In April 2026, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recorded 8,943 apprehensions for the entire month. In December 2023, at the peak of Joe Biden's open-borders disaster, agents were logging 336 illegal crossings every single hour. At that rate, Biden's Border Patrol was processing the same number in just over a day that Trump's agents processed in all of April. That's not a policy difference. That's a different country.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reported Friday that the U.S. Border Patrol has now gone a full year, twelve straight months, without releasing a single illegal immigrant into the country, while illegal crossings have collapsed to levels not seen since the early 1990s.
"Twelve straight months of ZERO releases at the border. Under President Donald Trump's leadership, we are delivering the most secure border in American history," DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said. "The days of catch and release are over."
Border Patrol recorded 8,943 southwest border apprehensions in April 2026, a 94 percent drop from Biden-era monthly averages and 96 percent below the December 2023 peak. At Biden's December 2023 pace, agents were processing the same number in roughly 27 hours that Trump's Border Patrol apprehended in all of April.
"The U.S. Border Patrol released zero illegal aliens into our country again this month, unlike April 2024 when more than 68,000 were released under President Biden," said CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott. "Every minute of every day President Trump's border security policies are making every American safer."
DHS said total southwest border apprehensions for the entire fiscal year through April were lower than the average for a single month going back to 1992. The entire fiscal year. Less than one average month, across three decades of data. CBP processed $312 billion in imports in April and identified $21.6 billion in duties for collection, enforcement that goes well past the border line itself.
Fewer people crossing means agents can focus on what's actually coming through. Nationwide seizures of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, marijuana, and fentanyl increased 60 percent compared to April 2024. Heroin seizures jumped 73 percent from March alone. Methamphetamine was up 63 percent. CBP seized 463 pounds of fentanyl in April, enough to kill millions of Americans, before it ever reached a community.
Read More: Trump Reverses Biden Border Surge As Zero-Release Streak Hits 11 Months
Massive Fentanyl Haul: CBP Grabs 100 Million Deadly Doses at Southwest Border
Illegal immigration was the defining issue of the 2024 election, and Trump's argument was simple: the border crisis wasn't some unavoidable humanitarian catastrophe; it was a choice. Biden and Kamala Harris chose to let it happen.
Two years ago, we were told the border couldn't be fixed without a full act of Congress. We were told mass releases were just how the system worked. We were told migration was driven by forces in Central America that no president could touch. Twelve months of unbroken results say otherwise.
Fifteen consecutive months of fewer than 9,000 southwest border apprehensions. Daily crossings down 95 percent. A full year without a single illegal immigrant walking into the interior. The left spent four years telling you this was impossible. It wasn't. It just required a president who actually wanted to fix it.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump, illegal immigration into our great country has virtually stopped. Despite the radical left's lies, new legislation wasn't needed to secure our border, just a new president.
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