The numbers are striking — and the administration isn’t shy about saying so. For the tenth consecutive month, federal officials say not a single illegal immigrant has been released into the United States interior, a milestone that’s reshaping how Washington talks about the southern border.
The Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection released February data this week showing a dramatic sustained drop in illegal crossings, massive drug seizure figures, and what officials are calling the most secure border in American history. Whether that framing holds up to scrutiny or not, the raw numbers are hard to dismiss.
Ten Months. Zero Releases.
That’s the headline DHS wants you to walk away with. “Ten straight months of ZERO illegal aliens released at the border,” said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. “President Trump promised to secure the Border, and that is a promise we delivered. Our borders are CLOSED to lawbreakers.” It’s the kind of declarative statement that plays well at a rally — but the underlying data suggests the trend is real, even if the framing is political.
CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott offered a more measured version of the same message. “February marks the tenth straight month that U.S. Border Patrol has not released a single illegal alien into the interior of the United States,” he said, calling it “a clear reflection of the enforcement-first posture restoring integrity to our nation’s borders.”
The Numbers Behind the Claim
February’s total CBP encounters came in at 26,963 — down 22% from January and a staggering 88% below the monthly average recorded during the Biden administration. Southwest border apprehensions specifically hit 6,603, which CBP says is 97% lower than Biden-era figures. That’s not a rounding error. That’s a near-total collapse in the volume of crossings that defined the political conversation for years.
February also recorded the highest single month of drug seizures since October 2021, according to the agency. The administration has consistently tied border enforcement to the fentanyl crisis, and that framing is baked into nearly every DHS statement on the subject.
Trump’s Own Take — And Even He Seemed Surprised
President Trump addressed the figures directly in recent remarks, and — in a rare moment of candor — acknowledged the scale of what he was claiming. “We had zero illegal aliens being admitted into our country for the last eight months,” Trump stated. “That’s hard even for me to believe.” It’s an odd thing to say about your own administration’s signature achievement, but it tracks with how dramatic the shift has been from just a few years ago.
Still, the gap between “zero releases” and “zero crossings” is worth noting. Encounters still happen — tens of thousands per month. The distinction the administration is drawing is that no one apprehended at the border is being processed and released into the country while awaiting hearings, a practice that became a flashpoint during the Biden years.
Nearly 3 Million Departures in 13 Months
Beyond the border itself, DHS is touting what it describes as an unprecedented outflow of undocumented immigrants already inside the country. Over the last 13 months, the agency reported, nearly 3 million illegal immigrants have left the United States — a figure that includes an estimated 2.2 million self-deportations and more than 713,000 formal deportations.
“Over the last 13 months, nearly 3 million illegal aliens have left the U.S. because of the Trump Administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration,” Noem said in a statement. The self-deportation figure, in particular, is difficult to independently verify — it’s largely inferred from drops in population data and voluntary departure filings — but the administration has stood by the methodology.
What It Means Going Forward
How long can this hold? That’s the question immigration analysts are quietly asking. Enforcement surges have historically produced short-term drops in crossings, followed by gradual rebounds as conditions in source countries remain unchanged. The Trump administration argues this time is structurally different — that the legal architecture, staffing posture, and diplomatic pressure it’s built will outlast any single policy cycle.
That’s a case that will take years to prove or disprove. For now, the numbers are what they are: a border that looks almost nothing like it did eighteen months ago, an administration that’s betting its legacy on keeping it that way, and a country still deeply divided over what it all means.
As Scott put it, “While threats to our national and economic security continue to evolve, so does our resolve to meet them.” Whether resolve is enough — that’s the part no press release can answer.
