In a decisive affirmation of President Donald Trump’s border security policies, recent data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reveal a significant decline in illegal crossings along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The statistics indicate that the number of apprehensions in January 2025 dropped to approximately 29,000, marking the lowest figure since May 2020 and a substantial decrease from the 47,000 reported in December 2024.
Data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Tuesday showed that the number of illegal immigrants encountered by Border Patrol on the southern border fell to 60,000 in January, down from 96,000 in December and down from over 300,000 in December 2023, the height of the Biden border crisis.
This decline in border encounters shows President Donald Trump was right on three key claims he made in the debate over border policy: 1) enforcement works, 2) former President Joe Biden’s policies caused the crisis, and 3) congressional action was not needed to end it.
Before diving into the data, let us first make plain that there was indeed a crisis at the southern border for most of Biden’s presidency. Biden admitted as much three months into his term, but like many of his statements, this one was quickly walked back by the White House press team, and Biden later denied ever making such a statement.
