Daily average of known gotaways at southern border plummets, down 93% from Biden administration highs

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Migrants turning around over Trump border security as thousands deported

California GOP chair of chairs John Dennis joined ‘Fox & Friends First’ to discuss the latest on the Trump administration’s effort to crack down on illegal immigration and a leaked memo revealing ICE operations in Los Angeles.

FIRST ON FOX: The daily average number of known gotaways — illegal migrants who successfully entered the U.S. without apprehension — at the southern border since the beginning of February has plummeted to just 132 per day, down 93% from the highest numbers when former President Joe Biden was in office, according to a senior Department of Homeland Security (DHS) source.

During the Biden administration, Fox News submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for FY 2023 statistics and learned there were 670,674 known gotaways recorded that year, a jaw-dropping average of more than 1,800 per day.

President Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20, and has taken extensive measures to secure the southern border, resulting in a 93% drop in the daily average of known gotaways, who are “known” because they are seen/tracked on cameras, sensors, or other means, but border patrol agents were not able to apprehend them. These numbers are kept internally by CBP and are typically not released to the public.

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Migrants at the southern border in Arizona. (U.S. Border Patrol)

“Delivering consequences has results. Illegal crossings are down, gotaways are down. Criminal prosecutions are on the rise,” the senior DHS official told Fox News. “Daily reports of large groups in Mexico, Guatemala, turning back south and surrendering to authorities, requesting to go home, and we have only just begun. Policy matters.”

The country began to see the effects of Trump’s policies in his second week in office, with the White House implementing tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China; border crossings plummeting; diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs shuttering; the federal workforce being faced with the decision to return to the office or to resign; and more.

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Migrants try to pass over razor wire after crossing into the U.S. at the southern border into El Paso, Texas. (Getty Images/John MooreGetty)

By Feb. 1, the number of migrants arriving at the southern border plummeted by 63%.

There were 7,287 migrant encounters at the southern border in the first seven days of the Trump administration, Jan. 20 through Jan. 26, with a daily average of 1,041 encounters a day.

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That compares to 20,086 encounters a day during the final days of Biden’s presidency, Jan. 13-19. 

Border czar Tom Homan said that after the first week, the Trump administration had removed and returned 7,300 illegal immigrants and had deported them to Mexico, Jordan, Brazil and El Salvador.

Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

Bill Melugin currently serves as a Los Angeles based correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC). He joined the network in May 2021.