Photo: Alamy
The Trump administration announced on Tuesday that U.S. Border Patrol apprehensions reached their lowest level in more than five decades during fiscal year 2025, marking what officials called a historic turnaround in border security.
According to preliminary figures from the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, agents made 237,565 apprehensions between Oct. 1, 2024, and Sept. 30, 2025, marking the fewest since 1970, when 201,780 apprehensions were recorded.
“We have had the most secure border in American history and our end of year numbers prove it. We have shattered multiple records this year and once again we have broken a new record with the lowest number of Southwest border apprehensions in 55 years,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem in the news release. “Under President Trump, we have empowered and supported our law enforcement to do their job and they have delivered.”
Officials noted that 72 percent of this year’s encounters occurred during the final months of the Biden administration, before President Donald Trump took office in January. CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott credited the drop to stricter enforcement policies under President Trump.
“Fiscal Year 2025 shows what happens when we enforce the law without compromise,” Scott said. “Today agents are empowered to do their jobs — and the result is the lowest apprehensions in more than five decades, and the most secure border in modern history.”
The total represents an 87 percent decline from the average of the previous four fiscal years, when apprehensions averaged 1.86 million annually. September marked the fifth consecutive month with zero migrant releases along the southwest border, compared with more than 9,000 in September 2024.
Trump’s administration also reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainers in major sanctuary cities have risen sharply. The president has emphasized border enforcement as a cornerstone of his second term, ending programs such as “catch-and-release” and the CBP One app’s use for migrant parole. Instead, the app now allows migrants to schedule self-deportations voluntarily.
In total, 172,026 of this year’s apprehensions occurred under Biden, with only 65,539 recorded after Trump took office, with a 95 percent drop from the prior administration’s monthly average, CBP data shows. Trump officials said the data demonstrates that strong enforcement, rather than new legislation, is sufficient to secure the southern border.