Southern border apprehensions drop 93% in April from a year earlier, CBP says

Apprehensions at the border with Mexico have plummeted 93% under the administration of President Donald Trump, Customs and Border Protection revealed.

CBP released a report Monday where it says it averaged 279 apprehensions per day at the southern border in April, compared with 4,297 apprehensions in April 2024. Total apprehensions for April this year came to 8,383, compared to 129,000 last year.

CBP officials also noted that only five illegal migrants were temporarily released into the U.S. during April for special interest court cases, compared to 68,000 during the same month in 2024.

"For the first time in years, more agents are back in the field – patrolling territories that CBP didn't have the bandwidth or manpower to oversee just six months ago," stated Pete Flores, CBP's acting commissioner.

CBP also noted that drug seizures increased 15% from March to April. Authorities claim to have prevented the entry of some 758 pounds of fentanyl across the border.

The report shows the Trump administration's continued progress in controlling points of entry since March. CBP also recorded the lowest number of border crossings in history in March, with fewer apprehensions for the entire month than in the first two days of 2024 under the Biden administration.

In March, agents apprehended a total of 7,181 undocumented aliens attempting to cross the southern border between ports of entry. This represents a 14% decrease from February, when Border Patrol apprehended 8,346 migrants, and, even more drastically, a 95% decrease from the 137,473 apprehended during the Biden administration in the same period in 2024.