Vets group patching border fence pledges vigilance amid Trump success: 'There are still gaps'

SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — A group of U.S. military veterans that formed to respond to the crisis at the southern border has continued its work, even as President Donald Trump has largely followed through on promises to stem the flow of illegal crossings.

"As a country, we were going quietly into the night," Kate Monroe, a Marine Corps veteran who became the founder of Border Vets, a group of U.S. military veterans who have given their own time and money to patch up holes in the border barrier in Southern California, told Fox News Digital. "It's not as difficult to secure the nation as people might think."

The comments come as the group that Monroe founded, Border Vets, has continued its work to patch up potential weak points on the U.S. border with Mexico in Southern California.

On a rainy and uncharacteristically cold day in San Diego County, Monroe invited Fox News Digital to see the volunteer organization's continuing work. A group of nearly a dozen U.S. military veterans tagged along for the ride, returning to the infamous "San Judas Break," a gap in the border wall that at its height was allowing more than 3,000 illegal migrants to spill into the U.S. on a weekly basis.

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At issue is a gap in the barrier where the fencing erected by the U.S. government meets a hilly rock formation, leaving a tiny pathway into the country for thousands of migrants who knew where to look. While members of the Border Vets patched the hole with razor wire last year, the group returned to the spot to make improvements to the barrier and extend it further up the hill in an attempt to dissuade illegal crossings.

But things have changed at this spot since the Border Vets initially volunteered their own time and money to patch the hole, with illegal crossings now coming to a near standstill in the area since Trump took office in January.

The Mexican Army has also begun to occupy the area, standing up a makeshift encampment on the other side of the border just a couple of feet from where the Border Vets worked.

The Mexican government's cooperation and Trump's reentry into the White House have had a profound impact on crossing numbers, with February data showing that just 8,300 people attempted to illegally cross the border last month, the lowest mark recorded since fiscal 2000. 

Agents with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have also had far fewer encounters with illegal migrants compared to the same time period in 2023 and 2024, recording just 30,000 encounters in February 2025 compared to more than 130,000 during the same time period in 2023 and 2024.

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Nevertheless, members of the Border Vets have continued their volunteer work, noting that some migrants have been determined enough to find a way through.

"Things are getting better down at the border," one Marine veteran who volunteers for Border Vets told Fox News Digital, noting that there are still gaps, not only figuratively, but literal gaps in the border.

"You can see on the footpath that people are just walking through," he added.

The group insists they have had little trouble with CBP agents patrolling the area, arguing that many have welcomed the assistance, especially during the height of illegal crossings seen in the previous few years. An agent who anonymously spoke to Fox News Digital on Tuesday struck a similar tone, noting that the agency does not stop the group from erecting the makeshift barriers.

In one area of San Diego County near Jacumba Hot Springs, a makeshift shelter built out of wood pallets and tarp, a site that once hosted hundreds of migrants as they waited to make asylum claims to border agents, stood empty.

In other areas of San Diego County's border with Mexico on Tuesday, members checked on their patchwork barriers while noting the stark difference between now and just a few short months ago.

"It's a crazy thing," Monroe said. "There used to be hundreds of people crossing every time I came, now not one. And it's not because of the rain, they were coming rain or shine … the difference has just been absolutely amazing."

Members of the Border Vets welcomed the change, though they plan to stay vigilant to prevent the situation from returning to the point of crisis it had reached over the last few years.

"An open border policy that we've dealt with for the last four years has been nothing but a detriment to the country," a Navy veteran member of Border Vets told Fox News Digital. "We're all struggling, we're all being dealt a bad hand, and it just doesn't send the right message to have our borders wide open when every other nation has closed-border policies."