CBS report marvels at once-chaotic southern border crossing has gone quiet under Trump crackdown
According to CBS chief correspondent Matt Gutman, the border has undergone a massive shift amid Trump's second term in office. After "illegal crossings skyrocketed during the Biden administration," Gutman noted they have now "fallen to a 55-year low."
Eagle Pass, Texas, was one of the illegal immigration hotspots that was a frequent topic of news during President Joe Biden's administration.
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Former President Joe Biden's term in office was dogged by an ongoing crisis at the southern border. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
"Miles and miles of water divide the U.S. and Mexico here in Texas. While on the Rio Grande with Border Patrol, we did not see a single migrant," CBS reporter Camilo Montoya-Galvez said. "Less than three years ago, this section of the border was the epicenter of a dire humanitarian crisis."
"The last time we were here at the U.S.-Mexico border near Eagle Pass, we saw hundreds of people, including families with young children, cross the Rio Grande to enter the country illegally," he said. "Now the border is extremely quiet."
He contrasted how there had been thousands of people crossing per day in that particular section of the border alone, to how a local Border Patrol official claimed there are now around 32 apprehensions a day.
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The US-Mexico border wall is seen on the outskirts of Eagle Pass, Texas, on Feb. 19, 2026. (Ronaldo Schemidt / AFP via Getty Images)
Chief Patrol Agent Anthony Good of the Del Rio sector said the reason for this change is that Trump shut down the asylum system that previously was being abused by migrants.
"During the previous administration, there was a lot of what we just called ‘releases’ but they were paroled into the country, quickly, and in mass numbers," he said.
"Now people are being detained or deported?" Montoya-Galvez asked.
"Exactly," Good replied. "They’re being detained or deported."
The local fire department chief noted that he had never seen the border as quiet as it is now. He told CBS that illegal immigrants are afraid of entering now, because they have gotten the message that "if you come here, you’re going to get deported."
The fire chief argued that immigration law should indeed be enforced, but that people should be treated with dignity. The fire chief also compared how, in previous years, one might expect to hear of three to six drownings per day as people crossed illegally, whereas "now we’re looking at, maybe, one drowning every three months."
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President Donald Trump speaks about security at the southern border. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)
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The CBS reporter also spoke to a rancher who recalled in previous years how countless migrants trespassed on his land, littering it with their belongings, and was asked about the backlash Trump has received for enforcing immigration law.
"Some would say the reason very few people are crossing the river behind us is because the Trump administration has been too harsh on immigration," Montoya-Galvez said. "What do you think about that?"
"If harsh is doing things legally, then harsh it is, and harsh it must be," the rancher said.
NewsBusters editor Curtis Houck, a conservative media watchdog who flagged the segment, praised the CBS report as balanced and accurate.
"Presenting both sides and including relevant visuals? It wasn’t that difficult and wholly in line with reporting based in reality," he wrote.
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