Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin says the Trump administration has achieved a dramatic transformation at the southern border, with 16 consecutive months in which apprehended illegal immigrants were not released into the United States. “All we needed was a new President,” Mullin said while highlighting the administration’s border enforcement record. The claim follows a 15-month zero-release milestone publicly reported by DHS and CBP earlier in August, with the administration continuing to emphasize the sharp decline in illegal crossings.

The administration says the change represents a major break from the border policies of the Biden years, when large numbers of migrants were processed and released into the country while awaiting immigration proceedings. Mullin has pointed to historically low daily apprehensions as evidence that stronger enforcement, detention and removal policies are changing the behavior of people considering an illegal crossing. According to figures cited by DHS, daily apprehensions are down about 94% compared with the Biden-era average and have reached levels officials describe as the lowest in roughly three decades.

The shift is also being presented as an effective end to the traditional “catch and release” approach at the border. Rather than releasing migrants into the United States after apprehension, the administration says its policies have prioritized detention, removal or other forms of lawful processing that prevent unauthorized entrants from simply disappearing into the country. The dramatic reduction in encounters means fewer people are entering the system in the first place, while the government says enforcement remains focused on securing the border and removing those who entered illegally.

Mullin’s comments are likely to intensify the political battle over immigration, particularly because border security remains one of President Trump’s signature policy issues. Supporters argue that the numbers demonstrate what can happen when federal immigration laws are aggressively enforced, while critics are expected to scrutinize how “releases” are defined and how the statistics are calculated. The distinction matters because a claim of zero releases does not mean zero encounters, arrests or immigration cases—it refers specifically to the administration’s reported practice of not releasing apprehended migrants into the country.

The bigger question is whether the dramatic decline can be maintained over the long term. With apprehensions remaining at historically low levels and the administration touting months of zero releases, Washington is portraying the southern border as a fundamentally different environment from the one inherited by Trump. If the trend continues, the results could become one of the most consequential and politically powerful components of Trump’s immigration record heading into the next major election battles.