Trump DHS Announces 12 Straight Months of Zero Border Releases as Crossings Hit Historic Lows
The Department of Homeland Security announced Friday that it has now reached 12 consecutive months without anyone who crossed the border illegally being released in the U.S.
“Twelve straight months of ZERO releases at the border. Under President Donald Trump’s leadership, we are delivering the most secure border in American history,” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said, according to a DHS news release.
“The days of catch and release are over. We are enforcing the nation’s laws and sending illegal aliens back to their home countries.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott celebrated the news, too.
“What a difference, America!” he said in the release. “The U.S. Border Patrol released zero illegal aliens into our country again this month, unlike April 2024 when more than 68,000 were released under President Biden.
“Every minute of every day, President Trump’s border security policies are making every American safer.”
According to the release, the Trump administration’s tough border policies have reduced illegal crossings to the point where “[d]aily apprehensions are down 95% from the previous administration.”
With 15 straight months of fewer than 9,000 people detained after crossing into the country illegally, “the border remains more secure than at any point in history,” the release stated.
The release highlighted the sharp contrast between the 8,943 illegal immigrants detained in April and the number of illegal border crossings in April 2024. The total for last month is equivalent to only three days of border crossings in the last year of the Biden administration, the release stated.
“The U.S. Border Patrol’s average number of apprehensions per day along the southwest border in April (298) were 94% lower than the daily average under the Biden administration,” the release stated.
“The number of U.S. Border Patrol apprehensions per day in April was less than a single hour during the height of the Biden administration (336 per hour in December 2023) and less than the number apprehended every 2 hours on average under the Biden administration,” the release stated.
According to the release, total apprehensions along the Southwest border since the current fiscal year began Oct. 1 are down 37 percent from the monthly average from 1992 through 2024.
Tough border enforcement has also kept illegal drugs from entering America, the release noted.
“Nationwide in April, seizures of cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, fentanyl, and marijuana (combined, by weight) increased 60% from April 2024. In April 2026, heroin seizures increased 73% compared with March 2026 and methamphetamine seizures increased 63%. CBP seized 463 pounds of fentanyl in April,” DHS said.
The release stated that the Border Patrol has “seized 61% more drugs this fiscal year through April than it seized during the same period of FY 2024, and CBP seized 53% more drugs this fiscal year than it seized on average during the last four years in this same period.”
The contrast between the Trump administration and its predecessor can be noted in a May 2024 news release from the House Homeland Security Committee,
That release noted that in April 2024, there were 179,000 encounters along the Southwest border and that border encounters were on a pace to hit 10 million for that federal fiscal year.
And according to the release, encounters in April 2024 were up almost 100 percent from April 2021.
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