Trump re-entered office with evasions of Border Patrol at a lower level than when he left the first time

Border Patrol known gotaways, southwest border, Oct. 2016 - Sept. 2026

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Sources: Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Cato Institute, Freedom of Information Act request; CBP, FOIA Releases, FY 2019-2024; Bill Melugin, Fox News, via X (February; February-March;); Border Patrol (May and June); CBP, FOIA Release, (FY 2025);  News Nation, (May 2026);  Breitbart (Sept 2026)
Notes: The number of gotaways for October to January 2025 were based on the ratio of arrests to gotaways in in September 2024. The total gotaways for July, August, and September 2025 were distributed based on arrests in those months). Gotaways for May 2026 and September 2026 based on daily averages. The ratio of gotaways to arrests was linearly interpolated for months without gotaway data and used to estimate total gotaways in those months in FY 2026