Top US General Tours Border - Then is Fired by President Trump
It's been an eventful week along the Southern Border with Mexico
Here is the latest US Border News Newsletter summarizing actions during the fifth week of the Trump Administration:
In one of his last official acts as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General C.Q. Brown met with troops assigned to secure the U.S. southern Border with Mexico on Friday, Feb. 21, 2025. Brown was removed from that position hours later by President Trump. In an interview before he became Secretary of Defense, Peter Hedgseth complained that General Brown had been involved in “DEI woke shit” and “has got to go.”
Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks deputized more than 500 soldiers from the Texas National Guard, who will now have the authority to carry out immigration enforcement, including arresting migrants. In the United States, it is very rare for soldiers to be empowered to arrest and confront civilians on U.S. soil. You can read more about this in a recent US Border News story HERE.
Guantánamo detainees sent back to Venezuela via Honduras: The Trump administration sent all but one of 178 Venezuelan migrants whom it had been holding at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Station in Cuba to Honduras, where a Venezuelan government plane retrieved them and brought them to Caracas.
Deportation flights send citizens from other countries to Panama and Costa Rica: In what is being called “bridge deportations,” the Trump administration sent 299 migrants, mostly from Asian countries, to Panama and 135 to Costa Rica. Both countries are keeping people in remote camps pending their repatriation. The situation of those with protection needs is uncertain.
Congress readies a massive border and deportation spending package: The Senate passed a framework bill that could authorize $175 billion in new border hardening and “mass deportation” spending. The bill could pass without a single Democratic vote. However, the timetable is uncertain, as House and Senate Republican leaders disagree on the way forward.
Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agent makes an arrest in Seattle (Feb. 14. 2025) ICE Photo “Mass deportation” controversy: Top Trump administration officials are dissatisfied with the “flagging” pace of Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportations so far. As a result, President Trump has removed Caleb Vitello, Acting Director of Immigration & Customs Enforcement, from that position.
The impact in Mexico: Mexico has still not seen a big increase in cross-border deportations from the United States. For now, at least, migrant shelters in Mexico are emptying while smugglers raise their prices.
Immigration Trends of Note:
Migration dropped in January in anticipation of the Trump asylum shutoff. Customs and Border Protection reported a 36 percent drop in migrant encounters at the border from December to January, deepening a 13-month decline. Restrictive Trump policies are the leading cause of the new drop. Border Patrol apprehensions are now averaging 285 per day.
Darién Gap migration declines sharply: In January, the number of people migrating through the treacherous jungle route from Colombia to Panama dropped to 72 per day, the fewest since February 2021.
NOTE: This summary was generated from a far more comprehensive weekly summary by wola.org, which you can read HERE. (If you found this summary helpful, we invite you to support WOLA’s work).
We remain committed to delivering a US Border Newsletter that is not only educational and insightful but also engaging and easy to digest in five minutes or less.
Abrazos,
Jack Beavers
