Border Patrol Union Praises Trump’s ‘Miraculous’ Effect on Border Crossings

Mounted Border Patrol agents on horseback along the U.S.-Mexico border in Otay Mesa, California, on April 21, 2017. Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images

This year, the southern border is looking to be the quietest it’s been since at least the early 1970s. And it’s all thanks to President Donald Trump’s tough talk on illegal immigration, said the Border Patrol union leader.

“What President Trump has done in such a short time as it pertains to border security is nothing less than miraculous,” Brandon Judd, President National Border Patrol Council, told CNSNews.

“No other president has been able to cut the number of illegal border crossings as President Trump has, and it’s been strictly due to his rhetoric.”

The number of apprehensions fell precipitously at the beginning of this year, after President Donald Trump took office with a promise of boosting immigration law enforcement and border protection.

During March, April, and May—usually the most active months for border crossers—agents apprehended 37,858 people, compared with 111,742 during the same period last year.

U.S. Border Patrol agents and Texas state troopers seiize bundles of marijuana during a drug bust on a BMW on March 15, 2017 in McAllen, Texas. John Moore/Getty Images

Since May, the numbers began to pick up again, but still remain the lowest in decades.

Judd said the union seeks a meeting with Trump to explain what the Border Patrol needs to effectively block people and contraband from crossing.

A Border Patrol Agent pats down a man who crossed the Rio Grande River from Mexico into the United States in Hidalgo County, Texas, on May 26, 2017. Benjamin Chasteen/The Epoch Times

“Securing the border will require two things: an investment in infrastructure and cultural change among management to create an environment where the U.S. Border Patrol is recruiting and retaining the best of the best,” Judd said.

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The infrastructure he mentioned includes the border wall Trump promised during his campaign.

A border patrol agent drives along the US- Mexico border crossing on January 26, 2017 in San Ysidro, California. David McNew/AFP/Getty Images

The House has approved $1.6 billion for the wall, but it hasn’t been confirmed by the Senate.

Judd highlighted the importance of the wall in several key areas, like Rio Grande Valley and Laredo and on the Tohono O'odham Reservation in the Tucson sector.

“It is also critical that any wall must include a secondary fence like what you find in San Diego and El Paso,” he said. “The secondary fence has been a game changer. Very few people that are trying to evade apprehension try to cross the border where a primary and secondary fence exist.”

Border Patrol has about 21,000 agents and a budget of over $3.6 billion. Trump proposed additional $374 million and 5,000 more agents in his budget.