As many as 600,000 migrants who had been heading for the U.S. turned around when they realized President Trump had closed the border, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told senators on Thursday, citing information from Mexican officials.
Mr. Noem said the turnbacks were a yardstick for Mr. Trump’s success at the border, and came with praise from Latin American leaders who say they can sense the difference in the flows of people.
She was testifying to the Senate Appropriations Committee, where she pleaded for more money to keep things going, saying Mr. Trump has bigger plans yet for firming up U.S. borders.
Ms. Noem said they are close to achieving operational control at the boundary, having convinced people not to even attempt the journey anymore.
“They got the message clearly,” she said. “When they were on the way, they heard that and they went back home.”
Democrats, though, signaled opposition to Ms. Noem’s agenda, saying the improved border security has come only through draconian measures.
“The primary reason those encounters are down is you are brazenly violating the law every hour of every day,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, Connecticut Democrat.
Mr. Murphy was one of the negotiators on last year’s big Senate border deal, which President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris had said was necessary to fix the previous three years of border chaos.
Mr. Noem said Mr. Trump’s success proves they were wrong and no bill was needed. Rather, she said, it took the commitment of a president to use tools already at his disposal.
The number of illegal border crossers detected has dropped 95% compared to last year, Ms. Noem said.
And data from Mexico backs that up.
One migrant shelter in northern Mexico, which has a capacity of 1,300, had just 31 people staying in it at one point last month, according to TheWorld, a public radio program.
During Thursday’s hearing, Democrats focused heavily on Ms. Noem’s efforts inside the U.S. to roust long-time illegal immigrants.
Ms. Noem refused to say whether she was acting to “facilitate” the return of MS-13 gang suspect Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whom the Supreme Court has urged the administration to un-deport.
But the secretary lashed out at Democrats who called for his return.
“Your advocacy for a known terrorist is alarming,” Ms. Noem told Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who made a high-profile trip last month to El Salvador to demand the return of Mr. Abrego Garcia, who was arrested in Maryland.
“I’m not vouching for the man. I’m vouching for his due process,” Mr. Van Hollen, Maryland Democrat, said.
He questioned the evidence linking Mr. Abrego Garcia to gang activity.
But Ms. Noem said the Salvadoran citizen, deported in March on one of three planeloads of migrants dropped at El Salvador’s terrorism prison, is also “a human smuggler” and “wife beater.”
“He’s not a U.S. citizen,” she said. “He’s a citizen of El Salvador, and he is home.”
The secretary flatly rejected ever allowing him to return to the U.S.
“There is no scenario where Abrego Garcia will be in the United States again,” she said. “If he were to come back, we would immediately deport him again.”
