Immigration

Border Patrol Apprehensions Reach Lowest Average In History Under Trump

Alex Smith/Creative Commons/Flickr

Under the Trump administration, Border Patrol apprehensions are sinking to levels never before experienced in Customs and Border Protection (CBP) history.

Border Patrol agents apprehended a total of 8,347 illegal migrants along the southern border throughout February, according to the latest figures released Wednesday by CBP. The number marks a 71% decrease from the previous month when agents caught 29,101 illegal migrants, while also showing a 94% decrease from the 140,641 illegal migrants nabbed in February 2024.

Nationwide Border Patrol apprehensions averaged roughly 330 per day in February, while southern border apprehensions fell to less than 300 per day, according to CBP.

CBP’s Office of Field Operations, which handles migrant encounters at ports of entry, also reported 3,362 inadmissible migrant encounters along the U.S.-Mexico border in February, marking a 90% drop from the previous month and a 93% drop from February 2024, according to CBP.

The administration hailed the figure as “the lowest average of nationwide apprehensions in CBP history” — pointing to the executive orders signed by Trump as the catalyst for the drop.

“The men and women of U.S. Customs and Border Protection continue to aggressively implement the President’s Executive Orders to secure our borders, and as a result of this leadership, we have achieved historic lows in border apprehensions,” said Acting Commissioner Pete Flores. “At the direction of the administration, we remain unwavering in our mission to prioritize American safety, secure the border, and enforce consequences for those who violate United States law.”

Trump signed a flurry of executive orders aimed at controlling the southern border upon his return to the White House. His orders included a national emergency declaration allowing him to divert more military resources to the southern border and resume wall construction, a designation of drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, a pause on refugee admissions and an attempt to end birthright citizenship for individuals born on American soil to illegal migrant parents.

The Republican president also successfully coerced both the Mexican and Canadian governments to do more to bolster border security, including a commitment of 10,000 national guard troops by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum in February to help stem the flow of illegal immigration and illicit drugs.

Results of the administration changes began to show almost instantaneously.

Border Patrol encounters totaled 229 across the U.S.-Mexico border on Feb. 16, according to border czar Tom Homan. He not only noted how this was a sharp decline from the high of more than 11,000 daily apprehensions under the Biden administration, but also the lowest daily number he could recall since starting as a Border Patrol agent in 1984.

Shortly afterward, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed that there were a mere 200 migrant encounters at the southern border on Feb. 22, marking the lowest single-day apprehension number in over 15 years.

Popular migration routes taken by asylum seekers have since slowed to a trickle. Illegal migration through the Darien Gap, a jungle region between Colombia and Panama, dropped a staggering 94% in January compared to the same month last year, according to data released by Panama’s National Migration Service. There are now growing reports of southbound migration by individuals simply choosing to turn around rather than try to enter the U.S.

The Trump administration has continued to implement policies aimed at reducing illegal immigration. The CBP One app — an app previously used to pencil in asylum request interviews along the southern border and promptly terminated by the administration— was repurposed earlier in March into the CBP Home app, which includes a feature to allow illegal migrants to self-deport.