Homeland Security on Tuesday said the border under President Trump is now the “most secure” it’s been in history, celebrating the latest monthly data showing unfathomably low border activity in June.
Customs and Border Protection set several new records, including the lowest day ever for illegal immigrants arrested by the Border Patrol along the southern boundary — 136 on June 28 — as well as the lowest monthly total at 6,072.
Nationwide, including legal border crossings and airports and seaports, CBP said it detected the fewest unauthorized entries ever.
And not a single illegal immigrant was released on “parole,” the agency said. That compares to nearly 28,000 catch-and-release parolees in June 2024, under President Biden.
The agency declared it the “most secure border in history.”
“From shutting down illegal crossings to seizing fentanyl and enforcing billions in tariffs, CBP is delivering results on every front,” said CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott.
The Border Patrol detected just 278 illegal immigrants crossing as family units in June, down from 28,000 in the same month last year, and from more than 100,000 as recently as December 2023.
CBP also said it has collected nearly $110 billion in tariffs and customs fees since the start of the Trump administration, as revenue rises on Mr. Trump’s imposition of global and country-specific levies.
Mr. Trump’s promise to secure the border, along with his vow of “mass deportations” for illegal immigrants inside the U.S., may have been his most visible promises from last year’s campaign.
His success at the border came after he reversed lenient Biden-era policies, canceled the legally iffy use of parole to bring in migrants who lacked a legal visa, and declared a border emergency to shut down asylum claims.
The results have been astounding, particularly when viewed over the last five months from February — the first fully under control of Mr. Trump — to June.
The Border Patrol during that time recorded 38,704 arrests at the U.S.-Mexico boundary.
During the same time last year, under Mr. Biden, the number was more than 608,000.
More than 200,000 of those were family unit migrants under Mr. Biden, compared to just 2,500 under Mr. Trump.
The new administration has also shut down pipelines from far-flung countries that had flooded the U.S. with their citizens in recent years.
Non-Mexicans accounted for just a third of the Border Patrol’s roughly 6,000 arrests in June. In June 2023, by contrast, they were two-thirds of the roughly 100,000 migrants arrested jumping the southern border.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.