Immigration in 2025: Border Watch with Jonathan Mejia
FOX 26's Jonathan Mejia Border Watch with Jonathan Mejia newsletter
Border Watchers,
We made it to the end of the year. It's been an interesting one when we take a look at immigration and border security. We knew that those two topics would be top of mind for voters in the November election.
Now the countdown begins. There are 20 days until President-elect Donald Trump officially takes office again. Even with the election behind us and Inauguration Day ahead of us — it still feels that all eyes are on the border as Trump promised sweeping changes on day one.
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Incoming Border Czar, Tom Homan, wants $86 billion to help fund mass deportation efforts. Homan said his operation will reinstitute the "Remain in Mexico" policy, which forces people applying for asylum to wait in Mexico until their applications are approved. The new administration’s plans include detention and deportation of parents even if their children are U.S. citizens. Homan has also indicated the Trump administration could bring back workplace raids. Homan said his biggest concern is not having enough money to carry out the operations.
Let's remember that President Joe Biden ended 2024 and his term with a sharp drop in illegal border crossings. In a press release, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported that the month of November saw the lowest level of illegal crossings at the U.S. southern border under the Biden administration. Border Patrol recorded nearly 47,000 migrant apprehensions. For comparison, in December 2023, it reported a record of 250,000.
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In that same monthly update, CBP reported the agency processed over 43,000 individuals at ports of entry in November with information submitted in advance through the CBP One App. Since the appointment scheduling function in CBP One was introduced in January 2023, more than 904,500 people have successfully scheduled appointments to present themselves at ports of entry – all those individuals were admitted into the country. The top nationalities processed with appointments through the CBP One App are Venezuelans, Cubans, and Mexicans.
I will be heading south again for Inauguration Day, and I look forward to bringing you live reports at the border. I'm also finishing my special report from the Rio Grande Valley that will be streaming on FOX Local.