Migrant Encounters at Border Hit Historic Low Not Seen Since Nixon Administration

Migrants flowing across the southern border during the Biden administration have become a trickle under President Donald Trump, according to a new analysis of federal data.

Border Patrol had 237,538 encounters with migrants at the border during the 2025 fiscal year, according to a Pew Research report.

The federal fiscal year begins Oct. 1, which means that roughly four months of the Biden administration are included in the 2025 data.

The data showed a massive drop from full years when former President Joe Biden was in the White House.

Border Patrol racked up 1.5 million encounters in fiscal year 2024, topped 2 million encounters in fiscal year 2023, and had more than 2.2 million encounters in fiscal year 2022.

The 2025 total showed the fewest encounters since 1970.

Pew Research: Migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border are at their lowest level in more than 50 years

2022: 2,206,436
2023: 2,045,438
2024: 1,530,535
2025: 237,538 pic.twitter.com/kXonMy3NP6

— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) February 3, 2026

When the Biden months were factored out of the data, the difference was even more stark.

Since February 2025, the Border Patrol has had fewer than 10,000 encounters per month at the southwestern border.

Those totals are even lower than during the COVID years, and are lower than data on record over the past 25 years.

September 2025 showed 8,386 encounters along the southwest border, an 84 percent drop from September 2024, according to a news release from the House Homeland Security Committee.

“Southwest border apprehensions are at the lowest level in half a century, and criminal cartels are running out of ways to line their pockets at our expense. Americans can thank President Trump’s proven border security policies for these results, from surging resources to the Southwest border to ending catch-and-release,” Chairman Andrew Garbarino, a Republican from New York, said.

“House Republicans made significant investments in the border barrier system, cutting-edge technology, and growing the CBP workforce, but those resources are only part of the picture. We must continue to build on these border security successes, ensure they last long into the future, and prevent abuse of our immigration system — like we saw under the Biden administration,” he added.

CBP Officers with @DFOElPaso are stopping dangerous drugs from entering our communities. During a secondary inspection with a canine unit, officers found a trapdoor in the vehicle’s center console. They discovered and seized 10 packages of cocaine, weighing 24.38lbs, and $2,400. pic.twitter.com/lg9Y6sX491

— CBP (@CBP) January 30, 2026

“For the last five months, we have continued to see the border numbers drop to historic lows. We are enabling our men and women of the CBP to do their jobs and keep our border secured,” Subcommittee on Border Security and Enforcement Chairman Michael Guest, a Republican from Mississippi, said.

“After four years of the Biden-Harris Administration’s disastrous open-border agenda and reckless catch-and-release policies, the American people are finally seeing a return to law and order at our southern border,” Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence Chairman August Pfluger, a Republican from Texas, added.

“Thanks to the strong leadership of the Trump Administration, our borders and our homeland are more secure today than they have been in years,” he said.

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