The number of foreigners apprehended trying to enter America illegally has plunged, with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection making 39 percent fewer arrests at the nation’s southern border last month compared to December 2024.

The Border Patrol made 21,593 arrests in January, down from 47,316 in December and the lowest mark since May 2020, the CBP said.

“The men and women of U.S. Customs and Border Protection are aggressively implementing the President’s Executive Orders to secure our borders. These actions have already resulted in dramatic improvements in border security,” the acting commissioner of the CBP, Pete Flores, said in a statement. 

“The reduction in illegal aliens attempting to make entry into the U.S., compounded by a significant increase in repatriations, means that more officers and agents are now able to conduct the enforcement duties that make our border more secure and our country safer,” he said.

On his first day in office, President Trump declared a state of emergency at the southern border, calling in some 5,000 active-duty military and National Guard troops to support CBP’s law enforcement activities. 

“Call it the Trump Effect,” the White House said in a statement responding to the new numbers.

Mr. Trump’s border tsar Tom Homan crowed about the drop off on Monday. “In the last 24 hours the US Border Patrol has encountered a total of 229 aliens across the entire southwest border. That is down from a high of over 11,000 a day under Biden. I started as a Border Patrol Agent in 1984 and I don’t remember the numbers ever being that low. President Trump promised a secure border and he is delivering,” he said in an X post.

In 2021, under President Biden, daily illegal border crossings averaged more than 5,300, according to the CBP. That rose to more than 6,400 a day in 2022. Yet so far in February, there have been just 359 foreigners illegally trying to enter America, a drop of more than 90 percent from February 2024.

Mr. Homan also said arrests of foreigners illegally in the country have soared, noting that arrests of illegals with gang affiliations have doubled. “Interior arrests by ICE have increased more than 137 percent under President Trump. Arrests of aliens with criminal convictions have doubled under President Trump. The arrests of illegal alien gang members has also doubled. Our streets and neighborhoods are that much safer under President Trump. We are less than a month in and have more to do,” he wrote on X.

Meanwhile, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have reportedly been arresting illegal aliens when they appear for routine immigration check-ins or court appointments. “Local news outlets in Tennessee, Florida, New York, Minnesota and more have reported on multiple unsuspecting people being arrested — some potentially readied for deportation — while showing up for a scheduled appointment,” Yahoo reported.