Border Shock: Zero Releases, 13 months

The Trump administration says it has now gone 13 straight months without releasing illegal border crossers into the United States, a sharp break from the old catch-and-release system.

Quick Take

U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection say border releases stayed at zero for 13 months.^[1]^[2]
Border Patrol apprehensions in May were reported at 9,998, far below Biden-era levels.^[1]^[2]
Officials say the drop shows tougher enforcement and the end of catch and release.^[1]^[3]
Critics say the release count uses a narrow agency definition and does not fully settle the policy debate.^[2]^[7]^[8]

Border Numbers Hit a New Mark

U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced that the nation has now recorded 13 consecutive months of zero releases at the southern border.^[1]^[2] DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said, “The days of catch and release are over.”^[1]^[3] The agencies tied the result to tougher enforcement under President Donald Trump and said crossings remain at levels not seen in more than three decades.^[1]^[2]

The latest figures also show a steep drop in southwest border apprehensions. CBP reported 9,998 apprehensions in May, which it said was 94 percent lower than the monthly average during the Biden years and 96 percent below peak levels.^[1]^[2] The White House has also said Trump’s border crackdown has driven illegal crossings down and helped restore operational control at the southern border.^[9] Supporters see this as proof that the federal government can enforce the law when it chooses to do so.

What the Zero-Release Claim Means

The headline sounds simple, but the policy behind it is not. The Trump administration has ended the old practice of releasing many border crossers while they waited for later immigration steps.^[7]^[8] The American Immigration Council says the administration also shut down asylum access at the border and left migrants with little or no legal way to seek protection there.^[7] That means a lower release number can reflect both stricter enforcement and a much tighter entry system.

That difference matters for how readers judge the milestone. If agents do not release people into the country, the release rate will stay near zero by design.^[7]^[8] Critics say that does not by itself prove every part of the border is secure or that migration pressure has vanished.^[2]^[8] Even so, the numbers do show a major change from the Biden era, when large numbers of apprehended migrants were released into the interior.^[4]^[5]

Why Conservatives See This as a Win

For voters who wanted the border closed, the new data fits a simple promise: enforce the law, stop the releases, and protect American communities.^[1]^[9] The White House says more than 605,000 illegal aliens have been deported and millions more have left through self-deportation or removal.^[9] Border supporters see that as a long-overdue rejection of globalist thinking, weak enforcement, and the open-border chaos that fueled public anger for years.

𝐃𝐇𝐒: 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐇𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐙𝐄𝐑𝐎 𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐆𝐀𝐋 𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐍 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄𝐒 — 𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐌𝐏 𝐁𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐄𝐑 𝐏𝐎𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐘 𝐈𝐒 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆

The Department of Homeland Security announced today that it has now gone 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧… pic.twitter.com/1XYlZKkwVM

— M.A. Rothman (@MichaelARothman) June 20, 2026

The broader political fight is not over one statistic alone. It is over who controls the border, who gets to enter, and whether the federal government still treats immigration law as real law.^[7]^[8] The current numbers give Trump allies a strong talking point, but they also show how much border policy can change when Washington changes course.^[1]^[2]^[9] That is exactly why this milestone is drawing so much attention.