Mark Morgan, the acting Acting Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) Commissioner, said that the number arrests of migrants trying to cross the Southern border has fallen for eight straight months, but there is “much work to be done.”
In a statement on Tuesday, Morgan announced that the number of “enforcement actions” in January represented a 74.5% from May 2019. Additionally, Border Patrol announced that it had made 29,200 apprehensions in January, down from 32,858 in December.
“We continue to see positive results because of the steps taken by the Trump Administration to control the border and uphold the rule of law,” Morgan said of President Donald Trump’s efforts to curb illegal immigration.
However, he added that the recent discovery of “the longest cross-border tunnel in history” shows that there “much work remains.
“We’ve seen eight straight months of decline, but as we see from the seizure of the longest-ever tunnel between the U.S. and Mexico and significant drug seizures, much work remains. We hope that Congress will finally act to address the ongoing crisis on the Southwest border and pass meaningful legislation to strengthen our immigration system.”
Morgan told reporters during a press conference on Tuesday that the number of migrants from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala have decreased as the Trump Administration has implemented new policies such as the “Remain in Mexico” policy to discourage migrants from making the journey.
Additionally, he said CBP has been working hard “to continue to discourage families and individuals from making the dangerous journey north to the United States.”
Morgan also told reporters it’s likely in the coming months that the number of monthly border arrests will increase. NBC News reports that in four of the last five years, the number of monthly arrests at the border began to tick up in February.
While Trump administration officials have touted their deterrent policies, House Democrats announced last month that they would launch an investigation of the policy which they allege is illegal.