Record-Low Border Apprehensions Under Trump
The Border Patrol apprehended just 8,326 illegal immigrants at the southern border in February, a record-breaking low that former President Trump celebrated as a major victory.
“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!” Trump announced on social media. “The Invasion of our Country is OVER.”
This figure surpassed the previous low of approximately 11,000 apprehensions in April 2017, during the early months of Trump’s first term. At the time, his strong stance on immigration discouraged many from attempting to cross the border.
Illegal Immigration Skyrocketed Under Biden
Despite fluctuations over the years, Trump handed a relatively stable border to President Biden in 2021. Under Biden, however, illegal immigration surged to historic levels. In December 2023 alone, Border Patrol agents apprehended nearly 250,000 illegal immigrants along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Most of those apprehended during Biden’s term were released into the country. By contrast, Trump emphasized that migrants caught under his administration were “quickly ejected from our Nation or, when necessary, prosecuted for crimes.”
Border apprehensions began to decline in the final months of Biden’s presidency, falling to between 46,000 and 58,000 per month during the latter half of 2024. After Trump returned to office in January, those numbers dropped below 30,000. The dramatic fall to about 8,000 in February has been described as unprecedented.
Trump’s Policies Debunk Leftist Immigration Narratives
Todd Bensman, a border expert at the Center for Immigration Studies, argued that Trump’s policies “disproved and debunked” claims from immigration advocates that external factors drive the migrant surge.
“There’s no intellectual choice left now but to just finally accept that starting and stopping events like this is so simple,” Bensman told *The Washington Times*. “You just detain, expel, deport. That’s it. That’s closing the border. It’s nothing complicated.”
Bensman directly challenged the arguments made by former Vice President Kamala Harris and congressional Democrats, who attributed the migrant crisis to “root causes” in other countries and called for comprehensive immigration reform.
“We didn’t need any Senate bill then, we don’t need any Senate bill now,” Bensman said. “We never needed comprehensive immigration reform to send billions of dollars to reduce root causes of immigration by rebuilding other countries. The immigration system was never broken and needed to be fixed. All of that stands as totally debunked now.”
Trump’s Aggressive Border Tactics Deliver Results
Throughout his presidency, Trump aggressively used the executive powers at his disposal—and in some cases pushed their limits—to secure the border. He declared a border emergency, labeling the situation an “invasion.”
Whether his declaration that “the invasion is over” will affect his legal basis for the emergency remains uncertain.
Trump also leveraged economic pressure on Mexico, using the threat of tariffs to secure its cooperation in curbing illegal migration. Under his direction, the State Department designated several Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, granting the U.S. new legal tools to combat them.
Extradition of High-Profile Criminals Under Trump
That designation yielded results. Last week, the administration announced the extradition of 29 high-profile criminals from Mexico, including key cartel leaders.
Among those extradited was Rafael Caro Quintero, a fugitive wanted by the Drug Enforcement Administration for the killing of DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena. Another, Martin Sotelo, was accused of participating in the 2022 murder of Deputy Sheriff Ned Byrd in North Carolina. Sotelo had escaped a U.S. jail and fled to Mexico, where he resisted extradition.
“The era of harming Americans and walking free is over,” FBI Director Kash Patel declared.
The Justice Department said many of the 29 extraditions had been delayed under the Biden administration and credited the terrorist designation with compelling Mexico to act.
