For the first time since the 1960s, the United States is in an immigration deficit, a stark contrast from the record-breaking legal and illegal migration experienced at the southern border in the last couple of years.
Unauthorized immigration reached its peak in 2023 at 14 million entries into the country, according to new census data released on Thursday by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, but noted that stricter U.S. immigration policy beginning in mid-2024 shifted the trend. The mass immigration occurred under former President Joe Biden’s administration, though towards the end of his term, his office put restrictions on asylum applications, which resulted in a decline in border crossings.
However, one of the greatest deterrents is likely due in part to President Donald Trump’s 181 executive actions he’s taken on immigration since entering his second term, though the full effects remain to be seen, according to Pew.
“We can’t directly tie it to the deportations and the policy changes, but there’s undoubtedly some relationship,” Jeff Passel, senior demographer at Pew Research Center, told Newsweek.
Immigration into the country had been one of Trump’s major selling points in winning the presidency last November and has continued to be one of his administration’s most prioritized issues.
Last week, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said that in her first 200 days in office, 1.6 million illegal immigrants have left the United States.
“This is massive. This means safer streets, taxpayer savings, pressure off of schools and hospital services and better job opportunities for Americans,” she said in a press release.
Noem also attributed the millions removed to the actions taken by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection under Noem and Trump’s leadership.
In a recent op-ed published in USA Today, Noem said zero illegal immigrants entered the country in May, June and July, and gave credit, in part, to department agents. In less than two weeks, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement received over 100,000 applications from Americans seeking to join the agency.