White House: 1.2 million deported, zero border releases for 17 months, more than 700 visas of Chinese nationals revoked

WASHINGTON

The White House on the 20th (local time) released "How President Trump Ended the Border Invasion and Restored American Sovereignty," a document summarizing the border and immigration policy record since the start of President Donald Trump's second term. The White House said nearly 1.2 million illegal aliens had been deported or removed, and that releases into the United States of illegal entrants apprehended at the border had been zero for 17 consecutive months. It said more than 300,000 visas had been revoked, and that the Birth Tourism Prevention Task Force launched in August had revoked more than 700 visas of Chinese nationals.

White House puts deportation and arrest figures at the front of its report

The document is organized into five parts: historic progress and results by the numbers; securing the southern border; expanding interior enforcement and accelerating deportations; strengthening legal immigration and protecting American workers; and protecting taxpayers, communities and the rule of law. At the outset, the White House said Trump returned to office with "a clear mandate to end the invasion."

According to the White House, "Nearly 1.2 million" illegal aliens were deported or removed, and nearly 1.3 million arrests of illegal aliens were made. The White House claimed the illegal alien population fell by "at least 2.3 million." It also said that in 2025 the United States recorded negative net migration (arrivals minus departures) for the first time in at least 50 years.

Public safety figures were also presented. The White House said more than 12,100 gang members had been arrested, more than 1,500 of them linked to Tren de Aragua. It said more than 2,200 known or suspected terrorists had been arrested and more than 2,000 of them deported. The White House said more than 10 Latin American cartels, including Tren de Aragua, MS-13 and Clan del Golfo, had been designated terrorist organizations, and that Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act to speed the deportation of violent gang members.

White House touts zero border releases for 17 months and nationwide encounters below 380,000

The White House said it ended the so-called catch-and-release practice, keeping border releases at zero for 17 consecutive months, and that there were no Border Patrol releases at all in fiscal 2026. It said nationwide encounters in the same fiscal year were below 380,000, the lowest in the agency's history. The White House put encounters during the Biden administration at about 2.7 million a year. Illegal crossings at the southern border fell 95% from the Biden administration period, the White House said.

Asylum figures also changed sharply. The White House claimed that entries of asylum seekers through U.S.-Mexico border ports of entry fell 99.9%, and that the asylum grant rate dropped from more than 50% under the Biden administration to 7%. It said migration through the Darién Gap fell by more than 99%, and that border-related deaths in fiscal 2026 fell nearly 80% from the Biden administration period.

White House says birth tourism task force revoked more than 700 visas of Chinese nationals

In its visa revocation section, the White House said, "More than 700 visas from Chinese nationals have been revoked by President Trump's Birth Tourism Prevention Task Force since it launched in August." In the same section, the White House said visa revocations linked to birth tourism numbered at least 4,000. The White House linked to news articles, not State Department announcements, as the basis for the 700 and 4,000 figures.

The basis for blocking birth tourism is Executive Order 14419, "Ending Birth Tourism," signed by Trump on August 6. The executive order defined birth tourism as entering on a nonimmigrant visa to give birth on U.S. soil, and assisting such conduct. The president delegated authority under Section 215(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act to the secretary of state and the secretary of homeland security, who can revoke the visas or travel authorizations of those involved in birth tourism and permanently bar their entry. The executive order stated, "Citizenship is not a commodity to be acquired through calculated exploitation and evasion of the immigration laws." It allowed exceptions for humanitarian reasons or where consistent with the national interest.

Six days later, on August 12, the State Department issued a spokesperson's office fact sheet announcing the launch of the task force. The task force is charged with reviewing the activities of visa holders worldwide to identify birth tourism cases, revoking the visas of those involved and dismantling the organizations that profit from it. The State Department said at the time that the task force had revoked more than 600 visas. The at least 4,000 birth tourism-linked revocations now cited by the White House are 3,400 more than the State Department's August 12 figure. The State Department fact sheet said only that those involved in birth tourism were "from countries spanning every region of the globe," and did not name China or any other specific country. The same day, the State Department also posted a Chinese translation of the fact sheet, "美国国务院成立特别工作组以取缔“生育旅游”" (U.S. State Department establishes special task force to eliminate "birth tourism"). The translation rendered the sentence as "公民身份不是通过蓄意钻空子及规避移民法律就能获取的商品" (citizenship is not a commodity that can be obtained by deliberately exploiting loopholes and evading immigration laws).

Cases in the State Department fact sheet included a foreign government official who obtained a visa saying they would stay one week on government business but stayed about three months and gave birth; a person who obtained a visa for tourism in Orlando, went to Los Angeles and gave birth five days after arrival; and a couple who had two children in the United States under false travel purposes.

