The United States of America has been fine-tuning its immigration policy since our inception. Here is a brief walkthrough of what that has looked like over the past 100 years.

In 1924, the U.S. established the Immigration Act, which started a quota system for those seeking to immigrate to the U.S. Many consider this the law that first incentivized illegal immigration.

Under President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the first mass deportation of Mexican workers occurred. It was known as “Operation Wetback.” This repatriation went into effect because of the number of Mexican laborers who stayed in the U.S. after their contracts during the labor shortage of World World II were up. Mexico was also in favor of this repatriation. Unfortunately, some of the people who got deported were American citizens.

Then, in 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Immigration and Nationality Act, also known as the Hart-Celler Act, which completely changed the demographic makeup of the five Southern border states. According to the Center for Immigration Studies, “The growth of immigration from Mexico was especially dramatic, for reasons of geography and labor markets as well as demography. By 1960, according to Douglas Massey and Karen Pren, ‘a massive circular flow of Mexican migrants had become deeply embedded in employer practices and migrant expectations’ and was sustained by immigrant networks. Those networks exploded along with Mexico’s population, which grew from 35 million in 1960 to 100 million at the end of the millennium.”

In the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan deported over 3,000 Haitian illegal migrants back to Haiti. However, in 1986, Reagan also began the U.S. policy of amnesty for those already living illegally in the U.S. through the Simpson-Mazzoli Act. The Democrats pledged border security in return, which of course never happened.

In 2012, President Barack Obama signed the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative, which prevents illegal migrant children from being deported but provides no path to citizenship.

During President Donald Trump’s first term, the illegal immigration numbers went down. But under President Joe Biden, we saw an eye-popping number of illegal aliens entering the country. In 2023 alone, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported that it encountered 3,201,144 people at the border. That’s not even including “gotaways.”

Recall that in March 2019, former Obama Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson admitted: “On Tuesday, there were 4,000 apprehensions. I know that a thousand overwhelms the system. I cannot begin to imagine what 4,000 a day looks like, so we are truly in a crisis.”

President Trump has only been in office again for just shy of a month, and already the daily count of encounters has dropped to just 359 people per day. The credit goes to border enforcers such as Tom Homan, who are putting sand in the gears of Biden’s open door policy.

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, says, “If you kind of break down the numbers, divide them by 365, we haven’t had numbers this low since the 1960s. So we’re talking 60-year lows if it’s sustained, obviously.”

If it’s sustained, that would mean the number of border encounters for the month of February would be around 10,000, which hasn’t been achieved since 1999. Overall, it’s a 90% decrease from Biden’s border levels.

What’s even better is that of those who are coming to the border, only a fraction are even let in. We’re talking 6%, or 461 people so far. Under President Biden, the daily average was 5,000 per day in 2023, and 70% were admitted into the U.S. interior. What a stark difference between administrations.

Trump’s team is actively arresting criminal illegals by the thousands — 11,000 so far. And the deportations are underway. Some criminal illegals who are waiting to be repatriated to their home countries are in Guantanamo Bay.

It’s so disheartening to the masses of people who were pouring through the border that many caravans of illegals are turning back south.

According to Border Patrol Chief Mike 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. Families in these groups made a life-saving decision, avoiding the dangers of cartel-controlled territory, where extortion and violence are rampant. Our enforcement efforts are working.”

Verified reports confirming a new trend: migrants choosing to return home rather than continue north due to increased border security.

- Feb 3: Honduran officials reported 26 migrants (Venezuelans & Cubans) traveling south back to Nicaragua.
- Feb 5: A group of 23 migrants… pic.twitter.com/DSomqAQHCP

— Chief Michael W. Banks (@USBPChief) February 10, 2025

Countries need a border to have sovereignty, security, and identity. President Trump has taken up the mantle yet again to make the U.S. border more secure. Should this trend continue, we will have a much safer country.