No.
While Border Patrol encounters with migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border decreased in the first week of Trump’s presidency, there is no evidence of a 95% drop compared to the previous week. The data used to arrive at that percentage incorrectly compared the total number of encounters during Biden’s last seven days in office to the average daily encounters in the week following Trump’s inauguration, a PBS analysis found.
From Jan. 21 through Jan. 31, 2025, encounters were down 85% compared to the same 10-day period the year prior. This dip is in line with an overall decline that began under the Biden administration: There were one-third as many border encounters in December 2024 as in December 2023, for example.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
The Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs, or quick-response fact checks, about trending claims relating to Arizona.
Sources
- Pew Research Center, Migrant encounters at U.S.-Mexico border have fallen sharply in 2024
- U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security, January 2025 Fact Brief
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection, CBP Releases January 2025 Monthly Update
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Southwest Land Border Encounters
- PBS News, Fact-checking the Trump White House’s claims about illegal immigration dropping sharply
- Fox News, Trump-era southern border sees migrant encounters plummet by over 60% as new policies kick in
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The Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting is partnering with Gigafact to produce timely fact briefs, or quick-response fact checks, about trending claims relating to Arizona.
