Trump Admin Reports Full Year of Zero Releases at the Southern Border

The Trump administration marked a year of zero releases at the southern border, with apprehensions dropping to their lowest levels in more than three decades, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said on May 15.

Data released by CBP indicate that the Border Patrol had released zero illegal immigrants into the country after apprehensions at the border for one full year.

“What a difference America,” CBP Commissioner Rodney S. Scott said in a statement.

“The U.S. Border Patrol released zero illegal aliens into our country again this month, unlike April 2024, when more than 68,000 were released under President [Joe] Biden.”

CBP said the Border Patrol recorded 8,943 apprehensions along the southwest border in April, down by 94 percent from the monthly average under the Biden administration and 96 percent below the peak reached in December 2023.

Border Patrol apprehensions along the southwest border during the fiscal year through April were 37 percent below the average monthly level observed between fiscal years 1992 and 2024, according to the data.

Average daily apprehensions in April totaled 298, the agency said, which was lower than the 336 illegal immigrants apprehended in a single hour during the height of the Biden administration in December 2023.

According to CBP, there were 215,876 encounters at the border this fiscal year, down by 13 percent from the number recorded in the month of April 2024 alone.

“The days of catch and release are over,” Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in the statement. “We are enforcing the nation’s laws and sending illegal aliens back to their home countries.”

Last December, the Border Patrol announced that it would impose a $5,000 apprehension fee on illegal immigrants aged 14 or older who entered the United States “without inspection.”

The fee also applies to violations of laws involving immigrant smuggling into the United States or providing material support to designated foreign terrorist organizations, according to the agency.

“This message applies to all illegal aliens—regardless of where they entered, how long they’ve been in the U.S., their current location, or any ongoing immigration proceedings,” it stated.

The apprehension fee was authorized under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that President Donald Trump signed into law in July 2025. The law states that the fee could be imposed on illegal immigrants “apprehended between ports of entry.”

On May 14, Border Patrol ​chief Michael Banks resigned from his position, just months after Mullin replaced Kristi Noem as head of the Department of Homeland Security in March.

Banks told Fox News on May 14 that it was “just time” for him to step away from the agency, which he had been leading since the Trump administration took office in January 2025.

“I feel like I got the ship back on course,” Banks said. “From the least secure, disastrous, chaotic border to the most secure border this country has ever seen. Time to pass the reins, 37 years, it’s time to enjoy the family and life.”

Trump has made curbing illegal border crossings a top priority for his administration in his second term.

After taking office on Jan. 20, 2025, he signed an executive order directing his administration to build barriers at the border, remove “promptly all aliens who enter or remain in violation of federal law,” and pursue criminal charges for violations of immigration laws.