By The Epoch Times | Created at 2025-04-02 12:29:30 | Updated at 2025-04-03 11:12:04
22 hours ago
March encounters represent a sharp drop from the same month under the Biden administration, the White House said.
The number of people caught illegally crossing the U.S.–Mexico border in March fell to the lowest level ever recorded, the Trump administration said on April 1.
Border patrol agents encountered 7,181 illegal immigrants at the southern border last month, according to the White House.
March’s figures—which amount to 1,145 fewer crossings than in February—represent a dramatic drop from the same month under the Biden administration, the White House said.
They also mark a 95 percent decrease from 2024, when there were 137,473 encounters; a 96 percent decrease from 2023, when 163,672 encounters were recorded; and a 97 percent decrease from 2022, when agents encountered 211,181 illegal immigrants at the border.
Daily southwest border apprehensions have also fallen to about 230 per day, a number America “has never seen before,” according to a separate statement from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Under the previous administration, average daily encounters were 5,100 per day, CBP said.
President Donald Trump has taken a series of actions aimed at deterring illegal crossings at the U.S.–Mexico border since returning to the White House on Jan. 20, including declaring a national emergency and shutting down the CBP One app, which had allowed migrants to submit information in advance of entry and schedule appointments to enter the United States at eight Southwest border ports of entry.
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Trump also limited birthright citizenship, designated cartels and gangs as foreign terrorist organizations and specially designated global terrorists, issued a declaration stating that an invasion is occurring at the border, and threatened to impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico unless they implemented additional border security measures.
Border czar Thomas Homan welcomed the latest figures in an April 1 statement on social media platform X, stating that Trump’s leadership “continues to break records.”
“I started as a Border Patrol Agent in 1984, which was 41 years ago. I cannot recall a single month since then that the numbers have been that low. It is a far cry from the more than 11,000 a day that we saw for a time period under Biden,” Homan said.
“The men and women of the Border Patrol have proven what they can accomplish when they are allowed to do their job and complete the mission of their agency.”
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) echoed Homan’s remarks. In a social media post, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said that under the Trump administration, “our borders are more secure than ever in American history.”
Trump declared in early March that the “invasion of our Country” was over after CBP published data showing that Border Patrol agents recorded 8,326 apprehensions in February.
“The month of February, my first full month in office, had the LOWEST number of Illegal Immigrants trying to enter our Country in History – BY FAR!” the president said in a March 1 social media post.
Trump also said that under President Joe Biden, there had been 300,000 apprehensions of illegal border crossers in a single month and that “virtually ALL of them were released into our Country.”
“Thanks to the Trump Administration Policies, the Border is CLOSED to all Illegal Immigrants. Anyone who tries to illegally enter the U.S.A. will face significant criminal penalties and immediate deportation,” Trump said.
CBP’s monthly enforcement statistics date back to 2000. Before March’s figures, the lowest level of encounters ever recorded in a month was in April 2017, when the agency arrested 11,127 at the start of Trump’s first term.
Reuters contributed to this report.
