Libertarian elites attack Trump for delivering the immigration wins Americans want
The United States suffered a costly and deadly "invasion" at its southern border during the Biden administration.
Over the course of Joe Biden's tenure as president, U.S. Customs and Border Protection recorded roughly 11 million border encounters with illegal aliens and other inadmissible migrants — encounters that in many cases ended with the release of border jumpers into the homeland.
The Trump administration has, however, turned things around.
'These bans affected half of all legal immigrants coming from abroad.'
Whereas, for instance, in fiscal year 2024 there were over 2.9 million border encounters nationwide, last year there was a total of 691,906 encounters. If the pattern shaping up over the past several months continues until September, this year will see far fewer. After all, the number of border encounters from October through March was 531,301 in fiscal year 2025 but only 182,585 during the same stretch this fiscal year.
More important than the decline in border apprehensions is the total drop in releases. On Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security announced U.S. Border Patrol's 11th consecutive month of zero releases at the southern border.
The Trump administration has, apparently, also succeeded in greatly reducing the number of legal migrants entering the nation.
David Bier, the director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute, endeavored in a new report to take the wind out of President Donald Trump's sails on the issue of immigration control, not only claiming that Trump's success in curbing illegal alien entries was a gift from the previous administration, but complaining that Trump has significantly reduced legal migration.
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While framing the reductions in legal immigration in negative terms, Bier — a libertarian who previously attempted to blame Trump for the immigration crisis and aided the effort to thwart the president's executive order requiring Border Patrol to immediately send any border crosser packing — has unwittingly provided strong indications that the president has delivered a result that 55% of Americans said they wanted the year he was re-elected.
According to the Cato Institute report, the number of monthly southwest border legal entries by asylum seekers dropped 99.9% from December 2024 to February 2025, which Bier credited to the Trump administration's elimination of the CBP One scheduling app and restrictions on asylum.
The leading countries of origin for refugees admitted in the final year of the Biden administration were Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Syria, and Venezuela.
The Trump administration also reduced the number of refugees admitted into the country. There were, for instance, 96,635 admissions from Feb. 2024 to Jan. 2025, but only 2,157 admissions from Feb. 2025 to Jan. 2026. The president has capped admissions in fiscal year 2026 at 7,500 refugees.
Bier's frustration with what he has dubbed the "most anti-legal immigrant administration in American history" wasn't limited to the curbs on asylum seekers and refugees.
In light of the administration's denial of immigrant visas and visa issuances to foreigners from scores of countries and the State Department's suspension of the Diversity Visa lottery, Bier projected — absent the relevant data on visa issuances since September 2025 — that immigrant visas for legal permanent residents have fallen by roughly half.
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"These bans affected half of all legal immigrants coming from abroad, including half of all spouses and minor children of U.S. citizens, based on 2024 immigrant visa processing," Bier wrote. "However, it’s possible some of this flow could be replaced with immigrants from other countries, but that did not happen when President Trump enacted a narrower ban on certain categories of immigrants from 19 countries in June."
In addition to sparing the taxpayer from shouldering the cost of more welfare dependents and American labor from foreign competition, Bier faulted the administration for bringing down the number of international student visas.
A Pew Research Center poll conducted in September revealed sizable American support for restricting the number of foreign college students from various countries, particularly the countries that have historically sent the most students to U.S. universities.
Fifty percent of respondents said they supported restricting the number of Chinese students; 44%, Indian students; 42%, Nigerian students; 41%, South Korean students; and 34%, Canadian students.
Comparing issuances in summer 2024 versus in summer 2025 — the "peak months when students typically get visas" — Bier concluded that student visas had fallen by 40%. He projected that the number of issuances in 2026 will be a tiny fraction of 2025's anticipated total of international student visas.
Bier also had some good news for critics of the much-abused H-1B visa program, which enables U.S.-based employers to temporarily hire foreign workers into specialized positions that American citizens supposedly can't do.
The libertarian estimated that in the wake of Trump's September executive order adding a $100,000 fee to H-1B visa applications, H-1B visa issuances had likely dropped "by a quarter."
After trying sympathy — "these cuts to legal immigration are harming U.S. citizens seeking to reunite with their spouses, fiancés, children, and other relatives" — Bier's libertarian reflexes kicked in, such that he emphasized that "they are also undermining U.S. prosperity and increasing the U.S. deficit."
