Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Briefs Members of the Media, Apr. 1, 2025

April 1, 2025 · The White House · 0:31:36

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt briefed members of the media at the White House on Apr. 1, 2025, carried on the White House channel. She opened with the U.S. Army soldiers who went missing on a March 25 mission in Lithuania: three had been found deceased the day before, and “it pains me to confirm that today the fourth soldier was also found deceased,” she said, adding that the President, the Secretary of Defense, and the entire White House were praying for the families.

On the border, Leavitt said southwest border crossings in March fell to the lowest level in American history, down 94% from March of the prior year, when, as she stated it, 137,000 illegal aliens crossed. She said Border Patrol agents were “back to doing the jobs they signed up for,” noted that shelters that once served migrants had closed, and said the military had over the weekend transferred 17 violent criminals from the Tren de Aragua and MS-13 organizations to El Salvador. Looking ahead, she said April 2, 2025 would “go down as one of the most important days in modern American history,” framing the next day’s reciprocal-tariff announcement as the end of America being ripped off on trade.

Why it matters

The briefing pairs the administration’s border record claim for March - the lowest crossings level in American history, as the Press Secretary stated it - with the on-record preview of Liberation Day, making it the bridge record between the border program and the tariff program.

Scoreboard watch

Scoreboard watch: the March border figures as stated at the briefing (lowest level in American history; down 94% from March of the prior year) are recorded here as checkable items.

Sources: The White House, “Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Briefs Members of the Media, Apr. 1, 2025” (YouTube, Apr. 1, 2025) - official description and broadcast transcript as aired.