Reported illegal entries continue to decline nationwide, reversing a Biden administration trajectory where the numbers of encounters and apprehensions broke records every month.
In May, illegal entry encounters reported nationwide totaled 29,502, slightly up from 29,218 in April, which were up from 29,021 in March, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.
By contrast, the numbers for these months under the Biden administration reached the highest levels on record in 2023: 259,471 in March, 276,036 in April and 275,166 in May that year, according to CBP data.
The numbers dropped dramatically after President Donald Trump was sworn into office. After he was elected, total numbers for November and December reached nearly 125,000 a month, dropping to nearly 82,000 in January when he was sworn into office. The numbers dropped to under 30,000 in February and haven’t gone below 29,000, as of May data.
The majority of encounters/apprehensions were reported at the southwest border, totaling 106,322 in October at the beginning of the fiscal year, dropping to 61,449 in January and under 12,000 in February in Trump’s first full month in office.
In May, total encounters at the southwest border totaled 12,452, according to the data. By contrast, they totaled 170,716 in May 2024, 206,690 in May 2023 and 241,136 in May 2022.
At the northern border, illegal entries reported nationwide were 15,207 last October, dropping to 4,975 in January when Trump came into office. They dropped in February but picked up slightly each month to reach 5,063 in May.
By comparison, northern border illegal border crosser encounters reached their highest level ever in May 2024 of 18,663, up from 16,833 in May 2023 and 9,913 in May 2022, according to the data.
With 12,452 encounters reported at the southwest border and 5,063 at the northern border in May, the remaining encounters were reported nationwide at ports of entry totaling 11,987 in May, according to CBP data.
Border Czar Tom Homan said Tuesday total Border Patrol apprehensions dropped to record levels in June of 6,070, ahead of CBP releasing official data.
The total is less than a single day of encounters under the Biden administration and “is less than half of a single day under Biden on many days,” he said. He also said none, “ZERO,” of the 6,070 apprehended by Border Patrol agents were released into the country.
Homan is referring solely to Border Patrol data, which excludes CBP Office of Field Operations data. OFO officers working at ports of entry released nearly 13,000 inadmissibles into the country between February and May this year, The Center Square reported.
Nearly 13,000 inadmissibles released into the country over four months was significantly fewer when compared to hundreds of thousands released by the Biden administration over a similar four-month time-period.
Overall, millions of inadmissibles were released into the country through a Biden administration catch-and-release policy and more than a dozen parole programs created for citizens of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, Venezuela (CHNV), Guatemala and others.
Under Biden, a record more than 3 million illegal border crossers from CHNV countries were reported, including more than 531,000 inadmissable CHNV parolees released into the country, The Center Square reported.
A record more than 2.5 million illegal border crossers from Colombia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras were reported under the Biden administration, The Center Square reported.
Another 1.6 million illegal border crossers were publicly reported from four out of 12 Countries of Foreign Concern, three countries of which are also designated as State Sponsors of Terrorism, including Iran, The Center Square reported.
Under the Biden administration, more than 1,500 Iranian illegal border crossers were reported by Border Patrol officers alone. Among them, more than 700 were released into the country, The Center Square exclusively reported.
On his first day in office, Trump began ending all Biden-era border policies.
Since then, “President Trump has created the most secure border in the history of the nation and the data proves it,” Homan said. “We have never seen numbers this low. Never. God bless the men and women of the US Border Patrol and God bless the men and women of ICE,” adding that “interior arrests and consequences help to drive down illegal immigration.”
