Trump administration claims drop in border arrests is proof of crackdown on illegal immigration

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration claimed victory on Tuesday in its crackdown on illegal immigration during its first several months, announcing that the number of arrests at the border dropped to the lowest in nearly a half-century as proof that its deterrence efforts have been effective.

Border Patrol agents arrested 310,531 people trying to enter the country illegally during the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, a 25 percent decrease from the previous fiscal year. About one-third were from Mexico, according to the Border Patrol. Most of the rest were from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

Inside the United States, officials at Immigration and Customs Enforcement also arrested 143,470 people, a 25 percent increase over the previous fiscal year, officials at the Department of Homeland Security said. The increase comes after the Trump administration reversed an Obama-era policy that only targeted those with criminal records.

"We have clearly seen the successful results of the president's commitment to supporting the front-line officers and agents of DHS as they enforce the law and secure our borders," said Elaine C. Duke, the acting Homeland Security secretary.

The drop in border apprehensions and increase in interior arrests represent Trump's campaign pledge to more aggressively enforce the nation's immigration laws by unleashing the full force of the Department of Homeland Security to find, arrest and deport those in the country illegally, regardless of whether they have committed serious crimes.

Many agents at Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement felt that they were constrained by Obama administration rules that allowed them to go after only dangerous criminals. Unions representing workers from both agencies endorsed Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign.

The department now has stepped up efforts to publicize crimes by immigrants, enlist local police officers for the effort, erect new detention facilities, discourage asylum-seekers and, ultimately, speed up deportations.

The release of the year-end border enforcement and immigrant arrest data came a day after the Supreme Court ruled that Trump's ban on travel to the United State by most citizens of Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Chad and North Korea, along with some groups of people from Venezuela, can go into effect while efforts to block it proceed in the courts. The ban had been blocked by lower courts.

Although Homeland Security officials touted the overall drop in arrests, they did note that, since May, arrests had ticked up, mainly because of families and unaccompanied children from Central America trying to escape violence and instability caused by fighting between drug cartels, a yearslong trend.

Customs officers at airports, land crossings and seaports also denied entry to 216,370 people, a nearly 25 percent decline from 2016. Customs officers stationed abroad stopped more than 15,000 people from boarding flights to the United States, officials said.

Under Trump administration policy, unauthorized immigrants are eligible for arrest and deportation unless they are protected under a program such as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, an Obama administration policy that allows some individuals who entered the country as minors to live and work in the country without fear of deportation.

Trump ended the program in September and called on Congress to pass a replacement before he begins phasing out its protections in six months.

Local officials and immigration advocates say the Trump administration's policies have put immigrant communities on edge, with people afraid to go to school, report domestic violence, attend church or even seek medical attention.

Congress has so far declined to provide funding for many of Trump's immigration policies, including an increase in the number of border agents and deportation officers and money to pay for a border wall.

"We have an obligation to uphold the integrity of our immigration system, but we must do more to step up and close loopholes to protect the American worker, our economy, and our communities," Duke said.