Southwest border encounters once again were at record lows in April at just 12,035, according to the latest data compiled by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, recording record lows for the third month in a row.
Overall, illegal immigration has been reduced, from 559,009 from February through April of 2024 down to just 34,762 in 2025 since President Donald Trump took office, a drop of 94 percent. It’s the lowest ever on record in data dating all the way back to 2000.
The swift change came as President Trump declared a national border emergency on Jan. 20 under the National Emergencies Act, immediately deployed the military to the border, resuming construction of the southern border wall, declaring gangs and drug cartels to be terrorist organizations and expediting their removal under the Alien Enemy Act and by the Attorney General.
Now, more help is on the way after the passage by the U.S. House of Representatives of President Trump’s signature legislation the One Big Beautiful Bill Act by a slim 215 to 214 vote on May 22.
The vote came two days after President Trump rallied House Republicans in a closed-door meeting to get the bill across the finish line. Trump closed the deal.
One item that probably didn’t hurt was it adds $46.5 billion of critical border wall and other barrier construction funds. When Paul Ryan was House Speaker the American people couldn’t get him to add two bricks to the wall in 2017.
The bill also adds another $4.1 billion to hire more Border Patrol agents, $2 billion for retention and signing bonuses, $1 billion for more inspection equipment and $2.7 billion for more surveillance equipment.
The President is always the most powerful when he has Congress’ backing, and so it is with securing the southern border that the enfeebled former President Joe Biden left open on purpose to flood the country with millions of illegal alien refugees.
According to data compiled by the United States Border Patrol encounters and the Office of Field Operations inadmissibles by the Office of Immigration Statistics, there were some 10.8 million border encounters all told from January 2021 to November 2024.
Now, the House has done its part to secure the border, with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act headed to the Senate and President Trump hoping to sign the bill into law by July 4. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and President Trump all campaigned on securing the border, and soon they’ll be able to show they got it done in Congress. Stay tuned.Â
Robert Romano is the Executive Director at Americans for Limited Government.
