Op-Ed: Rep. Michael Guest: The state of the border showcases a year of winning, even as Democrats hold DHS funding hostage

As we prepare to hear President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address tonight, there is one success from the past year that stands out the most — our border. 

As chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee’s Subcommittee on Border Security and Enforcement, I have been honored to work alongside President Trump to deliver results. 

These results speak for themselves. After years of chaos created by the open-border policies of the Left, we have seen a restoration of law and order. From February 2025 through January 2026 — the first year of President Trump’s second term — nationwide border encounters dropped 83 percent compared to the period of February 2024 through January 2025 under the Biden administration, in which U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recorded 2.1 million nationwide encounters.

Since his inauguration on January 20, 2025, President Trump has undertaken a whole-of-government strategy to surge resources to the border, reinforce our border barrier system, end catch-and-release and mass parole policies, disrupt cartel operations, and ensure law enforcement can accomplish their missions. 

These actions had an immediate effect, with encounters at ports of entry along the Southwest border dropping 93 percent in the 11 days after January 20, 2025, compared to the last 11 days of President Biden’s term.  

At the beginning of February 2025, the average number of daily known gotaways at the Southwest border dropped to 132, down from an average of more than 1,800 per day in 2023 under the Biden administration.  

By June 2025, monthly Southwest border encounters fell below 10,000 for the first time in years.

Fast-forward to one year after inauguration day. In January 2026, CBP recorded just 9,726 Southwest border encounters, the third lowest month on recent record and 94 percent below January 2024 under the Biden administration, which was the worst January on record. 

For comparison, there were more apprehensions at just the Southwest border from October 2023 through January 2024 under the Biden administration than there were at all our borders in the entirety of 2025 under President Trump. 

Most importantly, for the ninth month in a row, there were zero parole releases of inadmissible aliens into our communities in January 2026.

CBP also continued its robust efforts to deter drug smuggling at the nation’s borders in January 2026, with narcotic seizures at our borders increasing 15 percent compared to December 2025. 

Given the unprecedented border security success over the last year, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) frontline personnel deserve our continued support in their missions. House Republicans have continued to fight to ensure they have the resources, training, and tools necessary to do their jobs effectively. 

Unfortunately, DHS is now facing another shutdown — one that was completely avoidable and is a direct result of Democrats’ refusal to put the safety of Americans ahead of partisan games. 

Despite this, CBP personnel are continuing to report for duty every day, protecting our borders, and serving the American people. Due to House Republicans’ historic funding already provided in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” the agency is able to continue the Trump administration’s historic border security success that Americans have witnessed over the last year. 

But as DHS experiences its second shutdown in six months, we stand to lose a lot of the progress we have made if this instability continues. 

While reconciliation funding will thankfully help cover the short-term needs of CBP, these investments were made to achieve our longer-term security goals: finishing 700 miles of primary border wall and investing in technology, retention bonuses to keep skilled personnel, as well as hiring 3,000 new U.S. Border Patrol agents, 5,000 new customs officers, and 200 new Air and Marine Operations agents.  

Annual funding for CBP and the rest of the Department is still required to avoid harmful operational disruptions. As an appropriator, I was proud to see House Republicans pass a bipartisan, full-year funding bill for DHS last month that was negotiated and agreed upon across party lines to prevent those avoidable disruptions. This bill also included funding for body cameras, enhanced training, and resources for DHS’s Office of Inspector General to enhance transparency. As of today, Senate Democrats still refuse to pass it.

In our House Homeland Security Committee hearing earlier this month with CBP, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), I had the chance to ask each witness about the impacts of Democrats blocking long-term funding for DHS, to which each of them testified that it would undermine interagency coordination and hinder the department’s ability to effectively carry out its core mission. 

Republicans will continue our fight to help President Trump keep our borders secure, ensure the open-border policies of the Biden administration remain a thing of the past, and put the safety of Americans first. 

While I am proud of our historic success over the last year, securing our borders for generations to come hinges on long-term resilience. The safety of our communities and the future of American border security demands action, not obstruction. 

I urge my Democrat colleagues to see the state of the border not as a partisan issue, but as an American imperative, and I hope they will join us in ending this unnecessary shutdown once and for all. 

Rep. Michael Guest represents Mississippi’s 3rd District in Congress. He is the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border Security and Enforcement’s Chairman.