The catch-and-release counter has been stuck at zero for 14 straight months.
The Trump Administration announced another month without a single migrant released by Customs and Border Protection at the border, extending a streak that has accompanied a historic collapse in illegal crossings.
“Another month of historically low illegal border crossings demonstrates the success of President Trump’s border security policies,” Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said.
“Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, we went from the worst border crisis in history to 14 straight months of ZERO releases at the border. Our border is CLOSED to lawbreakers.”
The June figures showed 31,626 nationwide CBP encounters, down 4% from May. Border Patrol recorded 11,396 apprehensions nationwide, also a 4% monthly decline.
The biggest contrast came at the southwest border.
Agents apprehended 9,848 migrants attempting to cross illegally in June, according to DHS. That was 94% below the Biden administration’s monthly average and 96% below the record-setting December 2023 peak.
Put another way, Border Patrol encountered fewer illegal crossers along the southwest border during the entire month than agents apprehended in four days during June 2024.
That works out to roughly 328 apprehensions per day, a 94% decline from the daily average under the previous administration.
“As I have said many times, leadership and policy matter,” CBP Commissioner Rodney S. Scott said. “When laws are enforced, fewer people will break the law.”
Scott credited full enforcement of immigration law with creating “sustained deterrence” and said CBP was preventing criminal migrants and narcotics from reaching American communities.
The numbers mark a stunning reversal from the scenes that defined the Biden-era border crisis: overwhelmed processing facilities, migrants sleeping beneath bridges and thousands of people released into the country with future immigration court dates.
The administration argues that the sustained decline proves that large-scale illegal immigration was never an unsolvable force of nature. Policy signals, detention capacity, rapid removals and the expectation of consequences changed the calculation before many migrants ever reached the border.
Trump Administration Delivers 14 Straight Months of Zero Releases at the Borderhttps://t.co/60qIyzK5A2
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) July 17, 2026
