A former Border Patrol chief, tasked with advising on immigration matters concerning unaccompanied minors and refugees during the initial 100 days of the Trump administration, has alleged that approximately 70% of sponsor applications were deceitful.
Chris Clem, who served for nearly thirty years with Customs and Border Protection, stated that the Trump administration is addressing the numerous challenges arising from the influx of almost 470,000 unaccompanied children entering the United States in the past four years. This surge has “overburdened a system originally designed to safeguard the best interests and well-being of children,” he elaborated.
“In reality, the situation had the opposite effect for many children because of the flawed system and policies in place, where sponsors were not adequately vetted or were potentially undocumented migrants, smugglers, or criminals,” mentioned Clem, previously stationed in Yuma, Arizona, during the Biden administration, in an interview with Fox News Digital. “Thus, I was tasked with leveraging my 27+ years of Border Patrol experience, having firsthand experience dealing with these issues in the field for numerous years, to reconstruct and implement common-sense guidelines and protocols. And that’s precisely what we accomplished.”
Clem worked with President Donald Trump’s Health and Human Services Department to improve the vetting of documentation from sponsors offering to take in unaccompanied minors.
A U.S. Border Patrol agent checks for identification as migrants wait to be processed after crossing the border from Mexico on Dec. 30, 2022, in Yuma, Arizona. (Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images)
He noted that agents are also able to use their parking lot again. It had been covered by large tents to process the thousands of migrants passing through their sector every day under the Biden administration.
“They sleep good at night knowing that they can give their all.”
“What a time to be a Border Patrol agent, to be creative, innovative, go after targeted operations again, go after those that have eluded us, work side by side with state and federal law enforcement to go after threats that have already made it into the country,” Clem said. “No. 1, they can do their job, and that’s protecting America, and they sleep good at night knowing that they can give their all, and they’re going to be championed by the White House as opposed to demonized by the White House.”
Immigrants await processing by the U.S. Border Patrol after crossing from Mexico on Dec. 30, 2022, in Yuma, Arizona. (Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images)
Clem expressed concern that some U.S. officials, including politicians, judges and attorneys or prosecutors, are using their government positions to protect illegal immigrants. He has a message for those people.
“We are going to leave no stone unturned. If you are complicit, if you are knowingly and willingly encouraging, aiding and abetting, directly or indirectly, illegal immigration, whether it’s cross-border or inside the United States, we’re coming after you,” he said. “Those are the laws. And it doesn’t matter if you are a teenage smuggler on the Rio Grande or a sophisticated cartel or, unfortunately, an elected member of Congress or a state and local government — if you are aiding and abetting, if you are facilitating illegal activity, the U.S. government is coming after you.”
Migrants after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, Aug. 29, 2023, in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument near Lukeville, Arizona. (Matt York/AP Photo)
The CBP recorded the lowest southwest border crossings in history in March, with fewer apprehensions in the entire month than there were in the first two days of the month in 2024 under the Biden administration.
Border Patrol apprehended a total of 7,181 illegal aliens attempting to cross the southern border between ports of entry in March. This constitutes a 14% decrease from February, when Border Patrol apprehended 8,346 aliens. More dramatically, it is a 95% decrease from the 137,473 aliens apprehended under the Biden administration in the same period in 2024.
Fox News’ Anders Hagstrom, Bill Melugin and Peter Pinedo contributed to this report.
