# Border Crossings Hit Historic Lows as DHS Reports a Full Year With Zero Releases

DHS says Border Patrol logged 98,708 southwest border apprehensions in fiscal 2026, roughly 95% below the Biden-era annual average.

- Section: [Border & Security](https://rightnewsrightnow.com/border-security/)
- Published: 2026-10-17
- By: RightNewsRightNow Staff
- Canonical page: https://rightnewsrightnow.com/articles/border-crossings-historic-lows/

The numbers coming out of the Department of Homeland Security this week are the kind Washington promised for decades and never delivered.

According to preliminary DHS figures released Thursday, Border Patrol recorded 98,708 southwest border apprehensions in fiscal year 2026. DHS says that is roughly 95% below the annual average of more than 1.8 million during the Biden administration. Spread across the year, it works out to about 270 apprehensions a day, compared with roughly 5,000 a day using the department's Biden-era average.

Put another way, a full year of apprehensions on the southwest border now comes in at less than half of the 249,740 recorded in the Biden administration's single busiest month.

DHS also said September marked the 17th consecutive month without Border Patrol releasing migrants into the country. The department describes it as the agency's first full fiscal year with zero releases.

Fox News spoke with retired Yuma Sector Border Patrol Chief Chris Clem, who remembers what the other side looked like. Clem told Fox News Digital that in December 2021 migrants "started walking through the agriculture fields" and "running through town." He said daily arrivals in Yuma climbed from roughly 25 in December 2020 to more than 1,000 by December 2021, and neared 1,500 a day during one three-day stretch. "When you're outnumbered, literally 100 to one, it's very difficult," he said.

So what changed? Clem credited a mix of personnel, infrastructure, technology and real consequences for illegal entry, not any single measure. He said smugglers lost their best sales pitch, which he described as: "If you get to the border, you're gonna be processed, and you'll be let go." Today, he said, migrants "know that they're not gonna be processed and released."

Enforcement inside the country adds another layer. Fox reports that border czar Tom Homan said Thursday that ICE had recorded its highest single-day deportation total since President Trump returned to office. Fox notes that removal figures measure a separate part of the immigration system from Border Patrol apprehensions and releases.

Clem also issued a warning: these gains are not locked in. He said a Congress "gung-ho to overturn what this president has done" could complicate enforcement through funding decisions and policy restrictions, and a future administration could pursue broader reversals.

That is the real stakes of the midterms for anyone who cares about border security. The results are on the table. Whether they last is a question for the ballot box.

## Source

Original reporting: [Fox News](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/former-border-patrol-chief-recalls-biden-migrant-surge-chaos-trump-crackdown-delivers-historic-turnaround)