The White House has touted January’s 36% decline in border apprehensions—the lowest number of illegal aliens apprehended along the border in almost five years—as the “Trump effect.”
That total includes 29,116 apprehended at the border outside of official ports of entry, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. That’s the lowest since May 2020. And that compares to 47,316 apprehensions outside of official ports in December.
The January total also includes 32,349 apprehensions at ports of entry, compared to 48,719 in December.
Further, the Trump administration has dropped the catch-and-release policies of the Biden administration, where those caught crossing the border illegally would be released into the United States instead of immediately deported.
“Illegal immigration at the southern border plummeted in January amid President Donald J. Trump’s return to office and immediate crackdown,” the White House announced in a Tuesday statement. “Call it the Trump effect.”
Total illegal border crossings for fiscal year 2025 are on track to fall to the lowest rates since 1968, the last time it was five figures for the year, with about 94,000 illegal entries, noted Art Arthur, a former federal immigration judge and now resident fellow in law and policy at the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank.
After the first Trump election, apprehensions at the border fell from 43,251 in December 2016 to 32,576 in January 2017, said Arthur. By April 2017, the apprehensions were down to 11,127, he added.
