President Trump noticed last spring that Mexico was not helping stop illegal immigrants from Central America who were flowing across Mexico to our southern border.
So he got tough, threatening sanctions. Everyone was aghast! But Mexico suddenly started cooperating.
According to the Washington Examiner:
The number of people arrested for illegally crossing the southern border from Mexico dropped in October for a fifth consecutive month, down 73% after hitting 132,000 arrests in May.
More than 35,000 people were apprehended by Border Patrol agents for illegally entering Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California between official crossing points last month, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said Thursday.
The number of arrests in October was down from around 40,000 in September, 50,000 in August, 71,000 in July, and 94,000 in June. CBP uses the number of arrests as an indicator of how many people tried to illegally enter the country, since it is not able to stop every person who tries.
The number of arrests has dropped significantly since Mexico deployed more federal police and military to the U.S. and Guatemalan borders to deter illegal immigration.
In late May, President Trump — frustrated by the lack of legislative action in the U.S. to address the crisis — followed through on a threat to impose tariffs on Mexican imports if the country did not take action to deter people passing through Mexico from Central America on the way to the U.S. southern border.
The Mexican government deployed its National Guard to the U.S. border to prevent people from crossing in well-traveled spots. It also sent the Guard and federal police to its southern border with Guatemala to prevent people from entering into Mexico. Other federal law enforcement and military set up checkpoints along highways in Central Mexico to stop buses of people traveling north. Those without legal documents are arrested and deported.