DHS says the Border Patrol made 98,708 southwest border apprehensions in fiscal 2026, a 95 percent drop from the more than 1.8 million a year it attributes to the Biden years. The drop is real and it is the lowest in nearly six decades. DHS's own release calls it the lowest "in agency history," and CBP's own historical table says otherwise.

What did DHS and CBP actually announce?

In an October 16 release, DHS and Customs and Border Protection gave preliminary numbers for the fiscal year that ended September 30. Border Patrol recorded 98,708 apprehensions on the southwest border. That total is 60 percent below the single worst month of the Biden years, which the release puts at 249,740 by itself.

Secretary Markwayne Mullin said "the data proves he delivered," and CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott credited "focused enforcement, strong partnerships, and the commitment of our frontline personnel." DHS also says deaths identified by the Border Patrol fell nearly 80 percent, and that CBP finished 250 miles of new barrier since January 20, 2025.

Border Patrol agents on ATV patrol in South Texas, a September 2013 file photo. Photo: Donna Burton, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

Is 98,708 really the lowest in agency history?

No, and the proof is on CBP's own website. The agency's table of Border Patrol apprehensions from fiscal 1925 to 2018 lists 94,778 for fiscal 1967 and 79,610 for fiscal 1966. In 1960 the figure was 28,966. Fiscal 1968 is the first year back that tops this year's number, at 123,519.

That table counts the whole country, while the 98,708 is southwest border only, so the comparison is not perfect. It cuts the wrong way for DHS anyway, since a nationwide 2026 count would be higher. The Center for Immigration Studies reached the same answer in September, projecting that fiscal 2026 would be the lowest southwest total since fiscal 1967, which it puts at just under 74,000.

Why the real record is the zero-release number

The claim that holds up on its own is the one DHS leads with. The release says fiscal 2026 was the first full year in which the Border Patrol released no one, and that September was the 17th straight month of zero releases. No 1967 comparison touches that.

DHS also says total nationwide encounters hit 379,243, the lowest in agency history. Encounters are a broader measure than Border Patrol arrests, and I could not find a long historical series to check that one against. It stays DHS's claim until CBP publishes the table.

New border wall and all-weather road under construction east of Lochiel, Arizona, August 11, 2026. Photo: CBP Photography, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

What this means with the midterms two weeks away

The administration has a record to run on, and it does not need a stretch. A line like "lowest in agency history" is the kind of sentence a hostile reporter checks in five minutes against a table CBP itself published. The honest version is shorter and still brutal for the other side: the fewest southwest apprehensions since 1967, and a first-ever year without releases.

The figures are also labeled preliminary, so final numbers could shift. Voters who care about this issue deserve numbers that survive a fact-check, because the moment one claim fails, the opposition gets to say all of them are spin. Fix the sentence, keep the record.

Header photo: CBP Photography, new border wall and all-weather road construction east of Lochiel, Arizona, August 11, 2026, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.