President Biden will end his term with a record of nearly 11 million illegal immigrants detected during his time in office, according to Homeland Security data released Tuesday.

But the latest numbers show things have improved somewhat from the worst days, with December tallying one of the lowest months of Mr. Biden’s tenure.

Customs and Border Protection said it detected about 125,000 unauthorized migrants try to sneak across the border or enter through an official port of entry in December. That’s down from more than 370,000 a year ago in December 2023 — the worst month on record.

Still, the damage is done, with 10.9 million illegal immigrants detected from February 2021 — the first full month under Mr. Biden’s watch — to this past December, the last full month under his control.

While some have been ousted, some 4 million new illegal immigrants have settled in the U.S. during Mr. Biden’s term, according to estimates from the Center for Immigration Studies.

Mr. Biden took office vowing to reverse Trump administration policies and immediately saw the situation deteriorate.

He spent the rest of his tenure searching for answers. Initially he resisted Trump-style policies but last year began to embrace them, and saw things improve.

“The men and women of CBP are continuing their diligent enforcement efforts – and they are having an impact on community safety and national security,” Pete Flores, acting commissioner at CBP, said in celebrating the December numbers, which were among the lowest of Mr. Biden’s term.

The number of terrorism suspects detected by Border Patrol agents, which at one point neared 30 in a single month, has averaged just three a month for the last half-year.

And Border Patrol agents detected just 47,000 migrants trying to sneak in from Mexico last month, down from about 118,000 in May and a record 250,000 a year ago in December 2023.

At the border with Canada, agents detected just 510 migrants — a drop of 89% compared to June.

Things have also cooled at airports and seaports, where officers saw just 17,000 unauthorized migrants in December, down from nearly 57,000 in June.

The one area that remains persistently high is the official crossings from Mexico into the U.S., where Biden administration “parole” programs continue to entice unauthorized crossers.

• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.