Border Crossings Drop 95% Under Trump Policies, No Releases for 16 Months
U.S. border apprehensions fall to historic lows as Trump-era policies curb illegal crossings and releases.
2 min read
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has reported a dramatic decline in illegal border crossings, with apprehensions dropping by nearly 95% since the height of the Biden border crisis. This significant reduction has come under the Trump administration’s immigration policies, which have led to a 16-month streak of zero illegal alien releases into the U.S. interior.
Record Drop in Apprehensions
According to an unofficial report reviewed by Breitbart Texas, Border Patrol arrested approximately 8,900 illegal aliens in September after crossing between ports of entry. This brings the total for the fiscal year 2026 to just under 137,000 apprehensions, a sharp decline from the peak year of the Biden border crisis, FY23, which saw over 2.4 million illegal crossings.
Commissioner Rodney Scott of CBP told Breitbart News that no illegal aliens have been released into the U.S. interior since the Trump administration’s new policies took effect, marking a historic achievement in border security.
Impact on Cartels and Human Smuggling
Scott explained that the sharp decline in border crossings has had a significant impact on Mexican cartels, which rely on the influx of migrants to operate their smuggling networks. Without the influx of illegal migrants, the cartels are struggling to maintain their operations and are unable to overwhelm federal agents.
“The cartels need the illegal migrants to overwhelm law enforcement at the border so they can bring the higher-threat commodities, whether it be narcotics, whether it be people that pay more money to avoid being fingerprinted, terrorists, criminals,” Scott said. “Now they don’t have it … they’re not getting the migrant customer recruits they had before.”
Changes in Unaccompanied Alien Children Policy
The number of unaccompanied alien children (UACs) apprehended at the border has also dropped dramatically, from 137,235 in FY23 to just over 7,600 in FY26. Under current policies, UACs are no longer being released to parents in the U.S. or to labor traffickers but are instead being processed for deportation back to their home countries.
These changes reflect a shift in U.S. immigration policy, emphasizing enforcement and deterrence over humanitarian aid and release. The administration has stripped transnational criminal organizations of the human shields they relied on to smuggle high-threat contraband.
End of Border Crisis
The dramatic collapse in border apprehensions and the complete elimination of releases into the American interior mark a decisive end to the Biden-era border crisis. The record demonstrates that decisive enforcement and structural policy shifts can secure the southern border and dismantle the cartel networks that exploit it.
Source: Breitbart
