President Trump took a victory lap Tuesday night over his astounding success in controlling the borders, declaring it the best the country has ever enjoyed.
“We now have the strongest and most secure border in American history, by far,” Mr. Trump told Congress in his State of the Union address.
He pointed to the massive drop in catch-and-release of illegal immigrants at the southern border, which regularly topped 100,000 a month during the Biden era but has been at zero for the last nine months.
Mr. Trump has rewritten the border equation without any new authority, though he did receive an infusion of cash from Congress last summer. But even before then, he had cut illegal crossings from Mexico from as much as a quarter of a million a month down to about 6,000 in January.
The president has declared a border emergency to block asylum claims, helping reduce the incentive for people to attempt the journey.
Mr. Trump, while decrying illegal immigration, did celebrate those who come legally.
“We will always allow people to come in legally, people that will love our country and work hard to maintain our country,” he said.
