Left-leaning network CBS News reporter Camilo Montoya-Galvez became Trump’s witness after traveling to the southern border and seeing firsthand the effectiveness of the president’s immigration policies.
During his joint address, Trump took a jab at Democrats who always shifted blame to the Congress – which they controlled – for “failing to act” and pass legislation to secure the southern border.
“The media and our friends in the Democrat Party kept saying we needed new legislation. ‘We must have legislation to secure the border.’ But it turned out that all we really needed was a new president,” Trump said.
The media witnessed Trump’s transformation at the southern border when CBS News reporter Montoya-Galvez found no illegal immigrant or alleged asylum seeker trying to cross into the country.
“Typically, when you go to the border, you will see groups of people who are trying to cross into the US, but we did not see a single migrant,” he reported.
“Just feet away from Mexico, our cameras captured a heavily fortified US border,” he added.
“Activity is very slow. There are multiple factors to why we have seen a significant drop in apprehensions recently,” a border patrol agent told CBS. “One of them of course is consequences.”
Border crossings under Trump plummeted by 94% in February 2025 to a record 47-year low. In February 2025, just over 8,000 illegal immigrants crossed the border compared to 140,641 in February last year.
The number has steadily decreased since Trump took office and promised swift changes in how the country treats people who illegally cross into the country. In January 2025, just about 29,000 foreign citizens tried to cross the border compared to 47,300 in December 2024.
The reasons for reduced encounters include improved security at the border on both sides, Trump’s hard stance on Mexico and Canada, and anticipation of consequences in the form of deportation. Last week, Mexico announced the deployment of an additional 3,000 troops at the border.
The United States could also send thousands of additional troops to the border in the coming weeks to reinforce and expand the current operations. The president had already sent 1,500 soldiers to assist Customs and Border Protection agents.
The shutdown of the CBP One mobile app that acted as a conduit for illegal immigration also reduced inflows by denying illegal entrants the humanitarian protections that the Biden administration offered. Trump also signed an executive order banning the use of federal resources to accommodate people who enter the country illegally.
Similarly, Trump’s publicization of deportations has discouraged many potential illegal immigrants from embarking on the dangerous and illegal journey. With illegal immigration being a lucrative human trafficking business, many foreign citizens are afraid of paying the smuggling cartel to illegally enter the country, only to be detained immediately and summarily deported before they can recoup their costs and pay their debts.
“The Invasion of our Country is OVER,” Trump recently posted on his social media network Truth Social.
Meanwhile, Democrats have tried to take credit for the reduced encounters that started in December 2024, claiming that illegal immigration was on a downward trajectory before Trump took office.
However, Trump’s promise to tackle illegal immigration and his subsequent election victory in November 2024 already deterred many from making the journey in anticipation of the “largest deportation” of illegal aliens in US history.
“On day one, I will launch the largest deportation program of criminals in the history of America,” he said during the campaigns.
Meanwhile, CBS News reporter Montoya-Galvez admitted that Trump’s policies were working despite facing various legal challenges.
