Trump touts his border policies: ‘Zero illegal aliens’ admitted in 13 months
Former President Donald Trump, speaking in Washington, D.C., criticizes current border policies. He highlights the claim of “zero illegal aliens” admitted in the last 13 months versus “25 million people” previously. Trump argues “Sleepy Joe Biden’s ideology” is responsible for dangerous individuals, including murderers and drug dealers, entering the country, emphasizing the human cost of these “journeys through hell.”
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The political right celebrated after a White House X account posted a graph showing that legal immigration to the U.S. from nations with Muslim majority populations has all but halted.
The account highlighted a 96 percent cut in legal immigration from majority-Muslim countries since 2024 and attached a graph from the Cato Institute, a notoriously pro-immigration think tank.
The graph showed a drastic decline in quarterly admissions of immigrants from those countries beginning in January 2025, when President Donald Trump officially took office. It also declined in late 2024, the last year of former President Joe Biden’s tenure in office.
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President Donald Trump pumps his fist as he steps off Air Force One upon arrival at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Feb. 14, 2025, en route to his Mar-a-Lago resort. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images)
At its peak, immigration from Muslim-majority nations was over 22,000 people per month between July and October of 2024, according to the graph. But by the beginning of January of this year, that number had dropped to almost zero.
Online, the political right cheered the drastic shift.
“Absolutely incredible victory for the American people, thanks to POTUS,” Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, said.
“These are the wins we need to continue to deliver on,” said Brandon Herrera, the GOP nominee for Congress in Texas’ 23rd District.
“4 percent to go! Thank you, President Trump,” said Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla.
“Let’s pump up those rookie numbers for every category of immigrant,” columnist Kurt Schlichter said.
Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, arrives for the House Oversight and Government Reform Delivering on Government Efficiency Subcommittee hearing titled “Rewriting American History: Examining the Smithsonian’s Efforts to Reshape the Past” in the Rayburn House Office Building on July 21, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
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Some turned the graph into a referendum on the results of Republican leadership, and urged conservatives to vote during the 2026 midterm elections despite concerns about cost-of-living, the Iran war, and other issues for which Trump has been knocked by members of his own party.
“I voted for this—and will again,” said user David Harrison.
“The next time you get the urge to ‘punish the GOP.’ Remember that Democrats will reverse this overnight,” said Turning Point Action’s Ben Larrabee.
“People screaming that Trump and the GOP aren’t doing anything about this problem [are] hardest hit, like squarely between the eyes,” online personality James Lindsay said of the graph.
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“Vote like Western Civilization depends on it, because it does,” said Turning Point USA spokesman Andrew Kolvet.
Not everyone was thrilled with the decline in legal immigration from this demographic, though, including David J. Bier, who is the director of immigration studies at Cato and who took credit for the research behind the graph.
WASHINGTON, DC – JUNE 26: Activists protest on the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s ruling upholding the Trump administration’s restriction of travel to the U.S. from predominantly Muslin countries, on Capitol Hill June 26, 2019 in Washington, DC. The Court in a 5-4 ruling upheld a third version of the ban, which has also been applied to countries not predominantly Muslim. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images) (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
“Thanks for citing my work. You are violating the law and harming Americans while making the country less safe, less free, and less prosperous,” he said in reply.
Despite Bier’s claim, no court has decided that Trump’s move to reduce immigration from Muslim-majority countries is “illegal,” though there have been challenges in district courts.
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During his first term in office, Trump faced a challenge to his proposed travel restrictions from Muslim-majority countries. The policy was enjoined by the federal district court for the District of Hawaii, and upheld by two federal appellate courts. However, the Supreme Court ultimately decided in Hawaii vs. Trump that Trump’s policy was legal.