On the one-year anniversary of Donald Trump re-taking the White House, the disruptor-in-chief reminded Americans and the world why he was elected in the first place.
Common sense. Clear vision. Results.
'After 12 months back in the White House, our economy is booming, growth is exploding, productivity is surging, investment is soaring, incomes are rising, inflation has been defeated, our previously open and dangerous border is closed and virtually impenetrable,' boomed the 47th president of the United States from a stage at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
In the audience, foreign diplomats and leaders - surely, some with mouths agape - largely sat on their hands as Trump's rattled off his administration's achievements.
No doubt, the great and the good of Europe came to hear what Trump had to say on matters of importance to them: war, tariffs and, of course, Greenland. But they would have been wise to pay closer attention to the president's domestic policy pronouncements.
They may even have learned something.
In his second term, Trump has cut taxes and ramped up regulatory reform speeding energy production and lowing gas prices, even while injecting the US into several conflict zones, emerging as a peacemaker in many - although a resolution to the Russia/Ukraine war eludes him.
But there is one clear promise kept that stands above the rest - immigration and border security enforcement.
The statistics on illegal border crossings in December alone, compared to the same period under President Joe Biden, are striking:
- 30,698 total encounters nationwide - 92 percent below the peak of the Biden administration's 370,883 and the lowest encounters ever for a month of December.
- 6,478 apprehensions on the southwest border - 96 percent lower than the monthly average of the Biden administration, and less than the number apprehended in just four days in December 2024.
- Zero parole releases - compared to 7,041 released by the Border Patrol under the Biden administration along the southwest border in December 2024.
America no longer has a crisis at the Southern Border.
No new laws were passed, but the country simply elected a president who instructed the Department of Homeland Security to enforce the laws that were on the books. As Acting Director of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Todd Lyons told me this week, Trump instructed his agency to enforce the laws whereas Biden told them not to.
And somehow Trump's position has become the controversial one? On the contrary, what Biden did at the border and on issues of enforcement was a dereliction of duty.
Under Trump, over 2.6 million illegal aliens have been deported, and about two million have self-deported. Over 600,000 were due to targeted law enforcement efforts.
And with this one promise kept, other policy blessings have followed.
It turns out when you shut off the illegal immigration spigot, you also shut off the flow of deadly drugs into the country. Drug overdose deaths in the United States fell by more than 20 percent last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has data on overdoses through August.
And despite the howlings from the left about how Trump treats other world leaders, whatever he is doing with Mexico is working.
Mexico's security minister said Tuesday that his country has transferred a total of 92 detained cartel members to the United States for safe keeping, as the Trump administration ratchets up pressure on governments to crack down on criminal networks it says are smuggling drugs across the border.
All of this matters because immigration is not an abstract policy issue for most Americans -- it is deeply personal for families who have lost a loved one to deadly drugs like fentanyl, and it touches on issues of sovereignty, safety and fairness.
When border crossings soared to historic levels in the prior decade, communities struggled with strain on housing, education and social services. Central American cartels turned crossing points into revenue streams built on human misery.
For years, political elites offered vague promises and empty proposals. Trump has delivered measurable change.
Unsurprisingly, Trump's immigration policy is at the center of the Democrats' fierce opposition.
Look no further than deep blue Minnesota, which has become a battleground. For Democrats, painting Trump as extreme or cruel on immigration obscures the truth - laws are being enforced and lives are being saved. It is a curious question: why is one American political party fighting so hard to keep any illegal aliens in the country?
Indeed, Trump's job is not finished. As Director Lyons told me on Tuesday, there are still about 1.5 million illegal aliens in the United States with adjudicated deportation orders. That means they've had their due process and need to be sent home. But it takes time to do that, especially when Democrats and their media partners are working so hard to stop it from happening.
There is also a messaging battle ahead, as Trump fights off a propaganda campaign in Minnesota that seeks to turn lawless illegal aliens and their Democratic protectors like Governor Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey into heroes, and brave law enforcement into villains.
But there would be no chaos in Minneapolis if local officials would simply cooperate with the federal government; it seems, sadly, chaos is what Democrats prefer.
Did you know that in Minnesota, if an ICE agent is attacked during an enforcement action, the local police have been ordered NOT to help their fellow officers? Crazy, but true.
Chaos is the point, and there is blood on the hands of the Democratic politicians causing it. If Minnesota Democrats would allow federal agents into their jails to deport criminal illegal aliens - like officials in countless other jurisdictions are doing - there would be far fewer ICE agents in Minneapolis.
If Walz and Frey are serious about sending ICE home, all they have to do is open the jails to make it happen. But they won't, instead choosing to turn violent illegal aliens loose on the streets - and people - of Minnesota.
Of course, all this progress may be reversed by a change of power in Washington. The midterms are looming. And Trump's name won't be on the ballot.
It remains to be seen whether the president can motivate his base supporters to turn out to back Republicans in numbers they never have before.
But when I think about his first year back in office, I cannot think of an area where Trump has been more successful - and I cannot think of an area where he's painted a brighter line between America's two parties - one wants to enforce the law and the other fights desperately to demonize law enforcement and keep millions of illegal aliens in the United States at any cost.
Trump kept his promise.
Will the electorate help finish the job?