It would appear that while building a wall along our southern border will help maintain the security of our nation and our citizens by keeping illegals out of the country, it may not be the most effective part of securing the nation. President Trump took office on January 20^th just over a month ago and since that time, illegal border crossings have dropped more than 40% between the United States and Mexico.

Most of that drop is due not to the fact that the president immediately called for the construction of the wall to start, but rather from the fact that he also made it known that illegals would be deported. That alone was a major departure not only from the policies of the Obama administration that had not only welcomed the huddled masses from sought of the border but had done everything short of setting up kool-aid stands along the way to assist them in breaking our immigration laws.

In his first month in office, President Trump’s tough stance on illegal border jumpers has had a profound effect on the numbers of persons attempting to enter the country illegally. In addition, his calls for an additional 10,000 ICE agents along with another 5,000 border patrol officers and tougher enforcement of U.S. Laws has lead to monumental drops in the numbers of persons trying to enter the country without permission. In some areas that number has dropped by over 60% thus far.

Those are not exaggerated numbers either. They are taken directly from apprehension reports from the US Customs and Border Protection services. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly credited increased enforcement and Trump’s tough talk with the decline.

On Wednesday, CBP released figures showing that 18,762 undocumented immigrants were stopped at the US-Mexico border in February, a steep drop from the previous month when 31,578 were apprehended. What made the 40 percent drop all the more notable was that typically there is an increase in traffic this time of year, according to Secretary Kelly. “CBP historically sees a 10-20 percent increase in apprehensions of illegal immigrants from January to February,” the DHS chief said in a statement Wednesday.

Kelly also told reporters that following the election, there had been an increase in traffic leading up to the sudden decrease as well, according to DHS. The border agency recorded 157,000 captures from October 1, 2016 to January 20, 2017, the day of the presidential inauguration, representing a 35 percent uptick from the same period a year before, Kelly said. Additionally, families crossing illegally went up over 100 percent all under the Obama watch.

But that all changed on January 25, when President Trump signed an executive order calling for a border wall and intensified enforcement. Kelly believes that those steps along with increased deportation have put a major plug in the holes along our border.