Unlawful border crossings have climbed by 33% in September compared to the prior month, according to new figures. However, despite the increase, they still remain close to historical lows.
Concretely, a little less than 8,400 people were apprehended by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) last month, compared to 6,317 in August.
This means that the number of encounters for Fiscal Year 2025, which ended on September 30, clocked in at 237, 538. The figure represents an 84% drop compared to Fiscal Year 2024, according to Border Report.
Fiscal Year 2025's tally was the smallest annual total since 1970, when Border Patrol reported approximately 202,000 apprehensions.
Over 60% of this year's total apprehensions occurred in the final three months of the Biden presidency, with crossings declining dramatically after Trump's return to office in January. In recent months, Border Patrol has averaged fewer than 9,000 apprehensions per month — a level not seen in decades.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement that the figures prove the administration has delivered on one of its central campaign promises. "President Trump has overwhelmingly delivered on his promise to secure our Southern Border," she said. "Americans are safer — unvetted criminal illegal aliens and dangerous drugs are no longer pouring over our border unchecked."
Analysts say the decline is the result of a combination of deterrence measures and the near-total closure of the U.S. asylum system. Ariel Ruiz Soto, a researcher at the Migration Policy Institute, told the news site that Trump's policies "have had a significant effect on people being deterred from coming illegally," noting that even before his inauguration, crossings had begun to drop as asylum restrictions took hold.
Under Trump's second term, the administration has militarized the border, deployed thousands of troops, and expanded detention capacity while shutting down humanitarian programs introduced under the Biden administration. Migrants who enter illegally are now either detained or deported swiftly, with few exceptions.
Critics, including the American Civil Liberties Union, have described the measures as "inhumane and unlawful," arguing that they violate U.S. and international asylum protections. Several provisions of the administration's asylum ban have already been struck down in court.
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