For thirteen consecutive months, the Department of Homeland Security has not released a single illegal immigrant encountered at the U.S. border, a record that DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin says has not been seen "in over three decades." The milestone, first reported by the Daily Caller, lands as the administration rolls out a broader set of enforcement statistics that paint a sharp contrast with the Biden years.
Zero. That is the catch-and-release number for every month stretching back roughly to May 2025. Not a reduced number. Not a modest improvement. Zero.
The figure matters because it represents the clearest policy reversal between the two administrations. Republican Homeland Security Committee estimates put the number of illegal immigrants who entered the country under Biden from 2021 to 2024 at approximately 10.3 million. In April 2024 alone, as the Washington Examiner noted, more than 68,000 were released into the interior in a single month. The current number is zero, and has been, month after month, for over a year.
Southwest border apprehensions in May 2026 fell 94 percent from the monthly average under the Biden administration. Total apprehensions during fiscal year 2026 through May are 26 percent lower than the average for any single month from 1992 through 2024, a comparison that spans more than three decades of data.
To put the scale in perspective, the New York Post reported that the average daily apprehension count in April, 298, was fewer than the number crossing in a single hour during December 2023 under Biden, when the rate hit 336 per hour.
DHS Secretary Mullin framed the results in a statement provided to reporters:
"Thirteen straight months of ZERO releases at the border. Under President Donald Trump's leadership, we are delivering the most secure border in American history. The days of catch and release are over. We are enforcing the nation's laws and quickly sending illegal aliens back to their home countries, ensuring the safety and sovereignty of our nation."
CBP Commissioner Rodney S. Scott echoed the message in a press release, stating that enforcement policies "are working" and that the agency is "delivering unprecedented results in border security, drug interdiction, and trade enforcement."
The administration's enforcement posture has been backed by significant legislative investment. Earlier this year, President Trump signed a nearly $70 billion immigration enforcement bill that locks in ICE and Border Patrol funding through the end of his term, giving the agencies a level of budgetary certainty they lacked during the Biden years.
The drop in illegal crossings has freed resources for drug interdiction, and the seizure figures reflect it. CBP seized nearly 800 pounds of fentanyl at the border in May 2026 alone. Over the last four months, agents have averaged 37,033 pounds of marijuana seized per month, a figure 61 percent higher than the average during Biden's fiscal year 2024.
Total drug seizures across all categories ran 56 percent higher this fiscal year compared to the same period in 2024. Breitbart reported that nationwide seizures of cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, fentanyl, and marijuana combined rose 32 percent from May 2024, with fentanyl seizures climbing 72 percent from April alone.
Those numbers tell a story that the previous administration's defenders will struggle to explain away. When fewer people are crossing illegally, agents spend less time processing and more time intercepting the drugs that have fueled an overdose crisis across the country.
CBP also seized two million counterfeit goods worth more than $400 million in May 2026 and prevented nearly 250 shipments valued at over $44 million.
The enforcement picture extends beyond the border itself. The White House reports that more than 600,000 illegal immigrants have been deported during Trump's second term. An additional 1.9 million have self-deported, leaving the country voluntarily rather than face enforcement action.
The self-deportation figure is significant because it reflects the deterrent effect of consistent enforcement. When people believe the government will actually enforce immigration law, the calculus changes. That is precisely the dynamic that disappeared under Biden, when catch-and-release policies sent the opposite signal to anyone considering the journey north.
The legislative machinery supporting this enforcement continues to move through Congress. The House passed the $70 billion ICE funding bill with enough support to ensure the agencies will not face the kind of budget fights that previously hamstrung enforcement operations.
Even with crossings at historic lows, the smuggling trade has not vanished, it has adapted. A DHS social media post highlighted one incident from June 8 in Maverick County, where Border Patrol assisted the Maverick County Sheriff's Office in a traffic stop. Officers discovered that Miguel Francisco Hernandez-Jimenez, a Mexican national, had been smuggling people inside an HVAC system concealed in his truck bed. Officers disassembled the unit and found individuals hidden inside.
The incident is a reminder that enforcement is not a switch you flip once. It requires sustained pressure, resources, and political will. The smuggling networks that profited from Biden-era policies have not disappeared. They have been forced underground and into increasingly desperate methods, which makes continued interdiction all the more important.
Earlier data from the first quarter of fiscal 2026 underscored just how far the numbers have fallen. Just The News reported that Q1 recorded only 91,603 total border encounters nationwide, the lowest ever at the start of a fiscal year, compared to 392,196 during the same period under Biden. Southwest border apprehensions in that quarter dropped 95 percent from the Biden-era average.
The political landscape has shifted alongside the enforcement numbers. In Minnesota, a state Biden carried in 2020, Governor Tim Walz's approval has dropped to an all-time low, with Trump now polling ahead of him, a sign that the public's appetite for accountability extends well beyond border states.
The Biden administration's border record is not a matter of spin. Republican Homeland Security estimates pegged illegal entries at roughly 10.3 million over four years. The CBP commissioner's own comparison, zero releases this month versus more than 68,000 in April 2024, tells the story without editorial embellishment. Fox News characterized the shift as a "dramatic milestone" and a "massive departure" from the prior administration's approach.
Critics will note that the 10.3 million figure comes from Republican committee staff, not a nonpartisan source. The self-deportation methodology has not been publicly detailed. And some of the seizure increases may reflect shifting smuggling patterns rather than pure enforcement gains. Those are fair questions.
But the core fact is not in dispute: the border is measurably, dramatically more secure than it was two years ago. Apprehensions are down. Releases are at zero. Drug seizures are up. Deportations are proceeding. The administration has also pushed aggressively on the legislative front, with Trump pressuring Senate leadership to clear procedural obstacles blocking the SAVE America Act.
The open questions that remain, the exact methodology behind the self-deportation count, the full scope of the smuggling incident in Maverick County, the precise baseline for some of the historical comparisons, deserve scrutiny. Transparency strengthens the administration's case rather than weakening it.
For thirteen months, the federal government has done what millions of Americans spent years demanding: enforce immigration law at the border without exception. No releases. No parole workarounds. No quiet dumps of migrants into interior cities.
The results did not arrive by accident. They arrived because the administration changed the policy, funded the agencies, and sustained the political will to follow through. That is what enforcement looks like when the people in charge actually want it to work.
The previous administration proved, over four years and 10.3 million entries, what happens when they don't.