-world migrants being choked off, Trump is giving his supporters much to be excited about heading into next year’s crucial re-election campaign.

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