Illegal border crossings along the southwest border have fallen to historic lows under President Donald Trump, according to preliminary Department of Homeland Security figures released Thursday, a shift that retired Yuma Sector Border Patrol Chief Chris Clem says has transformed a crisis that once spilled into Arizona farms, food banks and front doors.
DHS reported 98,708 southwest border apprehensions for fiscal year 2026, about 95% below the Biden administration’s annual average of more than 1.8 million. That works out to roughly 270 apprehensions a day nationwide, compared with about 5,000 a day under the prior administration’s average.
The agency also said September marked the 17th consecutive month without Border Patrol releasing migrants into the country, completing what DHS described as the agency’s first full fiscal year with zero releases.
Scenes From the Surge
Clem, who led the Yuma Sector during the height of the crisis, told Fox News Digital that daily arrivals in Yuma climbed from about 25 in December 2020 to more than 1,000 by December 2021, with a brutal three-day stretch that month approaching 1,500 arrivals a day.
“They just started walking through the agriculture fields. They started running through town,” Clem said. “They started going to the food bank. They started knocking on people’s doors at all hours of the nights.”
He said the volume, combined with bad weather and thin resources, left agents unable to keep up.
“That was really when it, you know, was the most critical for me because we had the true community impact of a failed border security policy out of Washington, D.C.,” Clem said. “The agents, their heads were in the right place. They knew they had to do the job. But when you’re outnumbered, literally 100 to one, it’s very difficult.”
What Changed
Clem said smugglers had used the prospect of release into the country as a selling point to migrants during the Biden administration. “If you get to the border, you’re gonna be processed, and you’ll be let go,” he said, describing the pitch. He said ending that expectation has been key to discouraging crossings: “They know that they’re not gonna be processed and released, which was the status quo under the Biden-Harris administration.”
He credited the decline to a mix of factors — staffing, infrastructure, technology and real consequences for illegal entry — rather than any single policy, and pointed to the role of interior immigration enforcement by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in reinforcing the message. “When you combine the strong border posture, as well as the strong and robust interior enforcement, it’s a recipe for success,” he said.
Fiscal year 2026 apprehensions now sit below half the 249,740 recorded in the Biden administration’s single busiest month, according to DHS.
Border czar Tom Homan said Thursday that ICE recorded its highest single-day deportation total since Trump returned to office. “We are deportation-maxxing—firing on all cylinders while still expanding our capabilities to ramp up removals beyond current record-breaking levels,” Homan wrote on social media. He said he visited ICE Air Operations in Alexandria, Louisiana, to observe a removal flight returning Haitians he said had criminal records involving aggravated assault, sexual assault, kidnapping, battery and other offenses. Homan also said ICE conducted more removals in September than in any other month, though he did not provide specific totals, noting fiscal year 2026 figures were still being finalized.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement, “President Trump promised the American people a secure border, and the data proves he delivered. The results could not be clearer: strong enforcement works.”
A Warning on Politics and Risk
Despite the drop in numbers, Clem cautioned that the threat from smugglers hasn’t disappeared. “There are always gonna be that risk where somebody does sneak through. Who is that person?” he said.
He also warned that political uncertainty in Washington could undo recent progress, whether through a change in congressional control affecting funding and policy, or a future administration reversing course. “There are a lot of policy decisions that can be really jammed up by a Congress that’s gung-ho to overturn what this president has done,” Clem said, adding that mixed signals from Washington can themselves become a tool for smugglers. “When our policies aren’t clear and transparent, and we’re not holding ourselves accountable, it’s a marketing tool for the smuggling organizations,” he said.
Clem said he still sees a need for broader immigration reform but argued it shouldn’t be confused with border security. “We have an immigration issue we need to address,” he said. “We need to find a way to retain and recruit those that are here, that are foreign nationals that want to contribute. But none of that should matter when it comes down to securing the border. We should always be looking at keeping America safe.”
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