Woman who lives on the border says Trump has already slowed illegal crossings

Pamela Taylor lives on the border near Brownsville, Texas, so she was the perfect person to tell CNN's Don Lemon on Thursday how Trump's policies and proclamations have directly impacted illegal immigrant crossings.

Lemon began the interview showing a previous video of Taylor criticizing the idea of a border wall.

"That's been the conventional wisdom from a lot of people that if you have a 20-foot wall that there's a 21-foot ladder that can help them get over it," he began. "But your house is right there on the border. You can actually watch undocumented immigrants cross into the country from your home. According to just released Customs and Border Protection numbers, illegal southwest border crossings were down by 40 percent last month. Have you noticed a difference?"

Taylor replied that she had noted a decrease in crossing.  "I believe President Trump is making a difference already," she said.

"Why do you think fewer people are coming over?" Lemon asked, "You said you're seeing fewer people coming over ... tell us about that."

"Basically, it was a constant flow of people coming over," Taylor said. "Not ones and twos, but by twenties and thirties. Now, we actually get a good night's sleep every once in a while. We don't have any interference. Of course, I can't speak for the Border Patrol. They probably are picking people up, but in such large quantities."

"You say that you've had the wall," Lemon continued. "This wall has been at your house for a number of years, almost 10 years at your house, and you said nothing has changed. Although you support the president, you think the idea of a wall is a silly idea."

"If this wall that we have now," Taylor explained, "which has been there since basically '07, and all the millions of illegal immigrants that are in America now, evidently the wall didn't work."

"So even with border crossings plummeting," Lemon pressed, "for whatever reason — whether it is the president, or the economy's doing better in Mexico, whatever the reason it is — do you think there's less reason for a wall and do you still think we need more Border Patrol agents at this point?"

"Yes, we definitely need more Border Patrol agents," Taylor responded. "But I cannot see personally my idea is that we do not need a fence. It's not working. We could use that money for education, for everything. We have veterans right now that are living under bridges, that are walking the streets and begging. We have people that have worked so hard to have homes. And they can't afford the mortgage. I mean we need to start thinking about America first."

Taylor, however, didn't stop with advocating for greater enforcement. She also explained that, though she is against illegal immigration, she feels compelled to help illegal immigrants in need after they have crossed the border, for humanitarian reasons.

Does border drop mean Trump's tough talk is working? @DonLemon speaks to a resident who lives on the Southern border https://t.co/KdFFgkVdUM

— CNN Tonight (@CNNTonight) March 10, 2017

Taylor previously described how her beautiful home had been overrun by illegal immigrants crossing at all times of the day and night to Fox News back in January.

“It’s a way of life now,” Taylor told FoxNews.com. “They come every day.”

Taylor, whose property is on the front line of the border battle, says illegal immigrants have been using her land to sneak into the U.S. for years. One day, the 90-year-old grandmother recalled, she even walked into her living room to find a border crosser trying to evade capture.

“He had come into my house and was just sitting in my rocking chair watching Border Patrol go by,” she said. “It was terrifying.”

The relief that Taylor is describing from illegal immigrant crossings is a reflection of an enormous drop in illegal immigration reported by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency. They report an precipitous decrease of 40 percent from January to February, calling it an "unprecedented" occurrence. While many factors might have led to this drop, Trump's deportation rhetoric is being cited as a likely cause.