WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security has reported 98,708 southwest border apprehensions in fiscal year 2026, which ended on September 30, describing the figure as the lowest annual total in United States history, according to preliminary Customs and Border Protection data released by the department.
DHS also reported 379,243 encounters nationwide during the fiscal year, which it likewise described as the lowest in the agency’s history. The department said the southwest border figure represents a decline of about 95 percent compared with annual apprehensions that averaged more than 1.8 million during the previous administration. Officials noted that the historical rankings rest on preliminary CBP data and on the definitions used for different encounter categories, which should be examined separately.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin credited the administration’s enforcement policies for the decline, saying the president had promised a secure border and that the data showed he had delivered. CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott credited frontline personnel and cooperation among agencies for the results.
Apprehensions count people taken into custody between ports of entry, while encounters is the broader category that also includes people processed at ports of entry. That distinction matters when comparing years: changes in policy can move people between categories, and a low apprehension total does not by itself describe asylum claims, removals or repeat crossings.
The announcement lands in a continuing political argument over immigration. The administration points to the numbers as proof its approach works. Critics of the administration’s wider programme — including an expansion of third-country deportations and faster proceedings criticised by lawmakers in a letter this week concerning unaccompanied children — argue that enforcement totals alone do not measure due process or humanitarian outcomes. Both debates are likely to run into the new fiscal year.
What happens next: CBP publishes monthly operational updates, and the preliminary fiscal-year figures will be replaced by final data. Watch whether monthly apprehensions stay near current levels through the winter, and whether Congress takes up the funding and oversight questions the announcement has revived. See the department’s releases at DHS.gov and CBP.gov.
