Border Patrol Logs Lowest Apprehensions in History, Zero Releases

The Border Patrol recorded 98,708 apprehensions at the southwest border in fiscal year 2026, the lowest annual total in the agency’s history, according to preliminary figures released last week by the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The White House highlighted the numbers on Sunday, calling them “a historic turnaround” in a post on X.

DHS and CBP also said the Border Patrol finished its first-ever fiscal year without releasing a single migrant into the country, according to the CBP announcement. The agencies said September was the 17th consecutive month with zero Border Patrol releases.

'A HISTORIC TURNAROUND'

DHS reports lowest fiscal year border crossings in US history and with zero migrant releases into the country. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/SPUtGO2GDT

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) October 18, 2026

A 95% drop from the Biden years

According to CBP, the 98,708 southwest border apprehensions in fiscal 2026 amount to a 95% decline compared with the more than 1.8 million apprehensions per year recorded under President Joe Biden. Fox News reported that the new total works out to about 270 apprehensions a day across the southwest border, compared with roughly 5,000 a day using the department’s Biden-era annual average.

The entire fiscal year also came in below half of the 249,740 apprehensions recorded in the single busiest month of the Biden administration, according to the DHS figures. Fiscal year 2026 ran from Oct. 1, 2025, through Sept. 30, 2026, according to CBP.

Nationwide encounters, which include people stopped at official ports of entry, totaled 379,243 for the year, according to CBP, which called that the lowest in agency history. The agency said that compares with about 2.7 million encounters per year under Biden, and that fiscal 2026 encounters were 88% lower than fiscal 2023, the highest year on record.

Mullin: “Strong enforcement works”

“President Trump promised the American people a secure border, and the data proves he delivered,” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement announcing the figures. “The results could not be clearer: strong enforcement works.”

CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott said in the same release that fiscal 2026 “demonstrated what focused enforcement, strong partnerships, and the commitment of our frontline personnel can achieve.”

The agencies also credited the lower crossing numbers with saving lives. According to the CBP release, preliminary data show migrant deaths identified by the Border Patrol fell nearly 80% in fiscal 2026 and since Jan. 20, 2025, compared with the Biden administration.

Former chief warns gains could be reversed

Retired Yuma Sector Border Patrol Chief Chris Clem told Fox News Digital that the end of catch-and-release took away a key sales pitch for smugglers. “They know that they’re not gonna be processed and released, which was the status quo under the Biden-Harris administration,” Clem said, according to Fox News.

Clem also warned that the progress could stall if control of Congress changes. “There are a lot of policy decisions that can be really jammed up by a Congress that’s gung-ho to overturn what this president has done,” he told Fox News Digital.

The figures are preliminary, according to DHS and CBP, and final fiscal year totals have not yet been posted. CBP’s public enforcement statistics page currently shows fiscal 2026 data only through August.

Sources

• U.S. Customs and Border Protection: DHS announces lowest fiscal year border crossings in American history
• Department of Homeland Security release
• Fox News: Trump border crackdown has crossings at historic lows
• Texas Border Business: DHS announces lowest fiscal year border crossings
• The White House on X

Reporting by Daily Beltway.