White House's 300,000 visa revocations are 125,000 more than State Department's 175,000 in August

In the document, the White House said, "More than 300,000 visas have been revoked." It said 6,000 visas of foreign students who committed crimes or had ties to terrorism had also been revoked. The White House again linked to news articles, not State Department announcements, as the basis for the 300,000 figure.

The State Department said in an August 10 fact sheet that visas revoked during Trump's presidency exceeded 175,000. The State Department explained that most were due to law enforcement encounters for criminal activity, with assault, drunk driving, theft and drug offenses as the main grounds. Reckless driving, sexual assault, child abuse, and fraud and embezzlement also accounted for significant shares. The 300,000 figure presented by the White House is 125,000 more than that announcement, and the White House did not state the reference date for its count.

The bar for visa issuance was also raised. The White House said it had halted visa processing for 75 high-risk countries and narrowed interview waiver categories so that most applicants must undergo in-person interviews. Visa applications from nationals of high-risk countries were subjected to bonds of up to $15,000. The White House said migration from Muslim-majority countries fell 96% from 2024, and that visa issuance fell 89% for Africa and 81% for the Middle East. A visa restriction policy targeting the family members and associates of people sanctioned for fentanyl trafficking was also implemented, the White House said.

White House's immigration court backlog of 3.09 million is about 440,000 lower than Justice Department's May figure

The White House said the immigration court backlog fell from more than 4.18 million cases to fewer than 3.09 million. It also said it had accelerated immigration court proceedings and welcomed the largest-ever class of new immigration judges.

Announcements by the Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) show the backlog decline proceeded in stages. EOIR said on September 4, 2025, that it had completed more than 722,000 cases in the first 11 months of fiscal 2025, reducing pending cases from more than 4.18 million to fewer than 3.75 million. The fiscal 2027 budget justification submitted to Congress in March 2026 put pending cases at 3,925,499 at the end of fiscal 2024, 3,724,547 at the end of fiscal 2025 and 3,666,795 at the end of the first quarter of fiscal 2026.

The Justice Department, announcing the swearing-in of 77 immigration judges and five temporary immigration judges on May 21, 2026, said EOIR had completed more than 1.08 million cases since January 20, 2025, and reduced pending cases from about 4 million to fewer than 3.53 million. The immigration judge corps is close to 700, and 153 permanent judges were hired in this fiscal year alone, the most in a single year in the agency's history, the Justice Department said. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said, "Today, we are onboarding the largest immigration judge class in agency history." The fewer than 3.09 million now cited by the White House is about 440,000 lower than the Justice Department's May figure (fewer than 3.53 million). The starting points also differ: more than 4.18 million for the White House and about 4 million in the Justice Department's May announcement.

290 miles of wall, 1 million pounds of drugs seized and 40% drop in overdoses also presented as achievements

The White House said about 290 miles of new border wall had been built, 131 miles of it primary wall. It said $34.3 billion had been allocated to smart wall projects under the Working Families Tax Cuts Act. According to the White House, the Trump administration declared a national emergency on its first day in office, Trump deployed thousands of troops to the southern border, and the Pentagon designated National Defense Areas along the border in New Mexico and Texas.

Border policy was also redrawn. The White House said it revived the "Remain in Mexico" policy and expanded third-country deportation agreements with dozens of countries, sending more than 25,000 illegal aliens to countries other than their countries of origin. CBP One, the entry appointment app used by the Biden administration, was turned into a self-deportation tool. The White House said it ended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 13 countries, including Somalia, Venezuela and Haiti, and immediately halted refugee resettlement.

Drug enforcement figures were also given. The White House said drugs seized by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in fiscal 2026 approached 1 million pounds, and fentanyl trafficking at the southern border fell 56%. It said fentanyl-related deaths fell 22%, and drug overdoses fell more than 40% from their peak under the Biden administration. Illicit fentanyl and key precursors were designated weapons of mass destruction. Trump also signed the HALT Fentanyl Act, which permanently classifies fentanyl analogues as Schedule I drugs. The de minimis exemption was also abolished, closing a route through which millions of uninspected packages had entered, the White House said.

White House highlights doubling of ICE officers and 2,500 287(g) agreements in expanding interior enforcement

The White House said it had more than doubled the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and expanded Border Patrol staffing to a record high. It said federal immigration detention capacity had also been greatly increased, including by opening the largest immigrant detention facility in U.S. history. It said agreements with state and local law enforcement agencies under Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act exceeded 2,500. Deportation flights rose to record levels, and in August arrests of illegal aliens set a record for a single month, the White House said.

