NEARLY three million “illegal aliens” have left the United States of America during President Donald Trump’s second term as a result of stepped-up enforcement, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem told lawmakers on March 3.
That total includes “2.2 million that have returned to their native countries” and “more than 675,000 detainments and deportations”. “Daily encounters along the southwest border declined by 96 per cent compared to the Biden administration’s daily average,” Noem testified, adding that the US has reached “the lowest levels ever recorded in US Customs and Border Protection’s history”.
For “ten straight months”, she said, “the Border Patrol has released zero illegal aliens into the interior of the United States.” ICE has arrested “over 1,500 known and suspected terrorists” and “more than 7,700 known gang members,” she said.
“A majority of the aliens that were arrested have a criminal record.” Fentanyl trafficking at the southern border “has been cut by more than 56 per cent” compared to the same period in 2024. Democrats say that headline numbers obscure due process concerns and the human toll of enforcement.