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Parents enraged over adult illegal alien allegedly molesting Virginia high school girls
Israel Flores-Ortiz, an illegal alien from El Salvador who stole into the U.S. in 2024 and was subsequently released by the Biden administration, is accused of molesting at least nine girls at Fairfax High School in Virginia where he was enrolled in the 11th grade, even though he is at least 18 years old.
Adding insult to injury, the school allegedly downplayed the scandal.
'They have attempted to sweep it under the rug.'
The alleged offenses took place as recently as Feb. 25. Flores-Ortiz was arrested on March 7 and has been charged with nine counts of assault and battery.
"There's a group of about 12 individuals that have reported this assault," a mother of one of the victims told WJLA-TV. "It was all perpetrated by a single individual who is a stranger to the girls. He just sneakily walked up behind them and put his hand in between their legs. It was not just a butt smack or a butt grab. It was a groping of a private area. It had been occurring for several months."
Two of the victims' mothers said that the school was doing a terrible job handling the situation.
"Abysmal, abysmal," said one of the mothers. "I think from the very beginning, Fairfax County has attempted to diminish what happened to these girls."
Fairfax High School principal Georgina Aye reportedly waited over two weeks after the incidents were reported to notify parents in an email, "We are writing to share the news of the recent arrest of a student who was charged with inappropriately touching other students at school. These incidents involved the student touching students’ buttocks while they were transitioning in the hallways."
Parents lashed out over Aye's claim that the alleged molestation was simply a matter of a "student touching students’ buttocks."
"Yeah, no, I would not be here for butt slapping," one mother told WJLA. "I would, I mean, I would be upset about that, but this wouldn't be my second day this week here at the courthouse for that. It was a clear violation. He put his hand in between my daughter's legs, and the butt was actually the last thing that he touched."
Another mother said, "The girls have experienced harassment and bullying from peers at school, including people that they once thought were their friends, and the letter that they sent out, referencing it only as buttocks touching, just adds fuel to rumors that they were just attention seeking."
"They have attempted to sweep it under the rug," said one mother.
The City of Fairfax School Board, which oversees Fairfax High School in partnership with the FCPS, said in a statement on Monday that it "takes the recent situation at Fairfax High School very seriously."
"We support the students who have been directly affected and encourage members of the Fairfax High School community to support one another during this difficult time. Inappropriate conduct has no place in our schools, and we understand the concern and distress this incident has caused for students and families," said the school board. "We also want to express our support for Principal Dr. Georgina Aye, a student-centered leader who has devoted her career to serving and supporting students. We have confidence in her leadership."
In addition to receiving what one victim's mother described as "a completely sanitized letter" from the school's purportedly "student-centered leader," parents were allegedly informed by Fairfax County Public Schools that upon his release, Flores-Ortiz would return to school.
FCPS told WJLA in a statement, "While Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) is unable to comment on specifics due to federal and state privacy laws, we prioritize student and staff safety and we fully investigate any time someone shares that an incident has occurred at school, or that they do not feel safe at school."
FCPS did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.
ICE issued a detainer for Ortiz, the agency told WJLA, "to ensure this violent criminal is removed from our country so he can never claim another victim again."
Fairfax County Sheriff Stacey Kincaid's (D) office told Blaze News in a statement:
Israel Flores Ortiz remains in the custody of the Sheriff’s Office in the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center (ADC). While it is still too early in the process to know the outcome of his case, ICE has been notified of Ortiz’s location at the ADC, and they are able to execute their detainer by responding to the ADC and taking Ortiz into custody if and when he is ordered released.
The Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office does not obstruct or prevent ICE from acting on their civil detainers.
Flores-Ortiz reportedly requested to be released on bail. Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Steve Descano's (D) office told Blaze News that there was a bond hearing, but "after listening to arguments, the judge decided to hold him. He is being held."
Judge Dipti Pidikiti-Smith reportedly denied Ortiz's request on Friday after reviewing surveillance video of one of the incidents.
"This 19-year-old criminal illegal alien should NOT have been attending a Virginia high school and allowed to prey on innocent teenage girls. He now faces nine counts of assault and battery. This is yet another example of the Biden administration’s failed open border policies," DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement.
