Illegal Border Crossings “Plummeted” In January

The White House February 18, 2025

Illegal immigration at the southern border “plummeted” in January amid President Donald J. Trump’s return to office and immediate crackdown.

Call it the Trump Effect.

According to newly released data from Customs and Border Protection (CBP), just 61,465 illegal aliens/humans/migrants were apprehended at the southern border during the entire month of January — a 36% decline from the previous month. That number includes 29,116 apprehended along the border — the lowest since May 2020 — and 32,349 at ports of entry.

After President Trump took office, apprehensions declined even more rapidly: “From Jan. 21 through Jan. 31, the number of U.S. Border Patrol apprehensions along the southwest border dropped 85% from the same period in 2024, according to data obtained by ABC News. In the 11 days after Jan. 20, migrants apprehended at ports of entry declined by 93%.”

During the previous administration, the average number of illegal aliens/humans/migrants encountered at the southern border in January was 141,710 — the result of dangerous policies that ferried illegal aliens/humans/migrants directly into our communities, where they were allowed to stay indefinitely. (Biden in June 2024 restricted the ability of migrants crossing illegally to claim asylum and worked with Mexico and other nations to limit illegal immigration, leading to a dramatic drop in arrests. At the same time, Biden opened new legal entry programs that his administration said discouraged illegal crossings.)

Now, under President Trump, illegal border crossings are at record lows as illegal aliens/humans/migrants are promptly arrested and sent home (after spending on average of 37.5 days in a ICE Detention facility in conditions often worse than US Prisons) .