Leaked CBP data: 98,701 southern border arrests in fiscal 2026, vs 2.2 million in fiscal 2022

Right · 1The Washington Examiner reported on 14 October 2026 that leaked internal Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data show Border Patrol agents at the southern border arrested just under 98,701 people in fiscal 2026, which ran from October 2025 through September 2026. 1 Right · 1The paper said it obtained the numbers on Tuesday and that the government data are set to be publicly released in the coming weeks. 1 Right · 2The figure averages 8,225 encounters a month and is described as the lowest annual total in at least 59 years. 1 2

Right · 2It is more than 95% below the 2.2 million southern border arrests in fiscal 2022, President Joe Biden's first full year, when an average of 183,000 people were taken into custody each month, which is more than in the whole of the past 12 months. This is the basis for the headline claim of a decline of more than 2 million. 1 2 Right · 1The Examiner noted that Border Patrol does not publicly list southern-border-only arrests going back to its 1924 founding, so the last comparable low cannot be known. The nearest benchmark is 1967, when 94,778 arrests were made nationwide. 1 Right · 1For context, the Examiner said the southern border historically accounts for more than 90% of arrests nationwide, and that arrests held between 300,000 and 500,000 a year in all but one year from 2010 to 2020. It added that arrests fell quickly for several months in 2017 under Trump's first term before rising sharply again. 1

Right · 1The Examiner attributed the drop in part to Trump's early executive actions on the border and said arrests fell within days of his election, which some called the "Trump effect". It also recounted Republican criticism of Biden and former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for allowing a crisis to continue for more than three years. 1 Right · 1It said Democrats and immigrant rights groups have pointed to the pandemic, the halt in global travel, economic collapse and technology as drivers of the earlier surge, and that the Biden administration took steps that reduced crossings only months before the 2024 election. 1 Right · 1The Examiner also reported that, ahead of the midterm elections, Republican candidates have not stressed the border record. Right-leaning analysts it interviewed suggested reasons including that it is old news, that other issues are more pressing, and that voters are uneasy about deportations. CBP did not respond to a request for comment. 1

Right · 1Just the News, a lean-right outlet, republished the figures the same day, citing the Examiner's report. 2