Turns out that just having a new sheriff in town is enough to scare the would be ne’er-do-wells straight. Illegal immigrant crossings into America from the Southern border have dropped more than 60%. From the Washington Times:

Illegal immigration across the southwest border is down more than 60 percent so far under President Trump, officials revealed Tuesday, even before the first new agent is hired or the first mile of his promised border wall is constructed.

Mr. Trump took a victory lap over the “record reductions” in illegal crossers, saying he is already saving Americans’ jobs by preventing them from having to compete with unauthorized workers.

“Down 61 percent since inauguration. Gen. Kelly is doing a fantastic job,” Mr. Trump told a labor union gathering in Washington, praising Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly, a retired Marine Corps general.

What if, and this may be crazy talk, the United States just enforced current law? Maybe immigrants would find it in their best interest to follow the law to become U.S. citizens.

There are places along the border where a wall might make sense. Good fences make good neighbors and all that. The best deterrent seems to be simply letting law enforcement do their jobs.

Mean talk certainly costs less than walls. Law enforcement is already paid for–they’ve just been hampered from following through.

If this trend continues, though, the labor market changes in America pretty quickly. To attract workers, employers will have to pay more and some businesses may go out of business because they rely on cheap, illegal labor. This will lead to inflation. Goods and services prices will go up to compensate for increased labor costs. It will be interesting to track how quickly that happens, if it happens.

In the meantime, Donald Trump’s rhetoric has created an emotional wall for illegal immigrants considering the trek across the border. That was easy.