Many Democrats long claimed the only way to solve the border crisis was for Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform, but a Trump-era enforcement posture in the absence of new legislation has led to a 55-year low in crossings.
Data from the Border Patrol cited by Pew Research this week found there were 237,538 migrant encounters at the Mexican border in 2025; the lowest number since Richard Nixon was president when 201,780 were encountered in 1970.
Those figures are a drop from more than 2 million in 2022 and 2023, which neared only the 1986 figure of 1.6 million and the 2024 figure of 1.5 million. President John F. Kennedy had the best luck with border security, as less than 21,000 crossed in any of his three years in office before his assassination.
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Several Democrats were asked about the latest figures and the stark change in absence of legislation they’ve said would be the cure:
BARACK OBAMA
Former President Barack Obama previously called the border crisis during his deputy’s term as president “a painful reminder that we don’t have this right yet,” according to ABC News.
At the time in 2021, Obama said that as a “nation-state, we have to have borders,” and many conservatives have pointed to Obama’s relative success with deportations and the awarding of a medal to then-future Border Czar Tom Homan as an example of when Democrats sought a strong immigration enforcement posture.
But, as Obama told ABC News at the time, the crisis was the reason he proposed comprehensive immigration reform for Congress to pass.
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Fox News Digital reached out to Obama’s office for comment on the border numbers in the absence of such a law.
SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER, D-N.Y.
In September 2024, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer said he would always fight for DREAMers and comprehensive immigration reform.
“Comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship has long been a priority of mine. It is one of the most important things this Congress can do,” he said in 2021.
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Fox News Digital reached out to Schumer for comment.
KAMALA HARRIS
At a campaign rally in 2024, Kamala Harris pledged to work with Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship for DREAMers.
She criticized President Donald Trump for tanking the Lankford-Sinema reform bill and said that politicians should “stop treating immigration as an issue to scare up votes.”
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Fox News Digital reached out to Harris’ office for comment.
SEN. RICHARD DURBIN, D-ILL.
Meanwhile, Sen. Richard Durbin helped craft the original DREAM Act years ago and has said repeatedly that the way to solve the border crisis is through such reforms.
“For more than 35 years, Congress has failed to fix the immigration laws of America,” he said in 2023.
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Fox News Digital reached out to Durbin for comment.
At the top of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday, Durbin obliquely addressed the subject, saying that the Trump administration’s “second iteration… has gone to unprecedented lengths to upend the rule of law, violate the constitutional rights of Americans, and blatantly ignore court orders” with regard to immigration.
REP. NANCY PELOSI, D-CALIF.
In 2014, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters that “what’s happening at the border is a case for passing comprehensive immigration reform.”
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“Some are using that as an excuse not to pass comprehensive immigration reform — any excuse will do; they said they’re not going to do it — They should not take any hope in saying that because of this we cant have it — because of this we must pass comprehensive immigration.”
In 2023, she doubled down, saying that the “MAGA Movement would rather use newcomers to our nation as political pawns than work across the aisle to achieve comprehensive immigration reform,” and in January said the “strength of our democracy” depends on it.
Fox News Digital reached out to Pelosi for further comment.
DAVID TRONE, D-MD.
David Trone, a former Maryland Democratic congressman seeking his old seat this year, has been vocal in opposition to Trump’s immigration enforcement posture, ridiculing ICE for allegedly “executing” people and condemning the administration for its purchase of a sprawling facility in Williamsport, Maryland, that DHS told Fox News Digital would aid in that endeavor.
While running for Senate in 2024 against Angela Alsobrooks and Larry Hogan, Trone remarked, “forget the border,” saying it was a “Republican talking point and distraction.”
“You know who builds all of our homes in the construction industry, virtually all? Latinos. Our immigration policies just don’t make any sense. We need more lawful [immigration].”
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He said at the time that one million immigrants come per year and that policies have not changed for 25 years: “Why? Because Congress is waiting for comprehensive immigration reform.”
ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS
Former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas repeatedly blamed congressional inaction for some of the border woes during his tenure overseeing it.
From the White House podium in 2023, Mayorkas declared the border was “not open,” leading to GOP uproar.
“People who cross our border unlawfully and without a legal basis to remain will be promptly processed and removed,” he said, though the figures from Pew paint a different picture.
“Our current situation is the outcome of Congress leaving a broken, outdated immigration system in place for over two decades, despite unanimous agreement that we desperately need legislative reform. It is also the result of Congress’s decision not to provide us with the resources we need and that we requested.”
Mayorkas was unable to be directly reached for comment.
SEN. RUBEN GALLEGO, D-ARIZ.Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., has also called for reform but has offered more nuance in that regard.
“We don’t have to choose between border security and immigration reform. We can and should do both,” Gallego said in announcing a five-point plan in 2025.
Gallego called for hiring more border agents and reconfiguring the asylum process, but also called for a pathway to citizenship like other top Democrats.
When asked Wednesday about the sudden drop in border crossings in the absence of any such reforms, Gallego said the news was a “win for Arizonans” but also comes with its own issues.
“We can’t replace one form of chaos with another,” Gallego told FOX News Digital.
“Under this administration, ICE has become a rogue agency, with agents who feel they can trample on Americans’ Constitutional rights—including the right to bear arms—with total impunity.”
Gallego said Congress must still pass “durable laws” to reflect the approach he laid out in his 2025 plan.
“[That] prioritizes actual security over lawless intimidation.”
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