What's the alternative?
What's the alternative?

Do these issues matter to you?

Set the importance of each issue before reading the evidence. Your highest rating opens first; it does not produce a candidate or party recommendation.

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How important to you is

Zero Illegal immigration

Border enforcement changes when people caught crossing are detained or promptly removed instead of released with distant hearing dates.

From FY2021 through FY2024, Border Patrol recorded 7.4 million apprehensions on the southwest border. Many people were processed, given a hearing years in the future and released into the United States. Agents could make the arrest, but detention space, legal procedure and administration policy often determined that release came next.

That policy changed in January 2025. The administration ended routine release and expanded expedited removal. FY2025 closed at 237,565 apprehensions, the lowest total since 1970. FY2026 is running near 86,000, and CBP has reported fourteen consecutive months without a southwest-border release. The sharpest monthly break came between January and February 2025.

The comparison with FY2000 shows why enforcement after apprehension matters. Border Patrol made 1.64 million apprehensions that year, but most involved single adults returned across the line within hours; repeat attempts also inflated the count. An apprehension was the end of that attempt. During the later surge, apprehension often became the first step toward release into the United States. Control depends on what happens after the patrol makes the stop.

Reduction in Southwest Border Apprehensions

The long view shows the surge, the January 2025 change in enforcement policy and the lowest annual level since 1970.

2.21M
86K est.
’00’05’10’15’20’25’26
RecordedProjectedYears of large-scale release pending hearings

Border Patrol apprehensions between ports of entry, the standard proxy for attempted illegal entry and an undercount by however many evade detection. FY2026 is projected from nine months of actuals. FY2025 begins in October 2024; the administration changed four months into it. Sources: CBP, DHS, House Committee on Homeland Security.

When the change occurred

Apprehensions fell from 29,105 in January 2025 to 8,350 in February, the first full month under the new enforcement orders.

Jan 20, 2025President Trump takes office
Oct ’24Dec ’24Feb ’25Apr ’25Jun ’25Aug ’25Oct ’25Dec ’25

Border Patrol apprehensions between ports of entry, southwest border. The twelve months to September 2025 sum to 237,538, the fiscal year total; October through December 2025 sum to 21,815, the lowest first quarter on record. Sources: CBP, DHS, Pew Research Center.

By the numbers

Apprehensions, southwest border, FY2021 through FY2024
7.4MApprehensions, southwest border, FY2021 through FY20242
The same count in FY2025, lowest since 1970
237,565The same count in FY2025, lowest since 19701
Consecutive months with zero releases into the country
14Consecutive months with zero releases into the country6
People offered a path to citizenship by the Democrats' own 2021 bill
11MPeople offered a path to citizenship by the Democrats' own 2021 bill51

What actually changes

Republicans

  • Detain rather than release.
  • Use expedited removal, Remain in Mexico and third-country agreements.
  • Cap parole in statute.
  • Reject legalization for people already here.

Democrats

  • Expand admission and legalization.
  • Offer an eight-year citizenship path to roughly 11 million people already here.
  • Continue parole and release pending distant hearings.
  • Reduce the scope of ICE enforcement.

A border force can hold the line only when its orders require detention and removal instead of release into the interior.

