The Department of Homeland Security announced Friday that Border Patrol agents apprehended fewer than 99,000 migrants who crossed the southwest border between ports of entry during Fiscal Year 2026, which ended September 30 — a figure the agency describes as the lowest in its history, according to Breitbart News.
DHS reported that the total of 98,708 apprehensions represents a 95 percent decline from the roughly 1.8 million migrants arrested per year during the period the agency calls the Biden border crisis. The department also noted that the full-year total was 60 percent lower than the 249,740 apprehensions recorded in a single month during the Biden administration — December 2023, which stands as the peak month for border arrests on record.
Compared with that December 2023 high, the drop was just over 96 percent. Apprehensions for September closed at about 8,900.
Agency leadership credits enforcement posture
“President Trump promised the American people a secure border, and the data proves he delivered. Over the past year, CBP recorded its lowest numbers in American history. A stark contrast to Biden, where CBP recorded its highest illegal immigration numbers ever,” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement released with the figures. “The results could not be clearer: strong enforcement works. Thanks to President Trump’s leadership and the hard work of CBP and DHS law enforcement personnel, we have restored control of the border and made America safer than ever.”
CBP Commissioner Rodney S. Scott also weighed in, saying the fiscal year “demonstrated what focused enforcement, strong partnerships, and the commitment of our frontline personnel can achieve.” He added that DHS and CBP are “securing the border, stopping dangerous drugs and criminals, protecting communities, and ensuring our personnel have the resources necessary for this critical mission.”
The official DHS report confirms the unofficial September apprehension count that Breitbart Texas reported earlier in the week, according to the outlet.
Nationwide encounters and release figures
Beyond the southwest border apprehensions, preliminary data cited by DHS shows total nationwide encounters in Fiscal Year 2026 came in at 379,243 — also described as the lowest in agency history. By comparison, the agency reported roughly 2.7 million encounters per year under President Biden, a figure seven times higher. FY2026 encounters were also 88 percent lower than Fiscal Year 2023, which DHS identifies as the highest fiscal year for encounters on record.
DHS officials further stated that over the past 17 months, Border Patrol released zero migrants into the U.S. interior. The agency highlighted that the Border Patrol completed its first-ever fiscal year with no releases, pairing that with what it describes as the elimination of “catch and release” policies.
The department framed the numbers as evidence that aggressive multi-agency enforcement has disrupted the operations of transnational criminal networks it says profited from earlier border conditions. In its announcement, DHS argued that “strict adherence to the rule of law produces the most secure southern border in American history,” though independent verification of the internal figures was not cited in the release.
Policy backdrop
The drop follows a series of executive actions taken by President Donald Trump on the first day of his second term. According to Breitbart Texas, those ten executive orders established a national state of emergency at the southern border and directed additional resources toward a whole-of-government approach covering border security, illegal immigration, and drug trafficking enforcement, including measures aimed at Mexican cartels.
Apprehensions began falling sharply after that point. The December 2023 peak of 249,740 arrests gives way to the roughly 8,900 recorded at the close of FY26 — a trajectory that DHS officials point to as proof that the enforcement strategy reshaped incentives along the border.
The announcement lands as the administration points to border metrics as a central early achievement of the second term, with the department releasing the fiscal-year data in a formal report rather than through routine monthly statistics.
The DHS report also follows years of politically charged debate over border enforcement, with both parties at times disputing how apprehension numbers should be interpreted. Arrest figures are generally treated as a measure of illegal crossings between ports of entry, though the total doesn’t capture all unauthorized entries, including those who cross undetected or present themselves at legal ports.
For now, the numbers released Friday give the administration a concrete data point to cite: under 99,000 southwest border apprehensions across an entire fiscal year, set against a Biden-era average of 1.8 million annually and a monthly high of nearly 250,000.
Source: www.breitbart.com — https://www.breitbart.com/border/2026/10/16/promise-kept-trump-delivers-most-secure-border-in-history-96-percent-drop-from-bidens-crisis-peak/