The United States Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) has taken over Washington, D.C., office space that once served as headquarters for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
“CBP has signed a license agreement to occupy approximately 390,000 usable square feet in the USAID tower,” a CBP spokesman told Politico.
The agreement comes after the Trump administration has gutted USAID in its previous form to restrict its funding priorities and move it under direct oversight by the State Department and its head, Marco Rubio.
The move also reflects a change in vision and priorities for the new administration, which has taken a more critical approach to foreign aid while focusing much more on the immigration crisis that gripped the country during the previous administration. Earlier this week, White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller reiterated the administration’s commitment to border security and mass deporting illegal aliens.
“I can promise you that the full might of the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, the Department of Defense, and every element and instrument of national power will be used to remove with speed all criminal illegals from the soil of the United States of America, to enforce final removal orders, and to ensure that this country is for American citizens and those that legally belong in this country,” Miller said during a White House press briefing.
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In its first weeks in office, the Trump administration has deported roughly 11,000 illegal aliens while creating space at places such as the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base to hold more deportees as the administration works to return aliens to their countries of origin.
Meanwhile, illegal entries into the United States through the southern border have plummeted since Trump was elected.
“According to newly released data from Customs and Border Protection (CBP), just 61,465 illegal aliens were apprehended at the southern border during the entire month of January — a 36% decline from the previous month. That number includes 29,116 apprehended along the border — the lowest since May 2020 — and 32,349 at ports of entry,” the White House said in a statement this week.
