The crackdown on undocumented immigrants is succeeding as planned, according to senior officials in advance of President Donald Trump’s visit to Yuma, Arizona on Tuesday. The arrests of suspected undocumented immigrants have increased by as much as 43 percent during the first seven months of 2017, compared to the same period in 2016, officials from the Department of Homeland Security have revealed.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency of the DHS says that 91,000 arrests were made in the first half of this year. The increased enforcement under the Trump administration, including an extension of the Yuma border fence from five to 60 miles, has seen a fall of as much as 83 percent in the number of undocumented immigrants crossing the Yuma border since 2007. This was according to a senior official with the Department of Homeland Security, who wished to remain anonymous.
The official also said that, in 2005 and 2006, there were as many as 800 undocumented immigrants crossing the border and illegally entering the US per day. In the first half of 2017, there were 126,472 apprehensions made, a rise of 46 percent from the same period last year.
Another senior official with the Department of Homeland Security said sanctuary city policies and a lack of available resources means there are still another 500,000 criminal immigrants and undocumented fugitives that Immigration and Customs Enforcement are unable to reach. The President has often used arrest statistics as proof that his immigration strategy is a success.