"We are calling on Fairfax County sanctuary politicians to NOT release this predator from jail back into our communities to assault more teenage women," continued Bis. "Unfortunately, Governor Abigail Spanberger ended cooperation with ICE and is siding with criminal illegal aliens over American citizens."
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CBP leader arrested: Supervisor allegedly hid and supported illegal alien 'niece' for over a year
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer was arrested and charged this week with allegedly harboring and transporting an illegal alien who prosecutors claim is his niece.
If convicted, Andres Wilkinson III — a CBP supervisory officer who has worked for the agency since May 2001 — faces up to a decade in prison and a potential $250,000 fine.
The CBP Office of Professional Responsibility received information from Homeland Security Investigations in April 2025 that Elva Edith Garcia-Vallejo, the daughter of a man whom Wilkinson listed as a brother in his 2023 background investigation, was allegedly living with the CBP officer at his residence in Laredo, Texas.
'Financially supported her by providing his credit cards, housing, and assistance with her financial obligations.'
Garcia-Vallejo's residency was problematic because she is a foreign national who lacks legal authorization to be in the homeland, which Wilkinson knew, federal prosecutors claimed.
According to the criminal complaint, Garcia-Vallejo entered the U.S. in August 2023 using her nonimmigrant visa number and secured a I-94 travel permit as a temporary visitor for pleasure/tourism to San Antonio — a permit that expired on Feb. 4, 2024.
North of the border, Garcia-Vallejo temporarily resided with her Laredo-based husband, Juan Rodriguez, who filed and then withdrew an immigration petition for her to become a legal resident.
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In May 2025 — eight months after Garcia-Vallejo's last known entry into the U.S. using her B1/B2 nonimmigrant visa number and two months after her travel permit expired — the CBP OPR allegedly spotted Garcia-Vallejo and her daughter meet with Wilkinson outside the Harmony School of Science in Laredo.
Investigators followed the mother — who had no pending immigration applications — and daughter back to their dwelling place. At the time, Garcia-Vallejo was driving a Toyota Rav4 registered to Wilkinson, the criminal complaint said.
Over the next several months, CBP OPR conducted surveillance at the residence and allegedly observed Garcia-Vallejo come and go. They also claimed to have spotted her driving another vehicle registered to Wilkinson.
Finally, on Feb. 5, CBP OPR detained Garcia-Vallejo, who allegedly admitted that she had been living with her "uncle" since at least August 2024; that he had "financially supported her by providing his credit cards, housing, and assistance with her financial obligations, including medical debt, and by adding her to his vehicle insurance," said the complaint.
The supposed niece also admitted to allegedly crossing U.S. Border Patrol checkpoints in a vehicle driven by Wilkinson on multiple occasions.
The criminal complaint refers to Wilkinson in one instance as his supposed niece's "boyfriend" and the DOJ noted in its corresponding release that the two were "romantically involved," but neither document offered supporting details for that characterization of their relationship. While the complaint indicates Garcia-Vallejo is the daughter of the officer's brother, it did not specify whether they are indeed blood relatives.
CBP did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News. Attorneys for Garcia-Vallejo and Wilkinson did not respond to a request for comment from the Guardian.
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How the Minneapolis ICE agent who fired in self-defense was nearly killed by an illegal alien child rapist in June
On Wednesday, federal agents approached an SUV in Minneapolis that was strategically angled to interfere with their law enforcement operation. The driver, 37-year-old Colorado native Renee Nicole Macklin Good, disobeyed repeated orders to exit the vehicle, then drove into a federal agent who opened fire in self-defense.
The agent who fatally shot Good is apparently no stranger to suffering injuries as the result of vehicular violence from radicals. In fact, he appears to be the ICE agent bloodied by another menace evading justice in Minnesota earlier this year.
Munoz-Guatemala hit the gas, trapping the ICE agent's arm between the seat and the frame of the car.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told reporters on Wednesday, "The very same officer who was attacked today had previously been dragged by an anti-ICE rioter who had rammed him with a car and dragged him back in June. He sustained injuries at that time as well."
On June 17, federal agents attempted to arrest Roberto Carlos Munoz-Guatemala in Bloomington on an immigration order.
