Number of immigrants in border communities plunges thanks to Trump crackdown
Population growth in U.S. cities has slowed and some of the steepest drops are in communities along the southern border as immigration fell during the opening months of President Donald...
By Fox News · Fox News
Population growth in U.S. cities has slowed and some of the steepest drops are in communities along the southern border as immigration fell during the opening months of President Donald Trump ’s second term, according to new Census Bureau estimates. The bureau said the average growth rate for metro areas fell to 0.6% in 2025 from 1.1% a year earlier, reflecting a broad slowdown in international migration after immigrants had helped fuel urban rebounds in 2024, the last year of President Joe Biden's open border policies. "That pattern suggests a sharper rise-and-fall effect in border regions, where international migration plays a more central role in year-to-year population change," Texas Demographic Center interim director Helen You told The Associated Press. Metro areas along the U.S.-Mexico border saw the steepest declines as the number of immigrants fell, including in Laredo, Texas; Yuma, Arizona; and El Centro, California. Big immigration hubs also saw significant drops. Miami-Dade County, Harris County in Texas and Los Angeles County all took in far fewer immigrants last year. CORPORATE AMERICA IS ON THE MOVE, AND THESE RED STATES ARE CASHING IN Laredo, Texas, saw its growth rate tumble from 3.2% to 0.2%. Yuma, Arizona, dropped from 3.3% to 1.4%, while El Centro, California, fell from 1.2% growth into a 0.7% decline. The slowdown extended beyond the border. Major immigrant destinations, including Miami-Dade County, Harris County, Texas, and Los Angeles County, all recorded much lower levels of immigration in 2025. The Census Bureau said nine out of 10 U.S. counties took in fewer immigrants than a year earlier. The Census Bureau data covers a one-year period ending in July 2025. Demographers said the change mattered because immigration has become a key driver of population growth in an aging country with low birth rates. In many large metro areas, it now plays an outsized role in determining whether populations rise or fall. MORE AMERICANS LEAVE BIG CITIES FOR…