Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Visits Americans on the Frontlines Protecting Our Borders

“We are protecting the freedoms of law-abiding Americans, and we are going after the criminal gangs and cartels that prey on our innocent citizens.” – President Donald J. Trump

VISITING LAW ENFORCEMENT DEFENDING OUR BORDERS: Today, President Donald J. Trump is seeing first-hand the people and tools restoring law and order to our southern border.

• President Trump is visiting Yuma, Arizona, the main base of operations for the U.S. Border Patrol’s (USBP) Yuma Sector to evaluate results, initiatives, and morale as he seeks to increase support for the USBP.
• President Trump will meet U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel and the state-of-the-art equipment used to secure our border. Equipment being viewed includes:
  • MQ-9 Predator B unmanned aircraft 
  • UH-60 Black Hawk Helicopter
  • Super King Air 350ER aircraft
• He will also receive a briefing on Department of Homeland Security (DHS) efforts on the southern border to prevent illegal entry into the country. 

BUILDING A WALL TO SECURE THE BORDER: President Trump is following through on his promise to the American people to build a wall to secure the southern border and the Yuma Sector is a clear example of how effective the wall can be.

• Illegal border crossings in the Yuma Sector have declined by 70 percent from 2006, when the Yuma Sector built more than 50 miles of border wall.
• President Trump has acted to build a wall to finally secure the southern border and prevent illegal immigration from spilling into the country. 
  • To jumpstart construction on the border wall, President Trump ordered DHS to use $20 million of unspent appropriations in its account for border security, fencing, and infrastructure.
  •  DHS has authorized a waiver to expedite a 15-mile stretch of wall near San Diego.
• President Trump has worked with Congress to pass border wall funding and the House of Representatives passed $1.6 billion to fund 28 miles of new border wall and 46 miles of new and secondary fencing.

RESTORING LAW AND ORDER: President Trump has made immigration enforcement one of the top priorities of his Administration, devoting resources and putting in place new mandates requiring enforcement of immigration laws.

• One of President Trump’s first Executive Orders informed sanctuary cities that failure to fully abide by Federal immigration laws would jeopardize access to certain Federal grant money.
  • As a result, Miami-Dade County reversed its years-long sanctuary policies.
    • Earlier this month, the Department of Justice (DOJ) determined Miami-Dade County to be “in compliance” with immigration laws.
  • Last month, DOJ laid out new guidelines requiring jurisdictions to cooperate with Federal immigration authorities in order to receive Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grants, a leading source of Federal law enforcement funding.
• The DOJ issued new charging guidelines in April to end catch-and-release policies by prioritizing criminal immigration enforcement to prevent and deter illegal immigration.
• The President ordered the hiring of 10,000 new U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and 5,000 additional Border Patrol agents. 
  • 54 additional immigration judges have been hired since President Trump took office to speed up the removal of illegal aliens from the United States, and new immigration judges are hired every month.
• President Trump ordered the creation of the Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement (VOICE) office at DHS, ensuring victims of criminal acts by illegal aliens are no longer ignored by the Federal Government.

RESULTS FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE: In less than a year, President Trump has made substantial progress reducing illegal immigration along the southern border and targeting the most dangerous criminal illegal aliens in the country.

• President Trump instituted tough immigration policies that have reduced illegal border crossings over the southwest border by 47 percent compared to the same period last year. 
• Illegal aliens removed due to ICE arrests have increased by over 32 percent, to 48,580 illegal aliens, compared to the same time last year. 
  • 71 percent of the more than 91,000 administrative arrests conducted by ICE since President Trump’s inauguration have involved convicted criminal aliens. 
    • Of the illegal aliens arrested without criminal convictions, 74 percent were charged with a crime, were immigration fugitives, or were repeat violators.
• So far in fiscal year 2017, ICE has removed over 2,700 criminal gang members, compared to 2,057 criminal gang members in all of fiscal year 2016. 
  • During Project New Dawn, a nationwide, six-week operation, ICE officers and agents arrested 1,378 suspected gang members. 
    • 104 of those arrested were members or associates of MS-13.
  • Operation Matador in the New York City metropolitan area has led to nearly 140 arrests, the vast majority affiliated with MS-13.

NEW TOOLS TO ENFORCE IMMIGRATION LAWS: President Trump is working with Congress to pass tough new laws to secure the border, strengthen immigration enforcement, and increase penalties for breaking our immigration laws.

• President Trump supports the passage of Kate’s Law to increase mandatory penalties for illegal aliens who re-enter the United States to a minimum of 2 years and a maximum of 25 years.
• President Trump supports the No Sanctuary for Criminals Act, which would block localities that do not cooperate with immigration enforcement from receiving many Federal grants.
• President Trump supports the Davis-Oliver Act, which would restrict Federal money to sanctuary communities, increase funding to local communities enforcing immigration laws, and raise penalties for immigration crimes.