Illegal crossings at the US-Mexico border have fallen to their lowest level in more than 50 years, according to new federal data obtained by CBS News. The figures suggest that efforts to tighten border security under President Donald Trump’s administration have significantly reduced migrant arrests along the southern border.
In the 2025 fiscal year, which covered four months of former President Joe Biden’s term and the remainder under Trump, US Border Patrol agents arrested about 238,000 migrants attempting to cross the border illegally, according to the Department of Homeland Security. CBS News reported that during Trump’s first eight months in office, monthly illegal crossings averaged fewer than 9,000 — a figure not seen in decades.
The last time numbers were this low was in 1970, when Border Patrol agents stopped roughly 202,000 people attempting to enter the country unlawfully. Jennie Murray, president of the National Immigration Forum, said the decline reflects progress on border security but urged lawmakers and the White House to work together on comprehensive immigration reform.
More than half of the arrests recorded in fiscal year 2025 occurred in its first three months, which ran from October 2024 to December 2024, during Biden’s final stretch in office. The data reflects the number of apprehensions — the instances in which border agents stopped and processed migrants — and may include individuals who attempted multiple crossings after being detained.
The US Customs and Border Protection agency said that during Biden’s four years in office, border encounters totaled about 11 million. The sharp drop under Trump marks a dramatic shift in immigration trends.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said the figures prove that Trump is fulfilling his campaign promise to secure the border. “Americans are safer — unvetted criminal illegal aliens and dangerous drugs are no longer pouring over our border unchecked,” she said in a statement. “For all the Democrats who said it was impossible to secure the border, turns out all we needed was a new President.”
Since taking office in January, Trump has implemented several executive orders on immigration. These include sending more troops to the border, halting asylum requests, and expanding Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s authority to arrest and detain undocumented migrants. He has also pushed to end birthright citizenship and pledged to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, with recent immigration raids reported in major cities such as Los Angeles and Chicago.
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