Promises Kept: Trump Has Sealed the Border and Ended Biden's Catch-and-Release

Sixteen straight months of zero Border Patrol releases show what enforcement looks like when a president keeps his word.

President Donald Trump has kept his border security promise by cutting attempted illegal crossings, not releasing those apprehended, and quickly removing those who evade initial detection. Under former President Joe Biden, border agents encountered illegal crossers by the millions and released many of them into American communities.

Biden Surrendered the Border to Illegal Aliens and Smugglers

The Biden-era system worked less like a wall than a welcome center for those who don't respect America's immigration laws. In fiscal year (FY) 2022, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recorded 2,766,582 encounters, while 737,244 "gotaways" slipped past agents. A House Homeland Security Committee report discovered roughly two million gotaways during Biden's time in office, averaging one per illegal alien border encounter.

The incentives the Biden administration put in place explain why. Most illegal crossers surrendered to agents immediately. They knew Biden's CBP would process them, release them, and hand them a court date. Because of the backlog, that date was usually years away.

The mass surrenders served smugglers well because they tied up agents, and every tied-up agent was one fewer watching for drugs. This led to devastating consequences for Americans. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) numbers show nearly 75,000 died of fentanyl overdoses in 2023 alone.

Trump Slammed the Door and Bolted It

Voters sent Trump and Republicans back to the White House and Congress with a mandate to end the deadly, open-border policies under Biden. The numbers show Republicans have delivered. The One Big Beautiful Bill they passed, and Trump signed, invested $170 billion in border security.

That funding is paying off. Illegal crossings have fallen so drastically that in August 2026, CBP had to apprehend only 8,870 people along the southwest border. This marks a 94 percent drop from the monthly average under Biden. Most strikingly, the agency released no one that month, compared with more than 10,000 releases in August 2024. According to CBP, that marks 16 consecutive months of zero releases.

The sealed border has also freed agents to deal with smuggling. CBP reports FY 2026 drug seizures running 73 percent above the same period in FY 2024. Unsurprisingly, the CDC reports drug overdose deaths decreased 14 percent, and fentanyl-related deaths dropped 22 percent from FY 2024 to FY 2025.

Expedited Removal Adds Another Tool for Immigration Enforcement

Securing the border is great—as is ending the policy of catch-and-release. But CBP can't achieve perfection. Some illegal aliens will inevitably slip through the cracks. The legal ability to remove them immediately matters. Without it, they become a burden on taxpayers until they receive a hearing, and a judge orders their removal.

Congress created expedited removal in 1996. It allowed officers to deport illegal border crossers who cannot prove two years of continuous residence without sending them through immigration court first. Former President George W. Bush expanded the policy's scope beyond land borders and ports to within 100 miles of the border. In 2019, Trump's first administration applied it to illegal aliens found anywhere in the country.

Trump renewed his 2019 policy immediately upon taking office in January 2025. Open-borders groups persuaded a district judge to block the policy, and it sat dormant for over a year. On June 23, 2026, however, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled to lift that block.

The timing matters because of the two-year line. Illegal aliens who have been here longer than two years cannot be removed through expedited removal, which means the ruling covers those Biden released at the end of his presidency. The 7,041 released in December 2024 alone are still inside that window. Immigration officers can now pursue them in Chicago, New York, or Los Angeles with the same speed and authority they had at the border, sanctuary city policies notwithstanding.

Trump promised to seal the border, end catch-and-release, and deport illegal aliens Biden let in. The data show he is succeeding at all three tasks. Voters who want that work to continue should reward Republicans on November 3 for providing the administration the funding to accomplish those goals. The last time the other party ran the border, agents released as many as 10,000 people into the country per month.

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