Vice President JD Vance said during a visit to the southern border that an apparent slowdown in deportations has been caused by a lack of funding and a gutted immigrant enforcement system.

Vance went with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on a trip to the border on Wednesday, taking questions from reporters about the progress of the Trump administration on border security. Blaze Media national correspondent Julio Rosas asked about “the biggest obstacle to actually carrying out” the mass deportations.

“First of all, Rome wasn’t built in a day,” Vance answered the reporter. “We have seen pretty significant increases in deportations and apprehensions and arrests, but we have to remember that President Biden gutted the entire immigration enforcement regime of this country.”

Vance added that “we are trying to rebuild so that we actually empower people to enforce the immigration laws,” and that the administration will announce ways in which the government will “make it easier for people who are here illegally to go back home of their own accord.”

The former member of the Senate from Ohio asserted that more funding is needed to carry out deportations, as well as pay for flights and detention centers, saying that “we don’t have to go around and arrest every person, but we will enforce the American people’s immigration laws.”

“If you’re here illegally, the message from our administration is: you should go back home, and if you want to come to the United States, apply through the proper channels,” he concluded.

The visit to the border comes after the Trump administration announced that there were just over 8,300 apprehensions of illegal aliens in February, amounting to 300 apprehensions each day, making the month of February “the lowest month in recorded history” for the United States.