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Munoz-Guatemala is a 40-year-old illegal alien from Guatemala who was previously arrested for domestic assault, convicted in 2022 for serial sexual abuse of a minor, and convicted for driving without a valid license.
Federal agents stopped the foreign sex offender's vehicle and ordered him to exit; however, Munoz-Guatemala refused to comply.
As Munoz-Guatemala was preparing to speed away, an ICE agent smashed the rear window of the sex offender's vehicle and attempted to open the car from the inside. However, Munoz-Guatemala hit the gas, trapping the ICE agent's arm between the seat and the frame of the car.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Minnesota, "Munoz-Guatemala dragged the federal agent for more than 100 yards, while weaving back and forth in an attempt to shake the agent from the car."
Footage of the incident shows the sex offender accelerating down a residential street with the federal agent hanging from the car.
The agent reportedly required 20 stitches for a deep cut in his right arm and an additional 13 stitches in his right hand.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stated at the time, "Instead of comparing ICE law enforcement to the Gestapo, Governor Walz should be thanking our brave law enforcement for arresting these violent criminals."
A federal jury convicted the sex offender last month on one count of assault on a federal officer with a dangerous and deadly weapon, causing bodily injury.
When asked to confirm that the ICE agent in the two incidents are one and the same, the Department of Homeland Security seemingly confirmed that they are by directing Blaze News to a press release about Munoz-Guatemala.
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Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita has filed a major lawsuit against Indianapolis Public Schools over their alleged effort to thwart the enforcement of federal immigration law and their corresponding violations of state immigration law, stating, "No public institution in Indiana has the right to pick and choose which laws to follow."
The lawsuit, filed on Thursday in Marion County, requests an injunction against IPS' "sanctuary" policies, citing a 2017 resolution passed by the school board that prohibits IPS employees from assisting immigration enforcement efforts "unless legally required and authorized to do so by the Superintendent"; from collecting any information regarding a student or parent's immigration status; and from providing any information regarding a student's immigration status.
'Sanctuary policies are bad in any context, but they are especially troubling in our schools.'
"When a school district refuses to cooperate with ICE, it doesn't just break the law — it endangers students, protects criminal aliens, and sends a dangerous message to every government body in this state: that compliance is optional," Rokita said. "Not on my watch."
Rokita told Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck on Thursday that amid its apparent campaign to thwart federal law enforcement efforts, the school district had even frustrated the attempt by an illegal alien to self-deport.
An illegal alien from Honduras decided earlier this year to voluntarily deport so that he could one day apply to return to the U.S. legally, Rokita claimed. On Jan. 8, the day of his family's planned departure, one of his children went to school against his wishes.
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Rokita told Beck that when the father went to retrieve his son from school to ensure that his family could depart the U.S. together, "the school obstructed him and then obstructed ICE from assisting as well."
"I can believe that there are schools this out of control, but not so out of control that they block a dad from picking up his own son," Beck said.
The state AG indicated that in the time since, his office has uncovered a "whole string of policies" that the IPS has in place that serve to keep ICE agents from doing their jobs.
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The America First Policy Institute, which has worked with Rokita's office in developing the legal strategy for tackling rogue institutions and agencies, noted that the lawsuit is filed under Indiana Code chapter 5-2-18.2, which bars state and local entities from interfering with the enforcement of federal immigration law.
Leigh Ann O'Neill, chief legal affairs officer at AFPI, told Beck that several of IPS' policies directly violate the law, not only frustrating law enforcement efforts but putting vulnerable kids at risk of trafficking and exploitation by making them virtually invisible to the authorities.
"Sanctuary policies are bad in any context, but they are especially troubling in our schools. Schools across the country are vulnerable to infiltration by criminal illegal aliens — it's happened in many other states — and it is essential that ICE be able to take action when that occurs to help keep our kids safe," Rokita noted in a statement. "That's why my office, with the assistance of AFPI, is suing IPS to enforce compliance with state law and protect Hoosier schoolchildren."
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"Attorney General Rokita is showing exactly the kind of leadership America needs," O'Neill said in a statement. "When state attorneys general act boldly to enforce cooperation with federal immigration law, they help protect families, uphold the rule of law, and stop the political gamesmanship that endangers our communities."
