Apprehensions of illegals at the US southern border are at their lowest level ever, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Average apprehensions were at just 330 a day during February, Trump’s first full month in office.
In a statement issued by CBP, they said these are “the lowest nationwide apprehensions in” the organization’s history.
Border Patrol agents apprehended 8,347 illegal aliens at the southern border in February, down 94% from 140,641 apprehensions in February 2024.
Trump and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem “have sent a clear message: if you cross the border illegally, you will be deported without an opportunity to try another day, or in a few hours,” the agency said in its statement.
Pete Flores, acting Border Patrol commissioner, said the agency’s officials continue to “aggressively implement the president’s executive orders” and, as a result, have “achieved historic lows in border apprehensions.”
The Department of Homeland Security launched an advertising campaign in February warning illegals to leave the country voluntarily or be deported, with no chance of return.
In conjunction with this campaign, CBP launched a new CBP Home app, which allows illegal aliens to notify the US government about their intention to leave. This ensures an “orderly process for aliens to communicate their departure plans,” the agency said.
Despite the successes at the border and inside the United States, where Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested over 20,000 illegals last month, President Trump’s flagship mass-deportation policy is facing funding issues already.
ICE, in particular, is facing a funding shortfall of $2 billion.
According to Axios, ICE has warned Congress it faces a massive black hole in its budget that could compromise its ability to carry out Trump’s flagship immigration policy.
Although Congress will send an additional $500 million in the stop-gap spending bill that just passed the House, that money would still fall well short of providing the funds ICE needs to continue working at its current pace through September.
Current plans for ICE expansion include the hiring of hundreds more stuff, the doubling of detention space to accommodate 100,000 people and increasing the number of detention flights.
The spending plan now before Congress is “not going to be sufficient to be able to cover the entire need for what they’re covering” at ICE, said Sen. James Lankford
“Just the bed space alone becomes very significant. And to just be able to detain people for a couple of days while they’re processing, and then to be able to move out flights… is exceptionally expensive.”
It may be possible to divert money to ICE from other agencies within the Department of Homeland Security, such as FEMA and the Coast Guard, but this could only be a temporary measure.
As part of a larger “budget reconciliation” bill, tens of billions of dollars have been earmarked for Trump’s immigration policies, but that bill is likely to take some time to pass, since it contains significant changes to tax policy that will provoke serious debate among lawmakers.