Record Number Of African Migrants Reach US Border, But Trump's Rules Cause 70% Drop In Immigration. The number of African migrants seeking asylum in the US has been steadily increasing since the number started being tracked in 2007. From 2018 to day the number has more than doubled at 5,800. But this raises several questions Amid Trump's new rules on immigration the number of migrants both legal or otherwise has dropped by around 70%. Many people ordered to wait in Mexico gave up their refugee claims and returned home. Apprehensions under the Trump Administration also spiked recently. With all of these facts how could it be that more migrants from Africa are coming? The bigger question many have is why are these people taking an extremely dangerous journey and risking their families lives traveling half way around the world to come to the US border. They could certainly stay in any one of the countries they pass through if the goal truly is to escape some kind of hardship. The reality is that people just want to be in America. We are wealthy, we are free, and everyone knows we are better.