WASHINGTON, D.C. –– Today, the House Committee on Homeland Security released a “Border Brief” factsheet detailing the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data for January 2025, which includes 11 days of President Donald Trump’s administration. Last month, there were 81,792 encounters at our borders nationwide, including 61,465 at the Southwest border. Nationwide border encounters decreased 66% compared to January 2024 (242,530) and 34% compared to December 2024 (124,734). 
 
“After less than a month, the American people can already see the impacts of the Trump administration’s efforts to restore sovereignty at our borders,” Chairman Mark E. Green, MD said. “Following four long years of chaos, the administration has empowered our Border Patrol agents to carry out their sworn duties and has put criminal cartels on notice: America’s borders are no longer open for your deadly business. Those who wish to cross our borders illegally can see what every American knows––law and order is back.”
 
“Since his inauguration on January 20th, President Trump has worked tirelessly to restore border security and enforce our nation’s laws. President Trump has kept his promises to the American people to secure the border. He wasted no time in reversing the disastrous policies of the Biden-Harris administration that brought criminal illegal aliens into communities across our nation,” Subcommittee on Border Security and Enforcement Chairman Michael Guest said. “The actions taken by President Trump to secure our border and make America safe again have been nothing less than historic, including by reducing illegal border crossings by over 60 percent in his first week in office alone. As the Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border Security and Enforcement, I am honored to work alongside the President to secure our border.”

While the January 2025 CBP data only includes 11 days of his presidency, the “Trump Effect” is clear. After President Trump took executive action to declare an emergency and surge resources to the Southwest border, CBP recorded an 85% decrease in Border Patrol apprehensions between ports of entry along the Southwest border compared to the same period in January 2024. 
 
As our law enforcement regained situational awareness in the field, the daily average of known gotaways decreased 93% compared to the height of the Biden administration. In transcribed interviews with chief patrol agents along the Southwest border in 2023, they confirmed illegal aliens were communicating their experiences of being released into the United States, and the lack of consequences for illegally crossing the Southwest border, to friends and family back home. This welcome mat encouraged more people to make the journey to the border in the hopes of also being released. Now, the incentive to cross our border illegally is gone, and frontline law enforcement is empowered to secure our borders.
 
The stark difference is not just visible between ports of entry. President Trump rolled back the Biden administration’s unlawful use of mass parole through the CBP One app and the fraud-ridden Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan (CHNV) program. In the last two years, 1.5 million inadmissible aliens were unlawfully paroled into our communities, with insufficient vetting, at ports of entry nationwide under these schemes. In the first two weeks of Trump’s presidency, encounters at Southwest border ports of entry decreased 93% compared to the two weeks before. 
 
President Trump has restored enforcement of our nation’s laws, and the impacts aren’t just at the Southwest border––they are visible across the country. In fact, just last week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested an illegal alien in Boston who was charged with the rape of a child and released back into the community due to sanctuary city policies. In the past three weeks, ICE has increased arrests of illegal aliens in the interior by more than 130% compared to the same period in 2024, enhancing public safety in communities from Texas to Massachusetts. Luckily, the impacts of these enforcement efforts are only beginning.

Key Facts:

• CBP recorded 81,792 encounters nationwide in January, including 61,465 at the Southwest border. Southwest border encounters in January decreased by 36% from December encounters (96,035).
• Apprehensions between ports of entry at the Southwest border decreased by 38%––from 47,316 in December 2024 to 29,116 this past month.
• From January 21 through January 31, 2025, U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) apprehensions dropped 85% compared to the same period in 2024. 
• Encounters at ports of entry along the Southwest border dropped 93% in the 11 days after January 20 compared with the 11 days prior.
• At the Southwest border in January, CBP encountered 3,224 unaccompanied alien children (UACs)––a 52% drop from the previous month. 

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