According to the latest government data released Wednesday, illegal immigration at the southern border nearly vanished in February, with improvements across all measures. The number of illegal immigrants apprehended along the U.S.-Mexico boundary reached a multi-decade low. For just the second time ever—and the first non-pandemic month—fewer than 800 unaccompanied alien children were recorded. Family migration numbers plunged from over 7,000 to roughly 800. Notably, for the first time since former President Trump’s administration, agents did not detect any terrorism suspects crossing the border.
“The men and women of U.S. Customs and Border Protection continue to aggressively implement the president’s executive orders to secure our borders, and as a result of this leadership, we have achieved historic lows in border apprehensions,” said Pete Flores, CBP’s acting commissioner, per the Washington Times.
The number of illegal immigrants apprehended by Border Patrol agents along the Mexican border fell to 8,347, representing a 71% decline from January and a 94% drop compared to February 2024 under President Biden. Even more striking was the decrease in unauthorized migrants arriving at border crossings seeking entry, which dropped from 32,000 in January to about 3,400 in February. This dramatic reduction followed former President Trump’s decision to cancel Biden-era “parole” programs that had allowed unauthorized migrants to enter if they pre-scheduled their arrivals.
Meanwhile, a border wall upgrade construction project, which was canceled by Biden, is now back underway in the Texas Rio Grande Valley. U.S. Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks announced last week that the Trump administration has ordered the restart of the Biden-era canceled border wall upgrade along the Texas-Mexico border. Banks announced that the project will replace six-foot guardrails with 18-foot bollard panels. They are designed to “provide impedance and denial capabilities” to illegal aliens crossing the border from Mexico into Texas.
“These panels were originally planned for installation during the prior Trump Administration, but the contracts were cancelled (sic) by the Biden Administration,” Banks stated, Breitbart News reported. “The panels going in today will replace the six-foot guard rails and will provide impedance and denial capabilities in support of the President’s recent Executive Orders to ensure complete operational control of the Southern border.”