US Border: Drug Busts Up; Alien Busts Down
Is this the new normal?
Illegal crossings of U.S. Borders continue at the lowest level ever recorded – just a fraction of what they were last year. Here are the latest figures (for June, 2025):
25,228 total encounters nationwide — lowest monthly total in CBP history
8,024 U.S. Border Patrol apprehensions nationwide — new historic low
6,072 southwest border apprehensions — 15% lower than the previous March record
136 apprehensions on June 28 — lowest single-day total in agency history
Zero parole releases — compared to 27,766 released in June 2024
With fewer illegal aliens to deal with, U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP) officers have more time to look for contraband being brought into the country, as evidenced by the number of significant seizures reported in recent days along the southern border.
On July 14, 2025, CBP Officers on Laredo's World Trade Bridge took a closer look at a semi truck crossing into the U.S. from Mexico. They found 32 packages containing almost a million dollars worth of cocaine hidden within the truck's batteries. The cocaine weighed in at 74.6 pounds with a street value of $996,114.
A day later, at the International Bridge in Hidalgo, Texas, CBP Officers discovered almost $900,000 worth of cocaine inside a car driven by a U.S. citizen arriving from Reynosa, Mexico. The drug load weighed in at 66.35 pounds with a street value of $886,023.
Earlier this month, U.S. Border Patrol Agents stopped a suspicious vehicle on Interstate 5 near San Clemente, California, and discovered that the driver, who had entered the country on a visitor's visa, was engaging in activities beyond sightseeing. When agents asked to examine his car's trunk, they found a duffel bag stuffed with 37 bundles of cocaine. The drug load weighed almost 100 pounds with a street value of $700,000.
Elsewhere in California, another Border Patrol traffic stop, this time near Temecula, resulted in another big cocaine bust. Agents began searching the car after one of their dogs sniffed out something suspicious. Inside the trunk, they found five bricks of cocaine weighing in at seven kilos with a street value of $119,000.
Finally, on July 13, 2025, a driver enrolled in the "trusted traveler" program was caught with 52 pounds of meth in the trunk of his car as he crossed from Mexico to San Ysidro:
Do you believe that the US Southern Border with Mexico is being secured?
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Abrazos,
Jack Beavers
Beautiful dog!