Trump signed the Laken Riley Act, which mandates detention of illegal aliens charged with serious crimes. A video of the signing of the Secure America Act was posted on the White House website on June 12. The White House said the act allocated $70 billion to ICE and CBP. It said the Working Families Tax Cuts Act included a record $165 billion for border security. The White House said it had also located more than 157,000 unaccompanied migrant children whose whereabouts were unknown during the Biden administration.

Legal immigration bar raised with $100,000 H-1B fee and four-year cap on student visas

Entry is restricted for new specialty occupation work visa (H-1B) petitions for foreigners abroad unless accompanied by a $100,000 payment. Announcing the proclamation on September 19, 2025, the White House said the share of H-1B workers in information technology (IT) had risen from 32% in fiscal 2003 to more than 65% recently. It said the recent unemployment rate was 6.1% for computer science graduates and 7.5% for computer engineering graduates. The White House said one company was approved for 5,189 H-1B workers in fiscal 2025 and laid off about 16,000 American employees that year. The proclamation allows case-by-case exceptions where in the national interest.

Rules for foreign students also changed. According to the White House, the period of stay on a student visa has been fixed at the shorter of the length of the program or four years, and student visa applicants must make their social media accounts public for vetting. The data on foreign students that schools must submit has also greatly increased. The White House said enrollment of foreign students in the United States this year is projected to fall by a further 111,000 from last year.

The White House also said it abolished automatic extensions of work permits and stopped the practice of paying foreign workers substandard wages in some visa programs. The $1 million "Trump Gold Card" was introduced as a path to permanent residency for vetted high-value applicants. The naturalization test was revised to better assess understanding of U.S. history, government and values, and naturalization fees were raised. Denaturalization efforts targeting those who obtained citizenship fraudulently also began.

On welfare, the White House said illegal aliens were excluded from more than 12 federally funded health programs. Foreigners, including permanent residents, can no longer receive Small Business Administration (SBA) loans, and government-backed mortgages for illegal aliens and H-1B holders were also cut off, it said. It said more than 206 million welfare eligibility checks had been conducted. The Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system was strengthened to prevent noncitizens from voting, and the White House said work is under way to remove tens of thousands of illegal aliens from state voter rolls. Strict English proficiency and residency requirements were applied to commercial driver's license (CDL) holders, removing more than 20,000 truck drivers who fell short of the standards from the road, and emergency removal measures were issued against 110 commercial driver's license schools, the White House said.

Sources (KST)

• White House · posted 2026-10-20 (local) · How President Trump Ended the Border Invasion and Restored American Sovereignty · https://www.whitehouse.gov/releases/2026/10/how-president-trump-ended-the-border-invasion-and-restored-american-sovereignty/
• U.S. State Department Office of the Spokesperson · 2026-08-12 (local) · State Department Establishes Task Force to End Birth Tourism · https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/2026/08/state-department-establishes-task-force-to-end-birth-tourism
• U.S. State Department Chinese translation · 2026-08-12 (local) · 美国国务院成立特别工作组以取缔“生育旅游” · https://www.state.gov/translations/chinese/20260812-state-department-establishes-task-force-to-end-birth-tourism
• U.S. State Department Office of the Spokesperson · 2026-08-10 (local) · State Department Revokes More Than 175,000 Visas · https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/2026/08/state-department-revokes-more-than-175000-visas
• White House · signed 2026-08-06 (local) · Ending Birth Tourism (Executive Order 14419) · https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/08/ending-birth-tourism/
• U.S. Justice Department Executive Office for Immigration Review · 2025-09-04 (local) · EOIR Announces Significant Immigration Court Milestones · https://www.justice.gov/eoir/pr/eoir-announces-significant-immigration-court-milestones
• U.S. Justice Department · 2026-05-21 (local) · EOIR Announces 77 Immigration Judges and 5 Temporary Immigration Judges · https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/eoir-announces-77-immigration-judges-and-5-temporary-immigration-judges
• U.S. Justice Department Executive Office for Immigration Review · 2026-03 · FY 2027 Performance Budget Congressional Justification · https://www.justice.gov/jmd/media/1434716/dl?inline=
• White House · 2025-09-19 (local) · Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Suspends the Entry of Certain Alien Nonimmigrant Workers · https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/09/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-suspends-the-entry-of-certain-alien-nonimmigrant-workers/
• White House · 2026-06-12 (local) · President Donald J. Trump Signs the Secure America Act · https://www.whitehouse.gov/videos/president-donald-j-trump-signs-the-secure-america-act/
• X @RapidResponse47 · https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/2108676307110555817
• X @SecRubio · https://x.com/SecRubio/status/1938300435439272311