Border Encounters Jump 15% in March Despite White House Claims of ‘Zero Crossings’

Federal data and local law enforcement reports indicate that illegal crossings along the U.S.-Mexico border have not stopped, and in some sectors have significantly increased, undercutting the Trump administration’s repeated assertions that the border is fully secure.

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data, six of nine southern border sectors saw an increase in encounters in March compared to the same month last year, including Laredo, Del Rio, Rio Grande Valley, Tucson, and El Centro. The Laredo Sector reported an 86% spike in encounters this April compared to the same time last year.

Border Patrol encountered more than 8,000 people attempting to cross illegally in March—a 15% increase from March of the previous year.

The Cochise County Sheriff’s Department in southeastern Arizona operates the SABER program, which uses cameras to track border movement from California to New Mexico. Sheriff officials said crossings now look different than in the past, with smaller groups, harder terrain, and more sophisticated smuggling tactics. SABER’s reporting indicates that only about 33% of people crossing are actually being caught.

“We have people coming across the border… We see 200 to 300 a day come across the border, and I believe that two-thirds of those are actually caught,” the sheriff said. “So they sneak across the border in a covert fashion—whether they’re carrying illicit drugs, whether they’re fugitives, or whether they’re just being trafficked across the border by the cartels or smuggling.”

Border officials in the Laredo Sector also reported an increase in arrests, some with ties to the world’s most dangerous criminals. As a result, approximately 2,100 Border Patrol agents have been reassigned to the sector amid concerns over rising “got aways”—illegal immigrants who were detected but never caught.

While a federal budget report estimated 70,000 reported “got aways” in fiscal year 2025, sources confirmed that current figures show about 48 per day on average, with more than 10,000 “got aways” recorded for the current fiscal year that began in October.

This comes as six people were found dead in a train boxcar Tuesday in Laredo. The bodies were discovered by a Union Pacific worker near the border. Police did not say where the deceased were from or how they died. Laredo is a busy port of entry for trade and an area known for human trafficking and smuggling, though authorities have not confirmed the six deaths are connected to a smuggling operation.

The White House’s messaging has countered these statistics. Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks posted to social media saying, “The border is closed. If you cross illegally, you will be arrested, prosecuted, and deported.”

A Department of Homeland Security statement provided to NewsNation said: “At the Biden administration’s peak, a single month recorded more got aways than the administration has seen in all of 2025 and 2026 combined. Under President Trump, got aways have dropped dramatically, down 85% in the first half of FY26 compared to FY25.”

In December, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said, “Today the number of illegals crossing into our country is 0.” White House Communications Director Steven Chun later claimed there were “0 border crossings for 9 months straight.”

However, even some who support the administration’s border policies have urged caution. Former Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens said he is not comfortable saying the border is secure right now because people are still getting through.

“He’s not comfortable providing that information to the American people,” the report noted. “And we are still seeing got aways. We still have these vulnerabilities.”