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested MS-13 associate Kilmar Abrego Garcia on Monday and set the stage for his deportation to Uganda.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement to Blaze News, "President Trump is not going to allow this illegal alien, who is an MS-13 gang member, human trafficker, serial domestic abuser, and child predator, to terrorize American citizens any longer."
'The media's sympathetic narrative about this criminal illegal alien has completely fallen apart.'
But Paula Xinis of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland — a judge former President Barack Obama nominated — swiftly intervened to prevent the removal of the Salvadoran national. Xinis told the Trump administration it was "absolutely forbidden" from deporting Garcia, then issued a temporary restraining order to this effect.
On Thursday, the MS-13 associate asked a different Obama judge to prevent Attorney General Pam Bondi, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and all of the officials in their respective agencies from discussing his sordid history.
"Since Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia was released from pretrial custody last Friday, officials from the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security — and even the White House — have attacked Mr. Abrego in the media in numerous highly prejudicial, inflammatory, and false statements," Garcia's attorneys noted in the request to U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw, an Obama-nominated judge who sought Abrego's release in July.
Garcia and his legal team were especially prickled by the suggestion that he is "a known MS-13 gang member, human trafficker, wife beater, and child predator."
While Garcia's attorneys complained that such claims were "baseless," it's clear the Trump administration did not create the allegations out of whole cloth.
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Justice Department attorneys indicated earlier this year that in March 2019, Garcia was summoned to appear in removal proceedings. During a bond hearing, ICE stated that a confidential informant flagged Garcia as an active member of MS-13. The illegal alien's bond was denied with the court reportedly finding "that Abrego Garcia was a danger to the community."
When Garcia appealed that decision to the Board of Immigration Appeals, an immigration judge determined in April 2019 that "the determination that the Respondent is a gang member appears to be trustworthy and is supported by other evidence in the record."
As with Garcia's MS-13 link, the domestic abuser claim also did not appear out of thin air.
Garcia's wife, Jennifer Vasquez, sought domestic violence protective orders against him in 2020 and 2021. Vasquez alleged in her 2021 protective order petition that Garcia punched her, ripped off her shirt, and both scratched and bruised her.
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The human trafficking allegation that Garcia wants DHS and DOJ officials to refrain from publicly mentioning is fleshed out in his federal grand jury indictment which accuses him of conspiracy to transport aliens and unlawful transportation of undocumented aliens.
The indictment alleges that Garcia conspired to bring illegal aliens — adults and children alike — into the U.S. from countries such as Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Ecuador, and elsewhere from 2016 until this year. He allegedly made over 100 trips over the course of this alleged human smuggling campaign.
"Over the course of the conspiracy, the co-conspirators knowingly and unlawfully transported thousands of undocumented aliens who had no known authorization to be present in the United States, and many of whom were MS-13 member and associates," said the indictment.
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As for the "child predator" allegation, Bondi told reporters in June that one of Garcia's alleged co-conspirators claimed that he not only "abused undocumented alien females" who were "under his control while transporting them throughout our country" but allegedly "solicited nude photographs and videos of a minor."
Bondi, Noem, and the White House's repeated references to these and other skeletons in Garcia's closet evidently infuriated him, but Garcia's attorneys said in their Thursday request that the "pièce de resistance" was the DHS' repost of this White House meme:
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Garcia's attorneys claimed in the request that "if the government is allowed to continue in this way, it will taint any conceivable jury pool by exposing the entire country to irrelevant, prejudicial, and false claims about Mr. Abrego."
His attorneys asked for a gag order prohibiting all DHS and DOJ officials involved in Garcia's case — and all officials in their supervisory chain — "from making extrajudicial comments that pose a substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing this proceeding."
A DHS official told the Hill, "If Kilmar Abrego Garcia did not want to be mentioned by the Secretary of Homeland Security, then he should have not entered our country illegally and committed heinous crimes."
The DHS official continued, "Once again, the media is falling all over themselves to defend this criminal illegal MS-13 gang member who is an alleged human trafficker, domestic abuser, and child predator. The media's sympathetic narrative about this criminal illegal alien has completely fallen apart, yet they continue to peddle his sob story."
The Hill indicated that the DOJ declined to comment.
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