The Border Is Secure, and the Numbers Prove It
As fiscal 2026 closes, Border Patrol apprehensions are running far below even last year's 55-year low, and DHS reports 16 straight months of zero releases. In our view, it is the defining promise kept of the Trump era.
By Clara Hughes
Label: Altas World News Opinion Estimated read time: 6 minutes Key takeaways CBP data show 89,760 Border Patrol apprehensions at the Southwest border from October 2025 through August 2026, the first 11 months of fiscal 2026 [1]. That is well under half of the full-year total for fiscal 2025, which was itself the lowest since 1970 [2]. DHS says the Border Patrol has released zero illegal crossers for 16 straight months [3]. In our view, this is what a secure border looks like. Republicans should say so proudly, and Congress should make the gains permanent. Remember where we were It is easy to forget how bad it got. In fiscal 2022, the Border Patrol recorded a record of more than 2.2 million encounters with migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. Fiscal 2023 topped 2 million. Fiscal 2024 came in above 1.5 million, according to Pew Research Center's analysis of federal data [4]. Put another way, CBP says the Border Patrol averaged 1.86 million Southwest border apprehensions a year over the four fiscal years before fiscal 2025 [2]. That works out to an average of nearly 5,100 apprehensions a day for four straight years. In our view, that chaos was not inevitable. It was the result of policy choices. Where we are now In our view, policy changed, and the results followed. In fiscal 2025, which ran from October 2024 through September 2025, the Border Patrol recorded 237,565 apprehensions at the Southwest border. U.S. Customs and Border Protection called it the lowest fiscal-year total since 1970, when the figure was 201,780 [2]. That year included more than three months under the previous administration [2]. Fiscal 2026, the first full fiscal year under President Trump's second term, ended on Sept. 30. CBP has not yet published September figures. But its monthly table for October 2025 through August 2026 shows a combined 89,760 Southwest border apprehensions [1]. That 11-month figure is well under half of fiscal 2025's full-year total and well below the 201,780 recorded in al…