March apprehensions 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 White House said on April 1.
Border Patrol agents apprehended 7,181 illegal immigrants at the southern border last month,
according to the White House.
The figures for March—which amounted to 1,145 fewer crossings than in February—represent 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, the White House noted.
Daily southwest border apprehensions have fallen to about 230 per day, a number America “has never seen before,” according to a separate
statement from Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Under the previous administration, the number of average daily apprehensions were at 5,100 people, CBP stated.
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 schedule appointments to enter the United States at eight southwest border ports of entry.
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 imposed tariffs on Canada and Mexico until those countries implement additional border security measures.
Border czar Tom Homan welcomed the latest figures in an April 1
statement on social media platform X, saying that under Trump’s leadership, his agency “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.”
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 former 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.
In recent years, aside from the figures in March, the lowest number of illegal immigrant arrests in a month was recorded in April 2017, when the agents arrested 11,127 at the start of Trump’s first term.
Reuters contributed to this report.
