Migrants turning around and heading back home in ‘new trend’ under Trump border crackdown

Migrants turning around and heading back home in ‘new trend’ under Trump border crackdown

By Jennie Taer, NY Post

Published Feb. 10, 2025

It’s the Trump turnaround.

The White House has launched a near-total crackdown on migrants at the border, not even bothering to question whether they are seeking asylum, leading droves to just throw in the towel, officials and sources say.

The migrants are halting in their tracks and returning south “due to increased border security” after President Trump ended the Biden administration’s risky “catch and release” program, deployed additional troops to the border and commenced a mass deportation effort across the nation, Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks said on X.

Authorities in Honduras last week discovered a group of 26 migrants from Venezuela and Cuba “traveling south back to Nicaragua” and another group of 23 others from Honduras, Venezuela, Panama and El Salvador “turning back from Mexico,” according to Banks.

“These individuals cited the heavy security posture along the U.S.-Mexico border and Mexico’s containment efforts as key reasons for reversing course,” Banks wrote.

“Families in these groups made a life-saving decision, avoiding the dangers of cartel-controlled territory, where extortion and violence are rampant,” the former Texas border czar said.

“Our enforcement efforts are working.”

The Trump administration has essentially taken a “zero tolerance” to migrants even claiming asylum, sources said.

When migrants now try to cross into the US either legally or illegally and claim asylum, they are returned immediately to Mexico if they’re from Central America and several other countries or sent to ICE for detention and eventual removal, according to Homeland Security sources.

Border Patrol agents are no longer required to question migrants about their wants for asylum.

“It’s not the same as it was before, where we would have to ask them the questions,” a source said.

The word has apparently spread.

The number of migrant encounters at the Texas border Sunday was 303 — compared to the roughly 8,000 on a typical day in December under the Biden administration.

As for the few allowed to continue into the US, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt revealed last week that just 461 of the migrants encountered at the southern border in the first two weeks of the new administration were allowed to stay, or about 6% of the total interacting with US enforcement agents.

She said the smattering were not considered ultimately likely deportable or had urgent needs for medical attention. A senior Department of Homeland Security official said such charity medical case involved a man suffering liver failure.

By comparison, under former President Joe Biden, around 5,000 migrants, or 70% of those encountered at the southern border, were allowed to remain in the US on a single typical day last December.

In addition to using more US measures to crack down on the US border crisis,Trump also forced Mexico to deploy 10,000 of its own troops after threatening to impose a 25% across-the-board tariff.

The number of migrants in Border Patrol custody has now plummeted by more than 500% since the summer, according to leaked figures obtained by The Post.

Border agents were holding roughly 1,500 illegal migrants in custody last week, compared to more than 10,000 in June.

The developments come as ICE agents continue carrying out Trump’s mass deportation effort across the country, with the agency recently discovering the presence of more Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua members in two new states: New Hampshire and Missouri, according to a Homeland Security source.

“Known Tren de Aragua gang member” Jesus Elicio Tapa-Colina was arrested in St. Louis on Wednesday after he allegedly took part in an assault, authorities say. Colina was released into the US after crossing the southern border into El Paso, Texas, last year.

ICE also nabbed accused Tren de Aragua gangbanger Ronald Jose Reyes Ollarvides, who has a prior robbery conviction, in Manchester, NH.

Countries have begun taking back their criminal migrants, including Venezuela, which used two of its own planes Monday to “repatriate” the scourge from the US.

“Repatriation flights to Venezuela have resumed, with Ambassador @RichardGrenell overseeing the first two flights. MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN,” the Trump White House tweeted.