Border Patrol morale is 'going through the roof' under Trump administration, top official says

U.S. Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks told Fox News Wednesday that morale astatine his bureau is "going done the roof" nether the Trump administration. 

Speaking to "America’s Newsroom," Banks said, "We've had the handcuffs taken off" and "we're allowed to really bash our job, which is spell retired and enforce the law.  

"Under this administration, they person virtually taken the handcuffs disconnected and allowed america to enforce instrumentality alternatively of policies that were created to contradict the instrumentality and truthful our morale has continued to rise," helium continued. 

Banks’ remarks travel pursuing a caller study by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) that revealed determination were less apprehensions astatine the confederate borderline successful the full period of March than determination were successful the archetypal 2 days of the period successful 2024 nether the Biden administration. 

ARMY TAKES CONTROL OF FEDERAL LAND ALONG NEW MEXICO BORDER TO INCREASE SECURITY, PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT 

U.S. Border Patrol processes a radical of migrants adjacent a road successful February 2024 extracurricular Eagle Pass, Texas. Banks told Fox News that apprehensions determination person fallen sharply. (Sergio Flores/AFP via Getty Images)

Since taking bureau successful January, President Donald Trump has signed orders ending birthright citizenship, suspended exile admissions, ended the usage of an app astatine the confederate borderline to admit migrants via humanitarian parole, and resumed borderline partition construction. 

"Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, Border Patrol agents are present backmost to doing the jobs they signed up for: securing the border, alternatively than serving arsenic question agents for amerciable aliens," White House property caput Karoline Leavitt said earlier this month. "The Los Angeles Times captured the Trump effect connected the borderline with a caller article. Their header work ‘California, Mexico border, erstwhile overwhelmed, is present astir bare with truthful fewer migrants coming into the U.S.’ They wrote, ‘shelters that erstwhile served migrants person wholly closed.’" 

Banks besides told Fox News connected Wednesday that recruiting is "looking great" and the Border Patrol is "seeing immoderate of our highest numbers ever." 

CBP OFFICERS SEIZE OVER $14 MILLION OF ALLEGED METHAMPHETAMINE AT SOUTHERN BORDER 

A Border Patrol cause works to seal an amerciable cross-border passageway betwixt El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, connected March 11. (Herika Martinez/AFP via Getty Images)

"Really excited astir that due to the fact that arsenic you know, during the erstwhile 4 years nether the Biden administration, we saw a wide exodus from the Border Patrol and we saw immoderate of our lowest recruiting numbers. We're seeing the opposite," helium added. "We're seeing agents propulsion status paperwork successful bid to proceed staying successful and serve, and we're seeing our recruiting numbers spell done the roof." 

Banks said astatine 1 point, the country of Eagle Pass, Texas, "was seeing an mean of 3 to 4 1000 [apprehensions] a day. 

A ample radical of migrants, immoderate carrying children, transverse the Rio Grande and get successful Eagle Pass, Texas, connected Sept. 27, 2023. (Benjamin Lowy for Fox News Digital )

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

"Right now, Eagle Pass, Texas is seeing an mean of 18 apprehensions a time and precise fewer gotaways, small to none. Some days zero gotaways," helium said. 

Fox News Digital’s Peter Pinedo and Greg Wehner contributed to this report.