Low illegal border crossings continued in February

By Bethany Blankley
The Center Square

Illegal border crossings and apprehensions in February saw continued record declines and the lowest number so far this year.

Nationwide apprehensions totaled 26,963 in February, according to the latest U.S. Customs and Border Protection data. That’s down from 29,613 last February and 34,626 in January, The Center Square reported.

The sustained decline in illegal border crossings and apprehensions – now at levels not seen in over three decades – “shows the impact of robust enforcement policies,” the Department of Homeland Security said. “With daily apprehensions down 95% from the previous administration and 13 consecutive months of fewer than 9,000 southwest border apprehensions, the border remains more secure than at any point in history.”

Total apprehensions so far this fiscal year, 153,155, represent 40% fewer than the 242,530 reported in February 2024 alone. The fiscal year goes from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30.

Border Patrol apprehensions along the southwest border in February totaled 6,603, according to the data, representing a 92% drop in the monthly average over the last 33 years. It also represents a 97% drop from the peak of the border crisis in December 2023 of 341,073 apprehensions, according to the data.

February’s numbers also represent the 13th consecutive month of less than 9,000 monthly apprehensions at the southwest border. During the height of the border crisis, 10,000 apprehensions a day was considered a good day by Border Patrol agents inundated by a record high number of illegal crossings during the Biden administration, The Center Square reported.

By contrast, in February, Border Patrol’s daily average of southwest border apprehensions was 236, or 95% lower than the daily average under the Biden administration. It was also less than a single hour during the height of the Biden administration in December 2023 when an average 336 were apprehended an hour, according to the data.

In February, Border Patrol and CBP agents also seized the greatest volume of illicit drugs since October 2021 of 79,609 pounds. Compared to January, seizures were up of marijuana (129%), fentanyl (67%), methamphetamine (46%), cocaine (39%) and heroin (10%), according to the data.

DHS once again claimed, as it has nearly every month, that illegal border crossers aren’t being released into the U.S. February marked the “tenth consecutive month of zero releases at the border, continuing its trend of historically low border crossings,” it said.

Outgoing DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said, “Ten straight months of ZERO illegal aliens released at the border. President Trump promised to secure the Border, and that is a promise we delivered.”

Their claims are disputed by TRAC, the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a nonpartisan organization affiliated with Syracuse University. Publishing data it obtained from CBP through a public information request, TRAC explains, CBP officers working at ports of entry “allowed more and more noncitizens entry to this country through parole.

“Immigration parole allows noncitizens to temporarily enter and reside in the U.S. without formal admission, usually for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit. The number of individuals granted immigration parole increased from 3,304 in February 2025 to 12,639 in January 2026.”

January’s numbers increased “above the monthly numbers during the last months of the Biden administration,” it said. It also argues that illegal foreign nationals who were paroled into the U.S. by the Trump administration “now comprise a record-breaking 61.5 percent of all inadmissibles.”

“Almost every [CBP] field office experienced growth in the number of inadmissibles,” it adds, with a CBP Boston Port of Entry “showing the largest increase in inadmissibles of 153 percent over the last three months. Boston also led rankings in the largest jump in foreign nationals granted immigration parole – up over 600 percent.”

TRAC also notes that the largest number, 85%, of illegal foreign nationals granted parole and released into the country in January were from India. “Eighty-five percent of all individuals from India who recently sought entry to the U.S. without proper papers were granted parole,” it says.

The next greatest numbers were from Mexico, China, Canada, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, United Kingdom and Jamaica.

Since February 2025, 50,781 foreign nationals have been paroled into the U.S., according to the data.