DHS Secretary Noem: Deportations Saving Lives Every Day

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says the current deportation operations are “saving lives” every day. She highlighted the Trump administration’s efforts to round up the worst of the worst criminal aliens.

“We’re picking up people that have been raping children, have been trafficking children, proliferating the use of drugs … and we’re getting them out of the country,” Noem told Fox News on Wednesday. “Every day, we’re SAVING LIVES.”

The comments from Secretary Noem follow the release of a massive advertising campaign to let criminal aliens living in the U.S. and migrants attempting to make their way here to illegally cross the border, that our borders are closed, Breitbart Texas reported.

“We will hunt you down and deport you,” Noem said while introducing the ad on X.

U.S. Immigration and Customs (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers deported a Guatemalan man to his home country this week after CBP arrested him on February 10. The man was wanted in Guatemala for sexual assault charges.

ERO officers in Houston also removed a six-time deported criminal alien from the Houston area. ICE officials told Breitbart Texas they arrested 32-year-old Francisco Lopez Melendez, a Mexican national who was most recently deported in November 2019. His prior arrests include charges of drug possession, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, burglary, DWI, and Evading Arrest. He is also a member of Suenos-13, a violent transnational criminal gang.

Houston ERO also reports:

ICE previously removed Jesus Alvarez Sinecio, a 32-year-old Mexican national deported six-times, Feb. 10, and Humberto Romero Avila, a 45-year-old Paisas gang member and foreign fugitive who illegally entered the U.S. 10 times, Feb. 13. Romero was wanted in Mexico for allegedly murdering a 22-year-old Mexican national in 2007 and was convicted four times for DWI and once for larceny, illegal entry and illegal reentry. Alvarez had prior criminal convictions for aggravated assault of a family member, alien in possession of a firearm, DWI, illegal entry and illegal re-entry.

ERO Houston Field Office Director Bret Bradford said, “After making it into the country, these violent criminal aliens have infiltrated our local communities and reigned terror on law-abiding residents. Fueled by our unwavering commitment to protect the public from harm, and united in our determination to reestablish sovereignty over our southern border, the law enforcement community in Texas has banded together to remove these dangerous criminals from our country and restore law and order in our communities.”

The Trump administration’s actions are having a dramatic impact along the U.S.-Mexico border. The February Southwest Land Border Encounters report from U.S. Customs and Border Protection revealed that migrant apprehensions in January fell by 38 percent from December, President Joe Biden’s last full month in office, Breitbart Texas reported.

Reports posted on X by Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Lt. Chris Olivarez show that border encounters in February are averaging about 328 per day. If this number holds through the end of the month, migrant encounters for February could be as low as 9,200.

This would be a record low in CBP reports dating back to the last full year of the Clinton administration (FY2000). The previous low occurred during President Trump’s third full month in office (April 2017) when agents encountered 11,127 migrants.

Bob Price is the Breitbart Texas-Border team’s associate editor and senior news contributor. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday morning talk show. He also serves as president of Blue Wonder Gun Care Products.