Sources

  1. 1Lowest fiscal year for Border Patrol apprehensions since 1970 (FY2025: 237,565)U.S. Customs and Border Protection
  2. 2FY25 southwest border apprehensions hit lowest level in half a centuryU.S. House Committee on Homeland Security
  3. 3Border Patrol southwest border sector apprehensions, FY1960–FY2020 (historical series)U.S. Customs and Border Protection (compiled)
  4. 4Lowest first quarter of any fiscal year on record: 21,815 Border Patrol apprehensions, Oct–Dec 2025U.S. Department of Homeland Security
  5. 5June 2026: 6,072 southwest Border Patrol apprehensions, the lowest month ever recordedCenter for Immigration Studies (analysis of CBP data)
  6. 6Fourteen consecutive months of zero releases at the southwest borderU.S. Customs and Border Protection
  7. 7Effects of the immigration surge on the federal budget and the economy (8.7M above trend, 2021–2026)Congressional Budget Office
  8. 8How the U.S. legal immigration system works: roughly two-thirds of green cards are family-basedMigration Policy Institute
  9. 9DV-2026 annual limit: approximately 52,000 visas after statutory adjustmentsU.S. Department of State
  10. 10Employment of migrants in the European Union: an 11-point employment gap for the non-EU bornCReAM / RFBerlin
  11. 11Migrant integration statistics: labour market indicatorsEurostat
  12. 12Six Country Immigrant Integration Comparative Survey: 65% of European Muslims surveyed said religious rules matter more than the law of the country they live inRuud Koopmans, WZB Berlin Social Science Center (2013)
  13. 13Criticism of the WZB fundamentalism study's framing and methodsMiddle East Forum / Jan Jaap de Ruiter, Tilburg University
  14. 14The World's Muslims: Religion, Politics and Society — 38,000+ face-to-face interviews across 39 countries, 2008–2012Pew Research Center
  15. 15Oversight hearing on unaccompanied alien children HHS could not reach after sponsor releaseU.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
  16. 16NYC asylum-seeker costs: updated city projectionsOffice of the Mayor, New York City
  17. 17NYT/Ipsos poll, January 2025: 79% say transgender athletes should not compete in women's sports, including 67% of DemocratsNew York Times / Ipsos
  18. 18Two-thirds prefer birth-sex eligibility in athletics; 62% in 2021 and 69% in 2023 and 2025Gallup
  19. 19West Virginia v. B.P.J.: states may maintain women’s and girls’ sports for biological females (June 2026)Supreme Court of the United States
  20. 20Gender and school sports: federal action and legal challenges to state lawsCongressional Research Service
  21. 21The Biological Basis of Sex Differences in Athletic Performance: ACSM consensus statementAmerican College of Sports Medicine / PubMed
  22. 22Body composition and physical fitness in transgender versus cisgender individuals: systematic review and meta-analysisBritish Journal of Sports Medicine
  23. 23Executive Order 14201: Keeping Men Out of Women’s SportsThe White House
  24. 24Changes to CDC vaccine recommendations in 2025 and 2026Congressional Research Service
  25. 25The 2026 childhood immunization scheduleCongressional Research Service
  26. 26AAP's 2026 immunization schedule keeps routine recommendations intact after overhaul of federal scheduleAmerican Academy of Pediatrics
  27. 27California SB 277 (2015): eliminates personal-belief exemptions to school immunization requirementsCalifornia Legislative Information
  28. 28New York repeals the religious exemption to school vaccination requirements, June 2019NPR
  29. 29National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program: about $5.4 billion paid across 12,019 compensated petitions since 1988Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)
  30. 30UK childhood vaccination coverage: MMR1 at 87.8%, second dose at 85%, every programme below the WHO 95% targetUK Health Security Agency (COVER programme)
  31. 31Child vaccination rates by country: Japan above 97% on DTP with no school mandateOECD
  32. 32State school-vaccine requirements and exemptions, 2026: five states permit medical exemptions onlyKFF
  33. 33State non-medical exemptions from school immunization requirements, updated September 1, 2026National Conference of State Legislatures
  34. 34State vaccine requirements for children, 2026KFF State Health Facts
  35. 35How countries without school vaccination requirements — the UK, Japan, Sweden, Denmark, Canada — maintain high ratesPolitiFact
  36. 36New York State Rifle & Pistol Assn. v. Bruen (2022), decided 6-3Supreme Court of the United States
  37. 37District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) decided 5-4; Bruen (2022) decided 6-3 — the individual-right holding and its marginsCongressional Research Service
  38. 38Supreme Court nominations and confirmation votes: Gorsuch 54–45, Kavanaugh 50–48, Barrett 52–48United States Senate
  39. 39Garland v. Cargill (2024): ATF exceeded its statutory authority when it classified bump stocks as machinegunsSupreme Court of the United States
  40. 40Bondi v. VanDerStok (2025): federal law covers at least some weapon-parts kits and unfinished frames or receiversSupreme Court of the United States
  41. 41Executive Order 14206: Protecting Second Amendment RightsThe White House
  42. 42ATF ended the Enhanced Regulatory Enforcement Policy and replaced it with a new administrative-action policyBureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
  43. 43DOJ and ATF announce 34 proposed and final regulatory actions following the Second Amendment reviewBureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
  44. 44DOJ settles forced-reset-trigger litigation after CargillU.S. Department of Justice
  45. 45Australia's 1996 National Firearms Agreement: 659,940 prohibited firearms bought back and destroyed as of August 2001RAND Corporation
  46. 46New Zealand firearms buy-back, 2019: about 56,000 firearms collected in six monthsNew Zealand Police
  47. 47The 1994 federal assault weapons ban carried a ten-year sunset and expired September 13, 2004ABC News
  48. 48H.R. 51, the Washington, D.C. Admission Act, passed the House 216-208 on April 22, 2021U.S. House of Representatives (reported)
  49. 49National Popular Vote Interstate Compact: 222 electoral votes across 18 states and DC, 48 short of the 270 needed to activateNational Popular Vote / Ballotpedia
  50. 50Texas v. White (1869): the Constitution creates an indestructible Union of indestructible StatesSupreme Court of the United States
  51. 51The U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021: an eight-year path to citizenship for roughly 11 million people already in the countryCenter for Migration Studies of New York
  52. 52How ICE became a lightning rod: opposition after the 2016 election, #AbolishICE from 2017, a mainstream Democratic position by the 2018 midtermsMigration Policy Institute
  53. 53Americans' support for immigration down, still strong (2026)Gallup
  54. 54Sharply more Americans want to curb immigration to U.S. (55%, 2024)Gallup
  55. 55Assault weapons: state bans by jurisdiction and year of enactmentGiffords Law Center
  56. 56Migrant encounters at the US-Mexico border at their lowest level in more than 50 years (monthly series)Pew Research Center
  57. 57US unauthorized immigrant population reached a record 14 million in 2023, up 3.5 million in two yearsPew Research Center
  58. 58Unauthorized immigrant population at a new peak of 15.8 million as of mid-2024Migration Policy Institute
  59. 59An Update to the Demographic Outlook, 2025 to 2055Congressional Budget Office
  60. 60Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant WorkersThe White House
  61. 61Characteristics of H-1B Specialty Occupation Workers, FY2024U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
  62. 62Emergency Presidential Determination on Refugee Admissions for Fiscal Year 2026The White House / Federal Register
  63. 63Diversity Visa issuance paused; interviews may continue but no visas are being issuedU.S. Department of State
  64. 64First Look: reported U.S. violent-crime trends, May 2025–April 2026Federal Bureau of Investigation, Crime Data Explorer
  65. 65Crime Trends in U.S. Cities: Mid-Year 2026 UpdateCouncil on Criminal Justice
  66. 66Department of Justice FY2026 Model Cities Initiative: results of the Memphis and Washington federal surgesU.S. Department of Justice
  67. 67Nationwide decline in vehicle thefts continues through first half of 2025National Insurance Crime Bureau
  68. 68Operation Take Back America memorandumU.S. Department of Justice