Administration says it is ending illegal crossings at the southern border

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The statement is not 100% exact but close enough for a reasonable person (e.g., claimed 70% vs. actual 65%). Learn more in Methodology.

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enforcement

Border enforcement data (encounters, apprehensions, estimates of unauthorized crossings) and policy/action reports show a sustained decrease to levels consistent with the administration's claim and attributable to its policies.

Source summary
The White House released a presidential message marking the 178th anniversary of the United States' victory in the Mexican–American War, recounting key events such as the capture of Mexico City and the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo that ceded 525,000 square miles to the U.S. The statement frames that history as foundational to American sovereignty and connects it to current administration priorities: stricter southern border enforcement, drug interdiction, dismantling "narco-terrorist networks," recent trade agreements with several Latin American countries, actions regarding the Panama Canal, and a foreign policy described as "America First" and tied to a reasserted "Trump Corollary." The message also honors the soldiers who died in the conflict.
Latest fact check

CBP and DHS operational data show a sharp, sustained drop in encounters at the southern border in late 2025 and early FY2026 — December 2025 recorded about 30,698 total encounters nationwide and CBP/DHS reported the lowest start to a fiscal year on record (91,603 encounters Oct–Dec FY2026) and eight consecutive months of zero Border Patrol parole releases. Those figures support that the current administration has largely halted the prior era’s very large-scale flows. However, encounters have not fallen to zero; migrants are still encountered monthly, so the claim that the administration is definitively "ending" illegal crossings without qualification overstates a permanent, complete stop. Verdict: Close — accurate in describing a dramatic reduction in large-scale crossings but imprecise if read as a total end to illegal crossings.

Timeline

  1. Update · Feb 03, 2026, 12:07 PMClose
    CBP and DHS operational data show a sharp, sustained drop in encounters at the southern border in late 2025 and early FY2026 — December 2025 recorded about 30,698 total encounters nationwide and CBP/DHS reported the lowest start to a fiscal year on record (91,603 encounters Oct–Dec FY2026) and eight consecutive months of zero Border Patrol parole releases. Those figures support that the current administration has largely halted the prior era’s very large-scale flows. However, encounters have not fallen to zero; migrants are still encountered monthly, so the claim that the administration is definitively "ending" illegal crossings without qualification overstates a permanent, complete stop. Verdict: Close — accurate in describing a dramatic reduction in large-scale crossings but imprecise if read as a total end to illegal crossings.
  2. Update · Feb 03, 2026, 11:32 AMClose
    U.S. government statistics show encounters at the southwest border fell to historic lows in late 2025: CBP reported 91,603 nationwide encounters (Oct–Dec FY2026) and just 6,478 U.S. Border Patrol apprehensions on the southwest border in December 2025, along with eight consecutive months of zero parole releases. Those figures support the claim that large-scale surges have been sharply reduced. However, encounters did not fall to zero — thousands were still encountered in December 2025 — so describing the administration as fully "ending" illegal crossings overstates the result. Verdict: Close — the claim is broadly supported (large-scale flows have been sharply curtailed) but is not literally complete elimination.
  3. Original article · Feb 02, 2026

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