CBP reports 93% drop in child smuggling at U.S. border following targeted crackdown on illegal sponsors
09/08/2025 / By Laura Harris
- The CBP reports a 93 percent drop in unaccompanied minor (UAC) apprehensions at the southern border, from 7,501 in July 2024 to 515 in July 2025, following a targeted crackdown.
- Total CBP apprehensions fell from over 59,000 in July 2024 to just over 6,000 in July 2025, with major declines across all categories, including family units, single adults and minors.
- ICE attributes the decline to the arrest of undocumented parents in the U.S. who fund smuggling operations, disrupting what officials describe as a “government-assisted smuggling network.”
- Analysts and reports allege that under former President Joe Biden, over 500,000 minors were smuggled into the U.S. through the UAC program, with many falling victim to labor trafficking and abuse due to weak enforcement.
- Trump-era reforms now require UAC sponsors to pass background checks, submit fingerprints and DNA and meet income standards, while also limiting legal pathways to residency for minors post-18 years old.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has overseen a staggering 93 percent drop in the smuggling of “Unaccompanied Alien Children” (UAC) across the southern U.S. border over the past year.
According to statistics released earlier by the CBP, the number of unaccompanied minors apprehended at the southern border plummeted from 7,501 in July 2024 to just 515 in July this year. The data, pulled from CBP’s nationwide encounter records, includes apprehensions under Title 8 immigration authority and represents a range of border enforcement activity – from land border crossings to air and seaport encounters.
The CBP data reflects Title 8 apprehensions, Title 8 inadmissibles at ports of entry (POEs) and Title 42 expulsions (the latter phased out in May 2023). These categories are tracked across land borders, particularly the southwest and northern land borders, as well as nationwide, including air and sea encounters.
Nationwide apprehensions have also sharply decreased over the past 12 months.
In July 2024, the CBP recorded over 59,655 total apprehensions; by July 2025, that figure fell to just over 6,177. The drop in encounters includes not only unaccompanied minors but also family units (FMUA), single adults and accompanied minors.
At the Southwest Land Border, the primary entry point for most UAC cases, apprehensions dropped from 56,400 in July 2024 to 4,601 in July 2025. Similarly, “at entry” apprehensions, which refer to individuals apprehended while actively crossing the border, fell from 55,286 to just 3,816 in the same time frame.
ICE credits the steep decline to a targeted strategy of arresting undocumented immigrants already inside the U.S., many of whom are parents who fund the smuggling of their children across the border.
Trump crackdown reshapes UAC program after Biden administration enabled mass child smuggling
As per Brighteon.AI’s Enoch, the UAC program was originally designed to provide care and services to undocumented immigrant children who enter the United States without a parent or legal guardian. These children are placed in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) until they can be released to a sponsor, typically a family member, while their immigration cases are processed.
However, the program was exploited during the administration of former President Joe Biden, enabling traffickers to move over 500,000 minors into the U.S. through loosely enforced procedures.
Investigations, including reporting from Breitbart, have claimed that many of these children were funneled into illegal labor operations, unregulated housing, or worse, including cases of prostitution and abuse. In short, Biden’s leniency encouraged abuse of the system and fueled the growth of smuggling networks. The Biden administration has denied direct responsibility for such outcomes. (Related: HHS launches investigation into ORR’s handling of unaccompanied migrant children.)
Under Trump-era reforms, sponsors of unaccompanied minors must now pass background checks, submit fingerprints and DNA samples and meet income thresholds before children are released to them. In addition, legal pathways for minors to obtain permanent residency after turning 18 have been tightened.
Now, with stricter enforcement, the UAC program was jointly administered by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to provide temporary shelter and care for minors until they can be placed with vetted sponsors, often family members already in the United States.
Visit Migrants.news for similar stories about unaccompanied migrant children.
Watch this video of Alex Jones’ interview with Anthony J. Rubin discussing the massive government-sponsored kidnapping and trafficking of unaccompanied migrant children.
This video is from the InfoWars channel on Brighteon.com.
More related stories:
HHS data: Over 11,000 migrant children placed with unvetted sponsors under Biden administration.
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Tagged Under:
big government, Border Patrol, border security, child trafficking, illegal immigrants, illegal immigration, invasion usa, migrant children, migrants, Open Borders, progress, real investigations, smuggling, unaccompanied minors
This article may contain statements that reflect the opinion of the author
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