Photo: Alamy
Pew Research Center reported this week that illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border has fallen to its lowest level in more than 50 years under President Donald Trump.
In fiscal year 2025, which includes nearly four months at the end of former President Joe Biden’s administration, the Department of Homeland Security recorded fewer than 238,000 apprehensions of people crossing the southern border illegally.
That figure represents a significant decline from recent years. During fiscal year 2024, Biden’s final full year in office, more than 1.5 million people were apprehended at the border. Apprehensions exceeded 2 million in fiscal year 2023 and topped 2.2 million in fiscal year 2022.
“The 2025 total was the lowest in any fiscal year since 1970, according to historical data from the Border Patrol,” the Pew Research Center stated.
Pew researchers also examined only the months in fiscal year 2025 when President Trump was in office and found fewer than 10,000 apprehensions per month, the lowest monthly level in more than 25 years.
Separately, the Trump administration said Wednesday that there have now been nine consecutive months in which no migrants apprehended at the border were released into the U.S. interior.
“Every individual apprehended was processed according to law — a milestone unmatched in modern border history,” the administration’s press release stated.
“In President Trump’s first year back in office, we have delivered the most secure border in American history – and we did so in the immediate aftermath of the worst border crisis in history. President Trump’s leadership and bold action have given this country a secure border that keeps breaking historic records,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem posted to X.
“January 2026 marked the 4th consecutive month of decline in the number of Border Patrol apprehensions at the southwest border, with just over 6,000, and the ninth month in a row, that Border Patrol has released ZERO illegal aliens into the interior of the country,” she added.
CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott previously praised frontline personnel for their “unmatched consistency.”
“Our mission is simple: Secure the border and safeguard this nation,” Scott also noted in the statement. “And that’s exactly what we are doing.” He added, “No excuses, no politics. Just results delivered by the most dedicated law enforcement professionals in the country. We’re not easing up, we’re pushing even harder.”
