As some Democrats seem to be fighting tooth and nail to let illegal immigrants remain in America, there have been reports of a mass number of migrants who have chosen to “self-deport.” As reported by the Associated Press, this news broke after Michel Bérrios, the former leader of a Nicaraguan student uprising, “left the United States a few days before the new year, giving President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign for mass deportations a small victory before they even started.”

Allegedly, Bérrios was in the country legally and had “nearly a year remaining under President Joe Biden’s unprecedented use of humanitarian parole authority for citizens of certain vulnerable countries,” the outlet added. But her departure appears to be directly related to Trump’s plans to regain control of the crisis at the southern border that has allowed millions of illegals to enter America. The question remains: will there be more of these self-deportations? What lies ahead for the handling of illegal immigration?

From the early days of his presidential campaign, Trump made promises to tackle the issue of immigration head-on if elected. Although his second term is just beginning, Trump has already made strides toward fulfilling this promise. He has also been rather vocal on the executive orders he plans to enact. Shortly after Trump’s landslide victory in November, he announced Tom Homan as his pick for border czar. The AP addressed how “self-deportation [would help] Trump to achieve his goals without the government having to spend or do anything.” Homan had previously stated that “if you wanna self-deport, you should self-deport because … we know who you are, and we’re gonna come and find you.”

In addition to the incoming Trump administration’s plans of mass deportation, Congress has made several decisions directly related to the handling of illegal immigrants. For instance, the Laken Riley Act made its way through the House for the second time earlier this month. The goal of the bill is to “require detention of migrants arrested for crimes like theft,” such as Laken Riley’s murderer, Jose Ibarra. The bill is on track to pass as it recently cleared the Senate.

Another example of tighter regulations concerning illegal immigrants is the case of Angelica Maria Francisco, an illegal immigrant who was just sentenced to five years in prison after using “a stolen identity to get a U.S. passport,” which she then used to register and vote in U.S. elections. As The Washington Times pointed out, “The case challenges the assertion of voting-rights groups who argue that noncitizen voting is largely a myth.”

It may be unlikely that these cases are all directly correlated with one another, but they do all come within days of Trump’s inauguration, in which he’s vowed to secure the country. Similarly, Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) recently said in an interview, “Congress’s job in the long term is to solve this problem, to make sure that security — our nation’s safety — is at the forefront.”

David Closson, Family Research Council’s director of the Center for Biblical Worldview, believes Trump’s inauguration is directly related to the spike in illegal immigration. “The results of the election proved that the American people are concerned about the southern border and issues of crime related to illegal immigration,” he told The Washington Stand. “In fact, earlier today, the Senate voted to invoke cloture on the Laken Riley Act. It appears this bill will be one of the first acts of legislation signed by President Trump when he takes office.”

But perhaps more importantly, Closson pointed to “the fact that eight Democrats joined the unanimous Republican caucus to pass a bill that cracks down on criminal illegal aliens. That’s a sign that even Democrats have woken up to the fact that Americans want common-sense immigration laws that crack down on illegal behavior. We also know that the incoming administration has promised to deport illegal immigrants beginning with the tens of thousands of illegal immigrants who have committed crime in the United States.”

As Closson explained, “Tom Homan has promised a muscular policy when it comes to sealing the border as well as departing criminals.” Moving forward, he argued, we will likely “see this issue continue to dominate our political discourse in the months” ahead. “But make no mistake about it — the American people sent a loud message to the political class that they are sick and tired of illegal immigration.”