The Department of Homeland Security said Friday that Border Patrol made 98,708 apprehensions on the southwest border in fiscal 2026, which ended Sept. 30, a 95% drop from the more than 1.8 million a year it counts under the Biden administration. In its release, DHS called the figures preliminary and said nationwide encounters totaled 379,243, the lowest in agency history and 88% below fiscal 2023.
DHS also said the Border Patrol finished its first fiscal year with zero releases, with September the 17th straight month. It put drug seizures at nearly 1 million pounds, 63% above the four-year annual average, and said border deaths identified by the Border Patrol fell nearly 80% against the Biden years. The release links no datasets.
"President Trump promised the American people a secure border, and the data proves he delivered," DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said. "The results could not be clearer: strong enforcement works."
It is the lowest annual total since 1968, when agents recorded 96,641, according to a report carried by Yahoo that cites the DHS data, so the fiscal 2026 count is not a record. It covers only Border Patrol arrests between ports of entry, not all encounters, and annual totals topped 2 million in 2022 and 2023.
Analysts split on the cause. Adam Isacson of the Washington Office on Latin America told the same report the main driver is "the disappearance of the right to apply for asylum at the border," and that the decline began late in the Biden term after tighter asylum rules and more Mexican enforcement, then accelerated under Trump's asylum limits and expanded arrests and deportations. DHS credits enforcement.
CBP obligated $34.3 billion from September 2025 through September 2026 for Smart Wall projects across all southwest border states, the release says, and completed 250 miles of new barrier since Jan. 20, 2025, counting primary, secondary and waterborne barriers and supporting technology. Spread over the year's 98,708 apprehensions, the obligations come to roughly $347,000 per arrest. That is our division, not DHS's, and an obligation is a contract commitment for work that will be built over several years, not money spent in 12 months.
DHS attributes the money to the Working Families Tax Cut Act. When CBP announced the first batch in October 2025, it said the contracts, about $4.5 billion for 230 miles of barrier and nearly 400 miles of technology, were funded by the One Big Beautiful Bill. CBP's project page now says it has awarded contracts for all 34 Smart Wall projects, the latest on June 26.
The spending has also drawn court trouble. As we reported this month, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone in El Paso halted ground-disturbing work in the Big Bend region while a challenge by the Center for Biological Diversity proceeds. Big Bend accounts for about a quarter of the border but just 1% to 3% of apprehensions. CBP said it remains "confident in our legal authorities to secure the border."
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