U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) Kristi Noem visited the country’s southern border on Wednesday to promote the “achievements” of her agency, amid a wave of criticism and protests against the anti-immigrant policies of Donald Trump’s administration.
Noem, along with several high-ranking officials, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Acting Director Todd Lyons, met today with Border Patrol agents in Nogales, Arizona, after visiting Eagle Pass, Texas, yesterday.
Kristi Noem visits the border
In President Trump’s first year back in office, we delivered the most secure border in American history – and we did so in the immediate aftermath of the worst border crisis in history.
THANK YOU to the men and women of CBP, ICE, law enforcement, and the military for your… pic.twitter.com/WLeXXQ0U4X
– Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) February 4, 2026
Speaking in Arizona, Noem insisted on the reduction in the number of apprehensions of irregular border crossers under Trump and took the opportunity to criticize the policies of former President Joe Biden, who left office just over a year ago.
“We have achieved the most secure border in U.S. history, and we did it immediately after the worst border crisis in our history,” said Noem.
Border Patrol encounters with migrants crossing from Mexico into the United States fell in 2025 to their lowest level in more than half a century, according to a Pew Research Center analysis based on federal government statistics.
The agency recorded 237,538 encounters in FY 2025, which began in October 2024 and ended in September 2025, up from more than 1.5 million in 2024, more than two million in 2023, and a record of more than 2.2 million in 2022.
Despite these record low numbers, the Trump administration announced just over a month ago that it will begin installing more than 800 kilometers of a new floating barrier, composed of buoys, on the Rio Grande to “deter” crossings into the United States.
Noem’s visit to the border comes amid a wave of protests in different regions of the country, in rejection of the tactics and operations led by ICE.
In recent months, President Donald Trump has intensified his anti-immigrant policies and has deployed federal agents to different cities governed by the Democratic opposition, in what he calls “operations” to detain people without legal status that have resulted in heavy clashes with the civilian population.
In turn, the government has been accused by human rights organizations, such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), of having carried out arrests without warrants or probable cause, racial profiling, excessive use of force, and arrests in “sensitive locations” such as schools, hospitals, and transportation stations.
Filed under: Kristi Noem visits the border
With information from EFE
