Deportations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement surged above 100,000 since President Trump returned to the White House in January — as he maintains his promise to boot illegal migrants, alleged gangbangers and suspected terrorists from the United States, The Post has learned.
ICE officials have made 113,000 arrests and carried out “north of” 100,000 deportations since Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration, a Department of Homeland Security source told The Post Monday.
“He’s doing what he was voted in to do. Point blank!” an ICE source said.
It wasn’t immediately clear how many detainees are convicted criminals, the status of their cases and their national origins — though sources believe the majority are being removed to Mexico.
Trump campaigned heavily on cracking down on illegal immigration, and on Day One, declared an emergency at the border, sent thousands of additional troops to the region, shut down the asylum system to illegal crossers and launched a mass deportation effort across the country.
ICE has since “maxed out” its detention space and is asking Congress to fund additional beds to support the Trump administration’s deportation campaign that yielded 32,000 arrests in its first 50 days.
Trump has also taken aggressive measures to quell transnational criminal organizations, such as invoking the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan gang members to a notorious El Salvadorian “hellhole” mega prison without a trial.
Seventeen alleged Tren de Aragua and MS-13 gangbangers were handed over to El Salvador in shackles Sunday night — despite the usage of that rarely used wartime act being blocked by a federal judge earlier this month.
Illegal crossings at the US-Mexico border have also fallen to levels not seen in decades — hitting a stunning new low in March — with DHS sources calling it “the Trump effect.”
“Illegal entries into the United States are no longer a backdoor way to getting status,” a source said.
Border agents barely saw 7,000 migrants enter illegally in March.
That’s down 94% from the 137,000 people who poured across the border in March last year under former President Joe Biden. It follows February crossings of roughly 8,300 illegal migrants, the lowest in at least 25 years.
Migrants are “scared there are consequences now,” said one DHS source, adding “everyone who is caught is charged and does time.”
Most of the illegal crossings took place in the San Diego and El Paso border sectors, sources said.
If the border crossings continue to stay at these levels, the US could see the number of illegal migrants hit a low not seen since 1968.
Read the full article here