Special to WorldTribune.com

Commentary by Allan Wall,  September 25, 2025

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced in a press release on Sept. 23, 2025, that since Jan. 20, (Trump’s inauguration) 2 million illegal aliens have left the U.S. or been deported. That is a substantial number.

From the DHS press release:

“On Tuesday [September 23rd], the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that 2 million illegal aliens have been removed or have self-deported since January 20.”

“The Trump administration is on pace to shatter historic records and deport nearly 600,000 illegal aliens by the end of President Donald Trump’s first year since returning to office. Two million illegal aliens have left the United States in less than 250 days, including an estimated 1.6 million who have voluntarily self-deported and more than 400,000 deportations.”

Note that more illegal aliens self-deported than were forcibly deported. When they saw the handwriting on the wall, they got out of the U.S. on their own.

Also,

“For four straight months, United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has released zero illegal aliens into the country.”

People said it couldn’t be done, but Trump has done it, gained control of the U.S.-Mexican border, and in a short amount of time.

U.S.-Mexico Border. Source: Larsinio

This has a big affect on Mexico. In addition to Mexicans crossing to the U.S., hordes of non-Mexicans were crossing Mexico to get to the United States.

Now the word has gone out that the border is not like before and few illegal aliens are crossing it.

From DHS:

“The rest of the world is hearing our message. DHS immigration enforcement is also demonstrably deterring illegal aliens from trying to come here in the first place.”

“A recent study from the United Nations reported that President Trump’s immigration policies led to a 97% reduction in illegal aliens heading northbound to the U.S. from Central America. That same study found that 49% of would-be illegal aliens who decided to stop their journey towards the U.S. did so because they thought it would be impossible to enter the U.S. under President Trump. Likewise, 46% said fears of detention or deportation led to abandoning their attempt to illegally enter the U.S.“

For decades Mexico tacitly and sometimes not-so-tacitly encouraged mass emigration to the United States.

This benefited the Mexican government in several ways.

• Firstly, they got a lot of people out of their country that they didn’t have to care for and these same people were sending money back from the U.S.
• Plus, when illegal aliens got in trouble in the U.S., the Mexican government could score political points by loudly defending them.
• In essence, emigration to the U.S. was an important part of Mexican economic and social policy.

Other Latin American countries had similar policies.

But at least for now, under Trump II, the massive human flow northward has stopped.

The Mexican government has adjusted to the new situation and is cooperating in receiving deportees.

Now the Mexican government of President Sheinbaum is concentrating on preserving its trade relationship with the United States. That’s a big priority, and understandably so.

I think it’s actually better for Latin America in the long run to stop depending on mass emigration. But it require some adjustments.

Beat The Press

  How Mexico is adapting as 2 million illegal immigrants exit U.S. in only 8 months, WorldTribune.com