Customs and Border Protection’s preliminary fiscal 2026 data show southwest border illegal crossings at their lowest level on record, a 95% drop the agency ties to sustained enforcement and a clear deportation message.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported that southwest border apprehensions plunged 95% from Oct. 1, 2025, through Sept. 30, 2026, marking the lowest level of illegal crossings along that frontier for a full fiscal year in U.S. history.
The Center Square reported the preliminary figures after CBP’s Saturday announcement, which also put nationwide encounters at an agency-record low of 379,243 for the fiscal year, far below the 2.7 million-a-year pace recorded under the Biden administration.
CBP framed the collapse in crossings as the product of focused enforcement, partnerships, and frontline work under the Trump administration. The numbers back the claim of a sharp break from the prior surge years.
Border Patrol apprehensions between ports of entry along the southwest border fell to less than 99,000, the lowest level in the agency’s history. Total southwest border apprehensions through Aug. 31 stood at 128,000, according to CBP data cited in the reporting.
Southwest apprehension totals hovered between 9,000 and 12,000 a month over the fiscal year. Nationwide encounters and apprehensions sat near 30,000 to 34,000 most months, with February the outlier, CBP data showed. The Center Square estimated September nationwide encounters and apprehensions at close to 30,000.
Northern border apprehensions fluctuated between 3,500 and 6,500. Through Aug. 31, nearly 350,000 people had been apprehended nationwide, a steep fall from the 3.2 million apprehensions reported in 2023, the highest on record.
Fiscal 2026 encounters ran 88% lower than those in fiscal 2023, when crossings hit their modern peak. The contrast is not subtle. Years of record traffic gave way to a year of suppressed numbers once the enforcement posture changed.
"FY 2026 demonstrated what focused enforcement, strong partnerships, and the commitment of our frontline personnel can achieve."
CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott said the results showed DHS and CBP securing the border, stopping drugs and criminals, and protecting communities while giving personnel the tools for the mission.
"DHS and CBP are securing the border, stopping dangerous drugs and criminals, protecting communities, and ensuring our personnel have the resources necessary for this critical mission."
The Trump administration and CBP said fiscal 2026 was the first fiscal year ever with zero Border Patrol releases. September marked the 17th consecutive month with zero releases under that policy.
That stands apart from the prior practice of large-scale releases into the interior. Unaccompanied alien children remain an exception under federal policy: they continue to be released to sponsors. CBP data through Aug. 31 counted 8,348 UACs nationwide in fiscal 2026, with 7,608 of them at the southwest border.
CBP said the 95% drop at the southwest border reflects sustained enforcement and the deterrent effect of a secure border.
"Illegal aliens have received a clear message: don’t try to enter the country illegally, or you will be apprehended, detained, and deported."
The agency also said the policies are saving lives by reducing unlawful crossings and producing a dramatic decline in border-related deaths. It did not publish a specific death total with the announcement.
Drug seizures in fiscal 2026 reached a record of nearly one million pounds under preliminary CBP data, a 63% increase over the 600,000-pound annual average of the prior four years. Harder enforcement at the line coincided with larger interdiction hauls, not smaller ones.
Since Jan. 20, 2025, the administration completed 250 miles of new border barrier along the southwest border. Through the measure CBP called the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” the agency obligated $34.3 billion for Smart Wall projects on that frontier.
Construction still faces legal resistance. The administration is being sued over barrier work in the Big Bend region of Texas. A federal judge halted construction there, and the dispute has reached the U.S. Supreme Court.
Gotaways have not vanished. Texas Operation Lone Star has worked with Border Patrol to catch people who slipped the initial line. Under the Biden administration, more than 2 million gotaways were reported, according to figures The Center Square previously obtained from Border Patrol agents. Officials have not released a comparable full gotaway total for fiscal 2026 in the material reported with this announcement.
Federal troops have been posted at the southwest border to answer cartel shootings and support CBP and Border Patrol. The lower crossing numbers did not erase violence tied to enforcement work.
Three ICE-involved shootings occurred in Texas alone, leaving two Hispanic men dead, including one U.S. citizen. After the second shooting in Houston, Gov. Greg Abbott called for a state investigation. Assaults against ICE officers rose by more than 1,700% nationwide, per the reporting’s prior figures.
CBP’s Saturday release used preliminary fiscal 2026 data and did not include final published September totals at the time of the announcement. Even so, the year-long pattern was already clear: monthly southwest numbers in the low five figures, nationwide encounters at historic lows, and a full fiscal year without Border Patrol releases.
Scott and CBP cast the year as proof that enforcement, partnerships, and resources can reverse a border crisis that once looked permanent. The agency’s own tables show apprehensions and encounters orders of magnitude below the Biden-era highs, with drug seizures up and new barrier miles in the ground.
Open questions remain on final September tallies, the exact drop in border deaths, and the current gotaway count. Those gaps do not erase what the preliminary record already shows about fiscal 2026.
When Washington treats the border as a real line, detain, deport, build, and mean it, illegal crossings fall. Fiscal 2026 is what that looks like in the CBP data.
