Unauthorized crossings along the U.S.–Mexico border have dropped to their lowest annual level in more than half a century, marking a dramatic shift in American immigration patterns and enforcement. According to internal federal statistics obtained by CBS News and reported by Latin Times, U.S. Border Patrol agents recorded nearly 238,000 apprehensions of migrants crossing the southern border illegally in fiscal year 2025, which ran from October 2024 through September 30, 2025. This figure is the smallest annual total since 1970, when Border Patrol reported about 202,000 apprehensions. The sharp decline follows a period of record-high crossings under the Biden administration, which saw more than 2.2 million apprehensions in fiscal year 2022—almost ten times the number recorded this past year.
The data show that more than 60% of apprehensions in fiscal year 2025 occurred in the last three full months of President Biden’s tenure, before Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January 2025. After Trump’s inauguration, the number of crossings dropped precipitously. In the first eight months of President Trump’s new term, Border Patrol averaged fewer than 9,000 apprehensions per month—a level not seen in decades. For context, that’s a number that Border Patrol agents used to process in a single 24-hour period during the height of the border crisis just a few years ago, according to CBS News.
This drastic change has been attributed to a sweeping crackdown on illegal immigration by the Trump administration, which has implemented a series of controversial policies both at the border and inside the United States. The administration moved quickly to seal and militarize the southern border, deploying thousands of troops and using emergency powers to repel illegal crossings. Humanitarian programs introduced under the previous administration were shut down, and the practice of releasing migrants who crossed illegally was virtually ended. Instead, migrants are now either swiftly deported or held in detention while their cases are reviewed.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson declared in a statement, “President Trump has overwhelmingly delivered on his promise to secure our Southern Border. As a result, Americans are safer—unvetted criminal illegal aliens and dangerous drugs are no longer pouring over our border unchecked. And for all the Democrats who claimed it was impossible to secure the border or that they needed new policy, turns out all we needed was a new President.”
Analysts and researchers have pointed to a combination of deterrence measures and the near-total closure of the U.S. asylum system as key drivers of the decline. Ariel Ruiz Soto, an analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, told CBS News, “The Trump administration’s stringent policies—at the border and inside the U.S.—have had a significant effect on people being deterred from coming illegally to the United States.” He noted that illegal border crossings began to fall sharply in the summer of 2024, after the Biden administration enacted strict limits on asylum, but that Trump’s policies have set “a new normal” for migration flows in just a few months.
Under Trump’s renewed leadership, the administration has expanded detention capacity and staged large-scale raids targeting undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and Border Patrol agents have been dispatched nationwide in what some have described as a deportation campaign of unprecedented proportions. These actions have not gone unnoticed—or unchallenged. The American Civil Liberties Union and other advocacy groups have denounced the administration’s border policies as inhumane, draconian, and illegal, arguing that they violate U.S. and international asylum protections as well as constitutional rights. Several provisions of the administration’s asylum ban have already been struck down in federal court.
The crackdown has sparked significant backlash, especially in major American cities such as Los Angeles and Portland, where large-scale protests have erupted. Critics, including national and local Democratic leaders, have accused the administration of indiscriminately targeting nonviolent immigrants and ignoring due process. In response to confrontations and instances of violence, President Trump recently ordered National Guard troops to deploy to certain cities to protect immigration agents and facilities. However, a federal judge has so far blocked the plan to send National Guard units to Portland, Oregon.
The effects of the border closures have rippled far beyond the United States. According to The Guardian, thousands of migrants who were shut out of the U.S. have been forced to turn back south through Central America. A joint report by the governments of Colombia, Panama, and Costa Rica estimates that more than 14,000 people—most of them Venezuelans—have had to change course and return south. Abril Staples, a field coordinator with the Panamanian Red Cross, described the situation to The Guardian: “People went to chase the American dream, and they are coming back crushed.” Human rights officials warn that migrants making the reverse journey face renewed dangers, including kidnapping, extortion, and sexual violence, as criminal groups exploit their desperation.
Meanwhile, in U.S. border towns, the change is unmistakable. John Martin, who runs a network of migrant shelters in El Paso, Texas, told CBS News that during the spikes in illegal crossings under the Biden administration, his organization housed hundreds of migrants. Now, he says, he isn’t housing a single migrant who isn’t a local homeless resident. “If the goal is to decrease the number of individuals, I would say that appears to have been successful, without getting into the politics about whether or not I like it or dislike it,” Martin said. “We’re just simply not seeing the people.”
It’s worth noting that Border Patrol apprehensions count the number of times agents intercept and process migrants entering the country between official ports of entry. Some migrants may be counted multiple times if they attempt entry more than once after being turned back to Mexico. Nonetheless, the overall reduction is undeniable.
As the debate over immigration enforcement continues to rage in Washington and beyond, the reality on the ground has shifted dramatically. Supporters of the administration argue that the country is safer and more secure, while critics warn of humanitarian crises and legal challenges yet to be resolved. For now, the numbers speak for themselves: the U.S.-Mexico border is quieter than it’s been in more than 50 years, and the consequences of that quiet are being felt on both sides of the divide.
