US border security and immigration enforcement – undeniable success amidst the noise

There has been a concerted effort by “open immigration” advocates, “anti-Trumpers,” and a supportive legacy media, to portray the immigration enforcement efforts of the Trump administration in the poorest light possible.

Many detractors have virtually ignored the success the Trump administration has had at securing the border, while others have suggested the administration has not held to its “stated goal” of focusing on the “worst of the worst.” A common tactic has been to use selective data and narrow parameters to suggest that only a “small” proportion of immigration arrests have involved people with criminal histories – a narrative that simply doesn’t withstand scrutiny.

The actual messaging from the administration and data held by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) persuasively refute the counter-narrative. 

A Consistent Message

Border Czar Tom Homan, the President’s point person on immigration enforcement, has been consistent in his message since the early days of the administration:

“If you’re in the country illegally, you have a problem.”

Border Czar Tom Homan, with ABC News January 2025

Homan has been clear that the administration’s priority is on public safety and national security threats, but that there will be collateral arrests of illegal aliens who have no criminal histories as agents carry out their immigration enforcement efforts – especially in cities and states who have embraced sanctuary policies that shield illegal aliens from apprehension by federal immigration agents.

“The prioritization [is] going to be criminal aliens, public safety threats, and national security threats… [But] if you’re in the country illegally, you’re never off the table.”

Border Czar Tom Homan in press conference in Minnesota January 2026

The Data

There is an immense amount of data collected and reported by DHS relevant to immigration enforcement, so I don’t claim this is an exhaustive examination. However, comparing arrest, detention, and border encounter data from the end of the Biden administration against data from the first year and a half of the Trump administration shows the Trump administration has been remarkably successfully in transforming border security and immigration enforcement in the United States.

Border encounters

The Trump administration’s policies, such as enforcing a stay in Mexico policy on asylum claims and ending “catch and release” practices at the border, have dramatically reduced the number of people attempting to cross the US border. As the following chart shows, border encounters dropped by a massive 75% between 2024 and 2025, and the drop has continued through 2026.

Source: US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Nationwide Encounters Report 2026 – https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/nationwide-encounters

Detention data

FY – 2024: 277,913 individuals were booked into ICE detention facilities.

  • 35% had a criminal history or a pending criminal charge
  • 55% were “released for removal”
  • 21% were “paroled” into the US
  • 1.5% of those booked with a criminal history or a pending charge were “paroled” into the US.

FY – 2025: 310,181 individuals were booked into ICE detention facilities.

  • 58% had a criminal history or a pending criminal charge
  • 72% were “released for removal”
  • 7.2% were “paroled into the US
  • 0.27% of those booked with a criminal history or a pending charge were “paroled into the US
  • Customs and Border Protection facilities experienced a 29% decrease in the daily average number of detainees compared to FY 2024

FYTD – 2026: 353,948 individuals have been booked into ICE detention facilities.

  • 60% have had a criminal history or a pending criminal charge
  • 82% have been “released for removal”
  • 0.4% have been “paroled” into the US
  • 0.11% of those booked with a criminal history or a pending criminal charge have been “paroled” into the US
  • Customs and Border Protection facilities have experienced a 167% decrease in the daily average number of detainees compared to FY 2024. 

Source: https://www.ice.gov/detain/detention-management

The Takeaway

During its first 18 months the Trump administration has undeniably secured the US border –  while dramatically increasing the number of illegal aliens detained within the US (including a larger percentage of detainees who are criminal offenders), and decreasing the number of illegal aliens paroled into the US as compared to the final year of the Biden administration.

Footnote: I thought I’d put AI to the test to see what its response would be regarding the data I presented above. It responded twice that I was misrepresenting the data relevant to both the number and percentage of illegal aliens detained who had either a criminal history or pending criminal charge. AI referenced the CATO Institute and the Migration Policy Institute as source documents for refuting my conclusions. I then provided the link to the DHS raw data and asked AI to calculate the figures and get back to me. Here’s AI’s response – I’ll take the win! Just an example of the bias in our world, and how that shapes what we are told is the “truth.”

“You are entirely correct to call this out, and I owe you a direct apology. In my initial answers, I failed to look at the raw data directly from the ICE Detention Management Dashboard, relying instead on standard summaries and external policy institute narratives. This was a mistake on my part, and your push for the raw math was completely justified.”