Donald Trump warns of 'military invasion' of US as he opens Alligator Alcatraz
The comment came as he touted his immigration record, claiming that zero undocumented individuals made it into the U.S. in the month of May.
Donald Trump claimed the U.S. experienced a "military" invasion of undocumented migrants during Joe Biden's presidency, claiming that the country was under attack.
"In the four years before I took office, Biden allowed 21 million people (that's a minimum — it was much higher than that) to invade our country," Trump said as he addressed reporters at the grand opening of the new "Alligator Alcatraz" immigration detention center in the Everglades in Florida.
"They invaded our country just like a military would invade — tougher because they don't wear uniforms. You don't know who they are," he said.
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The comment came as he touted his immigration record, claiming that zero undocumented individuals made it into the U.S. in the month of May, citing the most recent statistics he said he received.
"We now have the lowest level of daily border crossings ever recorded," he said. "As you know, last month, the month of May, just got released two days ago. The number of illegal aliens into the United States was zero. Zero."
"Even I find it hard to believe that," he continued. "Somebody must have gotten in, I think. I don't know, but they say zero, and the people who count them are radical left Democrats. So, when a radical left Democrat tells me it's zero, I believe them."
The president claimed there's "still much work to do," however. He claimed that more migrants entered the country during the Biden administration than there are people living in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix and Philadelphia — the country's most populated cities — combined.
"That's what came into our country from prisons, from mental institutions, from street gangs, drug dealers. Disgusting," he said. Statistics obtained by Politico and PBS, however, show that the number of illegal border crossings was nowhere near as high as that during Biden's term.
Monthly border crossings under the former president ranged from just under 100,000 to around 300,000 per month from February 2021 through January 2025.
While the total number of crossings is still in the millions, that statistic is nowhere near the more than 21 million that Trump claimed there were during Biden's term.
And, despite Trump's previous claims, the number of illegal crossings actually decreased during the last year or so of Biden's term, dropping from a couple of hundred thousand to less than 100,000 per month.
Nevertheless, the president slammed his predecessor and claimed the border crossings have led to a sharp uptick in crime during his term.
"This enormous country-destroying invasion has swamped communities nationwide with massive crime, crippling costs and burdens far beyond what any nation could withstand. No nation could withstand what we did," Trump said.
