For years, Americans watched their southern border dissolve into a federally sponsored revolving door. Under the Biden administration, communities from Texas to small-town Ohio shouldered the consequences of unchecked illegal immigration — overwhelmed schools, crushed hospital systems, surging crime, and a fentanyl plague that has buried hundreds of thousands. Washington’s answer? Deny everything. Blame the weather. Blame poverty. Blame anyone except the people writing the policy. And of course, trot out that now-legendary whopper: the border is “secure.”
The establishment told us this was simply the new reality. The flow couldn’t be stopped. Enforcement was cruel. Compassion meant averting your eyes while federal law collected cobwebs on a shelf. Millions of American citizens — the ones actually living with the fallout — knew that was nonsense. A nation that refuses to enforce its own borders isn’t compassionate. It’s negligent. Well, the data from President Trump’s first year back in office has arrived. It paints a rather different picture.
From The Post Millennial:
Border apprehensions at the southern border fell 94 percent in April compared to the monthly average under the Biden administration, according to figures from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The reason is that the Trump administration has essentially stopped the flow of migrants across the US border.
US Customs and Border Protection and Border Patrol announced last week that agents had gone an entire year without releasing illegal immigrants directly into the country after apprehending them at the border. Officials recorded 8,943 apprehensions at the southwest border in April, which DHS said marked one of the lowest monthly totals in decades.
Go ahead and read that one more time. A 94 percent drop. Not a modest dip. Not a hopeful trend line. A near-total collapse in illegal crossings — the very crossings we were assured no president could stop. For even sharper context, April’s numbers represent a 96 percent decline from the catastrophic peak of December 2023, arguably the single worst month of Biden’s open-border experiment. We went from historic crisis to historic control inside one presidential term. Funny how that works when someone actually tries.
The end of catch and release
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin didn’t mince words last week: “The days of catch and release are over.” That’s not rhetoric. It’s a documented fact. For twelve consecutive months, Border Patrol has not released a single apprehended illegal immigrant directly into the American interior. Zero. The concept is almost quaint in its simplicity — you catch someone breaking the law, and you don’t just wave them through. Revolutionary stuff, apparently.
The policy levers are no mystery either. Expanded ICE operations. Tightened asylum restrictions. Aggressive interior enforcement. DHS reports nearly 900,000 deportations and more than 900,000 arrests as of May 17. This is what it looks like when a government decides its own laws are worth enforcing.
Three million and counting
The transformation reaches well beyond the border itself. DHS reports that over 3 million illegal immigrants have departed the United States during Trump’s first year back. Approximately 2.2 million of those were voluntary — so-called “self-deportations” facilitated through the administration’s CBP Home app, which offers travel assistance and financial support to those willing to leave on their own terms.
Here’s the part fiscal conservatives will appreciate: DHS credits this program with saving taxpayers an estimated $39 billion compared to traditional removal proceedings. That’s billion, with a B. Effective enforcement that also respects the public purse. Not a bad combination.
What the numbers actually prove
Predictably, critics are nitpicking how DHS categorizes certain figures. They always do. But no amount of methodological quibbling erases the core truth staring everyone in the face: when the federal government chooses to enforce immigration law, illegal crossings crater. Period.
That’s the real revelation here. The Biden border catastrophe wasn’t some unavoidable humanitarian wave that swamped helpless bureaucrats. It was a deliberate policy direction — and a different direction reversed it almost overnight. Every overwhelmed border town, every fentanyl death, every preventable crime committed by someone who never should have been here? Those were consequences of a choice. And that should make everyone furious.
A nation that keeps its word
Americans demanded a secure border. They voted for it, argued for it, and spent years being called xenophobes for insisting on it. A 94 percent plunge in apprehensions, 3 million departures, and a full year without catch and release aren’t just policy wins. They’re proof that the government can serve its citizens when it decides to. The work ahead remains significant, but the principle is settled. A nation that enforces its laws is a nation that respects the people who live under them. No asterisk required.
Key Takeaways
- Border apprehensions plummeted 94% under Trump after DHS ended Biden-era catch-and-release policies.
- Over 3 million illegal immigrants have left the U.S. in Trump’s first year back in office.
- The self-deportation program saved American taxpayers an estimated $39 billion.
- The Biden border crisis was a policy choice — and decisive enforcement proved it was always reversible.
Sources: The Post Millennial, Fox News
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