Washington: Vice President JD Vance visited the US-Mexico border this week to highlight President Donald Trump’s administration’s stricter immigration policies and credited it for prioritizing border security across all federal agencies.
He was joined by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, the highest-ranking officials from Trump’s administration to visit the border. Vance toured the area around Eagle Pass, Texas, including a helicopter survey, a Border Patrol facility visit, and a roundtable discussion with Texas Governor Greg Abbott and local officials.
Vance pointed to a 39% drop in arrests for illegal border crossings in January, attributing it to Trump’s directive for all government agencies to focus on border security—something he claimed former President Joe Biden failed to do. "President Trump has empowered—and in fact demanded—that his whole government take the task of border control seriously," Vance said, signaling that further deportation and enforcement measures are likely.
He added that Trump hopes to build the entire wall along the southern border by the time his term concludes. Since Trump’s second term began, approximately 6,500 additional active-duty troops have been deployed to the southern border, bringing the total number of military personnel involved in border security to around 9,000.
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The Donald Trump administration has suspended the use of costly military aircraft to fly migrants who entered the US illegally, The Wall Street Journal reported. US defense officials told the newspaper that no flights were scheduled for the coming days, with the last military deportation flight occurring March 1. They said the pause could be extended or made permanent. A report by the news agency Reuters said that a US military deportation flight to Guatemala cost at least $4,675 per migrant, according to data provided by US and Guatemalan officials. |
