Border Finally Secured: Trump's Policies Deliver Real Wins for American Families

By Tucker McAllister | Circus of Power | March 26, 2026

Back in Millbrook, Ohio, during my time as mayor, I'd get calls from folks like old man Harlan Jenkins. Harlan had worked the line at the Delco plant for 35 years, building car parts that kept Detroit humming. When the factory shuttered in 2016—shipped off to Mexico for cheaper labor—he ended up driving a truck for half the pay, competing with guys who didn't have to follow the same rules. "Tucker," he'd say, "it's like the border's wide open right here in Ohio, flooding the market with undercuts." Harlan's not alone. Millions of working Americans have felt that squeeze, their wages stagnant while illegals pour in for jobs that should go to citizens first. That's why today's news from the border hits like a gut punch of good sense: For the tenth straight month, zero illegal aliens released into the U.S. at the southwest border. And in a bombshell that should shame the open-borders crowd, Border Czar Tom Homan announced that 145,000 "missing" kids—trafficked through the chaos of the Biden years—have been located, reunited with families, or protected from predators.

This isn't some abstract policy win; it's a lifeline for towns like Millbrook, where immigration enforcement means protecting paychecks and communities from being overrun. The Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection dropped the March data this morning, crediting Trump-era revivals like Remain in Mexico 2.0 and the mass deportation machine that's been humming since Inauguration Day. Encounters at the border are down a staggering 92% year-to-date, according to DHS figures. That's not a fluke—it's the result of walls that work, agents empowered to do their jobs, and a president who means what he says about America First. Homan, the no-nonsense enforcer who's seen it all, laid it out plain in his briefing: "145k missing kids the last admin lost and weren't even looking for." Those words went viral on X, racking up 80,000 views and 26,000 likes under #BorderSecurity. It's the kind of raw truth that cuts through the Washington fog.

Let me paint the picture for you. Under Biden, the border was a revolving door—over 10 million encounters since 2021, with audits showing the previous administration lost track of at least 85,000 unaccompanied minors. Those kids didn't vanish into thin air; they ended up in the shadows, exploited by cartels for labor, drugs, or worse. The Congressional Budget Office has crunched the numbers: Undocumented labor has suppressed wages by 5-10% in sectors like construction and manufacturing, the very jobs that could have kept Millbrook's Main Street alive. In my town, we lost 1,200 factory positions to offshoring, but the under-the-table hires that followed drove down what was left—roofers, welders, truckers all taking hits. Now, with zero releases, we're seeing the turnaround. Last weekend alone, CBP nabbed 72 migrants off San Diego, turning them back instead of cutting them loose with a court date they'll never show for.

The House of Representatives sealed the deal today, passing a resolution 225-187 to fully fund DHS operations. Every single Republican voted yes; 95% of Democrats said no. That's not bipartisanship—it's a line in the sand. Senator John Kennedy from Louisiana nailed it on the floor: "They can't feed their families," he said of the DHS agents left in the lurch by shutdown brinkmanship. Kennedy's pushing a separate bill to fund TSA without tying it to border games, but the message is clear: Democrats would rather grandstand than secure the nation. On X, the MAGA crowd is lighting it up—posts from accounts like @TRUMP_ARMY_ calling out "Democrats are traitors!" with 13,000 likes. Even independents are on board; polls show 55% approval for these enforcement measures. It's a rare bipartisan nod to common sense, buried under the usual partisan sniping.

Of course, the critics are howling. The left-leaning America's Voice blog is spinning this as "cruel family separations," and MSNBC's The 11th Hour ran a segment last night warning that "Trump's raids terrorize communities." Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took to X with her usual flair, decrying it as "militarization of the border." They'll tell you it's about compassion, that these policies are xenophobic or racist. Baloney. This is about prioritizing American kids and workers over a broken asylum system that's been gamed by cartels. Those 145,000 children weren't separated from families out of cruelty—they were lost because the Biden crew opened the floodgates and looked the other way. Homan's team didn't "raid" communities; they tracked down leads, busted trafficking rings, and brought innocents out of harm's way. If that's terrorizing, then what was the status quo—kids handed off to unvetted sponsors who turned out to be traffickers? The data doesn't lie: Prior to Trump's return, the system was a humanitarian disaster, with whistleblowers from ICE testifying to Congress about overwhelmed facilities and vanishing minors.

And let's not forget the economic angle, because that's where it hits home hardest. In Millbrook, after the plant closed, we saw an influx of low-wage labor that made it tougher for locals to climb back. Nationally, the trade deficit ballooned under free-trade fantasies, but open borders compounded it by flooding the labor pool. With encounters down 92%, we're finally stemming that tide. Construction wages, which had flatlined for years, are ticking up in border states—up 3% in Texas alone since enforcement ramped up, per BLS data. Manufacturing could follow if we keep the pressure on. Trump's even mulling National Guard deployments to airports to back up ICE amid these funding fights, ensuring that security doesn't skip a beat. It's pragmatic, not punitive.

The media's doing its level best to drown this out, of course. While Fox and the X warriors celebrate, CNN and MSNBC are fixated on the Iran pause—Trump's 10-day hold on strikes against Tehran's energy plants—as if that's the only story worth a damn. Oil prices are up 3-5% today, sure, and gas could hit $4.50 a gallon, squeezing wallets from Ohio to California. But why are we even debating endless Middle East entanglements when our own border was a sieve? Europe can foot its own defense bills; NATO allies have been freeloading too long while American factories rust. The border wins are the real news—tangible progress that saves lives and livelihoods. Yet outlets like NPR gave the DHS report a passing mention, if that, while devoting hours to "escalation risks" abroad. It's the same old spin: Distract from domestic victories that expose elite failures.

They'll say these policies are too harsh, that we need "comprehensive reform" instead of enforcement. Fine—show me a reform that puts America first without amnesty giveaways. The Democrats' 95% no-vote on DHS funding tells you all you need to know: They're still wedded to the status quo that hollowed out places like Millbrook. But with midterms looming in 2026, working families have a chance to push back. Support leaders like Homan and Kennedy who deliver results. Demand that Congress quit the games and lock in these gains—full funding, no loopholes. If we do, we might just see factories roaring back, wages rising, and kids safe from the shadows.

In the end, securing the border isn't about walls or raids; it's about restoring the promise that hard work in America pays off for Americans. Harlan Jenkins passed a few years back, but his story lives on in every rust-belt town fighting to survive. Today's wins are for him, for Millbrook, and for every family tired of being last in line. Let's keep the momentum—because if we don't, the cartels and the complacency will win.

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Tucker McAllister is a former mayor of Millbrook, Ohio and writes on trade, immigration, and working-class America.

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