Southern Border Arrests Drop to 55-Year Low Under New Policies

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has reported that arrests of unauthorized migrants at the U.S. southern border reached their lowest level in 55 years during fiscal year 2025. According to official data, authorities made 237,565 arrests along the Mexico border between October 1, 2024, and September 30, 2025, representing an 84 percent decrease from the previous year's total of over 1.5 million apprehensions. This marks the lowest recorded number since 1970, when authorities reported 201,780 arrests.

The fiscal year 2025 data spans two presidential administrations, with DHS noting that 72 percent of total arrests (172,026) occurred during the first 111 days of the fiscal year under the Biden administration. Following this period, arrests declined significantly after the Biden administration implemented stricter asylum restrictions in June 2024, with further reductions after the Trump administration deployed military troops to the border and implemented additional asylum access limitations. By September 2025, authorities were averaging 279 arrests per day, compared to approximately 1,800 daily arrests in September 2024.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem characterized the border as "the most secure in American history" in an October 7 statement, highlighting the record-breaking reduction in apprehensions. The recent figures represent a substantial change from the previous four fiscal years, which averaged 1.86 million arrests annually. DHS also reported that September 2025 marked the fifth consecutive month with zero releases of apprehended individuals by Border Patrol, contrasting with previous practices that included 9,144 releases in September 2024.

Concurrently with the decrease in border arrests, deportation numbers have increased during the current administration. DHS announced that by the end of fiscal year 2025, more than 2 million unauthorized immigrants had either been deported or had self-deported since President Trump began his second term. This total includes approximately 1.6 million individuals who voluntarily self-deported using the CBP Home App and over 400,000 who were formally removed from the country. These figures represent the implementation of different border enforcement approaches compared to previous years.