After a brief uptick in May, illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border have sharply declined again, hitting some of the lowest levels on record, according to new data shared by the Trump administration.
On Tuesday, Border Czar Tom Homan announced that just 6,070 migrants were arrested in June for crossing between ports of entry—down from over 83,000 in June 2024. That marks a staggering 93% year-over-year drop.
Why It Matters
President Donald Trump campaigned on securing the southern border and cracking down on illegal immigration. Now back in office, his administration is touting these numbers as proof he’s delivering. Supporters say it’s a major success, while critics argue it’s coming at the cost of long-standing asylum protections.
What to Know
- June’s official Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data is still pending release, but Homan has been preemptively sharing figures in recent months.
- Arrests have steadily fallen since Trump took office in January. In Biden’s final month, there were 29,116 apprehensions. That number dropped to 8,347 in February and has continued to decline.
- The administration attributes the drop to a crackdown on asylum processing at ports of entry and new enforcement rules that limit who can apply.
- Mexico has also stepped up enforcement along its own southern border, further deterring northbound migration.
This pattern mirrors what happened in 2017, during Trump’s first term, when a steep early decline in border crossings eventually reversed. Crossings surged again in the final years of his first term, spiking during the Biden administration before peaking in December 2023 at nearly 250,000 arrests.
Trump has now ended the so-called “catch-and-release” policy, where migrants were released into the U.S. while awaiting court dates. In June, Border Patrol reported zero such releases.
What People Are Saying
Tom Homan, on X:
“President Trump has created the most secure border in the history of the nation, and the data proves it. We’ve never seen numbers this low. Never. God bless the Border Patrol and ICE. The TRUMP EFFECT keeps America winning.”
President Trump, speaking in Florida Tuesday:
“With the help of those incredible Border Patrol agents, we now have the lowest level of daily border crossings ever recorded… Last month, the number of illegal aliens entering the United States was zero… But there’s still more work to do.”
Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), on NBC’s Meet the Press:
“No, I don’t give the Trump administration credit—crossings are down because they’re breaking the law every day. U.S. law allows people fleeing persecution to apply for asylum, and they’ve essentially shut that down.”
What’s Next
CBP has begun dismantling temporary migrant holding facilities that were erected during the peak of the border crisis, saying they’re no longer necessary. The agency is expected to officially release its June enforcement statistics later this month.
As legal challenges mount and the 2025 immigration debate intensifies in Congress, the administration is likely to face continued scrutiny over how it balances enforcement with humanitarian obligations.
