Illegal border crossings near record low in August

By Bethany Blankley
The Center Square

(The Center Square ) – Illegal border crossings in August remained at near record lows although they were slightly up from July.

Illegal crossings in August remained historically low, with 26,197 total encounters and apprehensions reported nationwide, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.

The lowest illegal border crosser apprehensions and encounters reported on record was in July of 24,598, according to the data. Under the Biden administration, a record high of nearly 371,0000 was reported in December 2024, according to the data.

As is the case every month, the greatest number of illegal border crossers encountered by federal agents were single adults followed by individuals claiming to be in family units, according to the data.

By comparison, there were 158,893 illegal border crosser encounters/apprehensions reported last August; 304,073 in August 2023 and 251,521 in August 2022, according to the data.

Of the more than 26,000 encounters reported nationwide in August, the greatest number, 9,620, were reported at land and sea ports of entry nationwide. The next greatest number was 9,740 reported at the southwest border and 6,837 at the northern border, according to the data.

Border Patrol agents apprehended 6,319 illegal border crossers between ports of entry at the southwest border last month, according to the data. The total is equivalent to just four days in August last year during the Biden administration. It also represents a 96% drop from the monthly average of the last administration.

CBP also notes that daily Border Patrol apprehensions totaled 204 in August, 96% lower than the daily average during the Biden administration.

CBP also claims Border Patrol agents released zero illegal border crossers through parole programs, compared to 10,186 released by Border Patrol agents under the Biden administration at the southwest border last August. It appears to solely refer to Border Patrol agents and illegal entries between ports of entry at the southwest border.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has also claimed more than once that zero illegal border crossers have been released into the country under the Trump administration. “For four straight months, United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has released zero illegal aliens into the country,” it said this week.

CBP data contradicts this claim.

More than 13,000 inadmissible noncitizens were released into the U.S. in the first four full months of the Trump administration who arrived at ports of entries nationwide, according to CBP data published by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University, The Center Square reported. The data excludes gotaways, those who evaded capture and illegally entered the country, also deemed inadmissible.

The data is a reversal from the record number of illegal border crossers who poured into the country under the Biden administration. They totaled at least more than 14 million, including more than two million who evaded capture, The Center Square reported.

With more agents in the field prioritizing interdiction and patrolling the border, illicit drug seizures were also up again last month, CBP said. Combined seizures by weight of cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, fentanyl, and marijuana increased 9.2% from July, according to the data. Last month, CBP officers also seized 755 pounds of fentanyl; methamphetamine seizures increased 37%, it says.