The Border Patrol just announced its 12th straight month without a single catch and release at the U.S.-Mexico border, capping off a year of unprecedented calm.
Agents have gone from arresting roughly 250,000 illegal immigrants in the worst month under President Biden to fewer than 10,000 arrests a month under President Trump.
And where the Biden administration caught and released most of those migrants, under Mr. Trump, they are either pushed back across the border immediately, turned over to other authorities or held for formal deportation proceedings.
“The days of catch and release are over. We are enforcing the nation’s laws and sending illegal aliens back to their home countries,” Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said.
In April 2024, Border Patrol agents nabbed nearly 129,000 illegal immigrants at the Southwest border. They released more than 68,000 of them.
This past month, agents recorded 8,943 arrests and released none.
Adding in encounters at official ports of entry, such as border crossings or airports, Customs and Border Protection reported about 31,000 total unauthorized migrants. Many of those are travelers who arrive at airports without full proper documentation.
In April 2024, under Mr. Biden, that total was nearly 248,000.
“What a difference, America!” said CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott.
The administration is operating under the same laws as Mr. Biden had, but is flexing those laws in a far different fashion.
Mr. Trump has constrained humanitarian protection that had become a loophole for regular immigration. Hence, he’s shutting down border asylum claims.
And where the Biden administration complained of too few detention beds — then proposed cutting the number by even more — the Trump administration has expanded capacity and worked to speed up deportations so migrants languish in detention for less time before they’re ousted.
Mr. Trump has also pushed reluctant countries to take back their deportees and has sought third countries to serve as outlets for those who can’t be sent back to their homes.
All of that has drawn condemnation from immigration groups who say needy migrants are being turned back at the border or, if they reach here, are ousted without a chance to make their case for protection.
April’s numbers showed a slight uptick in illegal traffic at the southern border, with 8,934 migrants arrested at the southwestern border.
That’s the highest since the end of the Biden administration in January 2025.
Less than 10% of those were children traveling alone or parents and children traveling together as families. Those have traditionally been the toughest migrants to handle at the border.
During the worst months of the Biden administration, they accounted for more than 50% of the total that topped 100,000 migrants a month.
The number of unauthorized migrants showing up at border crossings hoping to be let in has also plummeted with the end of special Biden-era catch-and-release programs. Those numbers had regularly topped 50,000 a month in the previous administration but have hovered between 3,000 and 4,000 a month for the entire Trump term.
