May 2, 2017

Amid immigration setbacks, one Trump strategy seems to be working: Fear

A Border Patrol agent on duty at the fence between the United States and Mexico in San Ysidro, Calif., in mid-April. Apprehensions of people trying to enter the United States illegally along the southern border have plummeted, according to federal data. (Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images)



The number of migrants crossing into the United States has dropped markedly since he took office, and experts on both sides of the debate attribute at least part of this shift to the administration’s use of sharp, unwelcoming rhetoric, enforcement raids and public spotlighting of crimes committed by immigrants.

 “In many ways, [Trump’s] attempts to implement his hard-line immigration policies have not gone very well in his first three months. His travel ban aimed at some Muslim-majority countries has been blocked by the courts, his U.S.-Mexico border wall has gone nowhere in Congress, and he has retreated, at least for now, on his vow to target illegal immigrants brought here as children. But one strategy that seems to be working well is fear. The number of migrants, legal and illegal, crossing into the U.S. has dropped markedly since Trump took office, while recent declines in the number of deportations have been reversed. Many experts … attribute at least part of this shift to the use of sharp, unwelcoming rhetoric by Trump and his aides, as well as the administration’s showy use of enforcement raids and public spotlighting of crimes committed by immigrants.” The most striking evidence that Trump’s tactics have had an effect has come at border with Mexico, where the number of apprehensions made by border control agents plummeted from more than 40,000 per month in 2016 to just 12,193 in March.
  • “The bottom line is that they have entirely changed the narrative around immigration,” said Doris Meissner, who led the Clinton-era U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. “The result of that is that, yes, you can call it words and rhetoric, and it certainly is, but it is changing behavior. It is changing the way the United States is viewed around the world, as well as the way we’re talking about and reacting to immigration within the country.”