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Experts say border encounters fell sharply while deportations and voluntary departures surged. Trump immediately suspended most humanitarian entry programs, including refugee admissions — with the exception of white South Africans — and drastically reduced approvals for temporary visas that had been widely abused under Biden.
During Biden’s presidency, parole programs and Temporary Protected Status grants opened the door for hundreds of thousands of migrants from Haiti, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba. Trump shut down every pathway Biden created, cutting off the incentives that had fueled mass migration.
Much of the population decline didn’t come from the highly publicized ICE raids dominating cable news. Instead, it came from migrants making a calculated decision to leave before enforcement caught up to them.
The Department of Homeland Security reports that 1.9 million undocumented immigrants have “voluntarily self-deported” since January 2025. Faced with aggressive enforcement and a president serious about removals, many chose to exit on their own terms.
This stands in stark contrast to Biden’s removal numbers, which largely involved migrants stopped at the border and quickly turned back. Trump’s enforcement focused on the interior, targeting illegal aliens who believed they were protected by sanctuary policies.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection carried out a significant share of removals alongside ICE. High-profile operations underscored the administration’s seriousness, including Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis, which deployed 2,000 federal agents.
ICE detention capacity increased by 75 percent, growing from 40,000 beds in January to 66,000 by December. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act injected $45 billion into DHS to expand detention facilities and strengthen enforcement nationwide.
Since taking office, Trump’s administration has arrested 579,000 illegal aliens — averaging approximately 1,100 arrests per day. At-large arrests inside communities surged 600 percent in Trump’s first nine months compared to Biden’s final year.
The economic effects are already becoming visible. Economists project consumer spending will decline between $60 billion and $110 billion across 2025 and 2026. Monthly job growth consistent with full employment fell to between 20,000 and 50,000 by late 2025, with forecasts suggesting it could turn negative in 2026.
Analysts argue Biden’s immigration surge from 2022 through 2024 artificially inflated job numbers while masking deeper economic problems. While migrants provided cheap labor, they also placed heavy burdens on schools, hospitals, housing markets, and welfare systems.
The Congressional Budget Office continues to claim net migration reached roughly 400,000 in 2025, but other economists dismissed that estimate as garbage. Critics say the CBO failed to account for the scale of deportations and voluntary departures that actually occurred.
Trump’s results have demolished Democratic talking points. Biden allowed 6.7 million illegal aliens into the country between January 2021 and December 2023. Trump reversed that flow in a single year.
The foreign-born U.S. labor force peaked at 53.3 million in January 2025. By June, it had fallen to 51.9 million — a reduction of 1.4 million people in just six months. The immigrant share of the U.S. population dropped from 15.8 percent to 15.4 percent.
For years, Democrats insisted mass deportation was impossible. Now, cities that branded themselves “sanctuaries” are watching ICE arrest illegal aliens in their streets. Mayors who refuse cooperation are facing Insurrection Act threats.
Federal law enforcement agencies, including the DEA, IRS, and U.S. Marshals, have been deputized to assist ICE. National Guard units are deployed to the border and major metropolitan areas.
Democrats labeled Trump’s plan “impossible,” “inhumane,” and “economically disastrous.” One year later, the data tells a different story.
Trump kept his word — and the political class is panicking.
