U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) leaders held a press conference at the U.S. Border Patrol's Tucson Sector headquarters on Wednesday to present the agency's end-of-fiscal-year results for Arizona, CBP said in its release. Fiscal 2026 ended on September 30.
Source: CBP via EIN Presswire
Acting Deputy Chief Patrol Agent Stephen Cristinzio said increased border security measures, stronger enforcement of Title 8 immigration laws and more manpower along the border — including Border Patrol agents and Department of War military personnel — together with new border barriers and surveillance technology, reduced illegal border crossings in the Tucson Sector from more than 460,000 in FY2024 (yaani about 4.6 lakh) to about 16,000 in FY2026, a fall of 96%, according to CBP.
"In the past 17 months, there have been no releases of illegal aliens into the interior of the country, making it harder for Mexican cartels to market their illegal smuggling services," Cristinzio said, in CBP's account of the briefing. "Our communities and our border regions are safer because of the work that is being done to secure the border." He also credited the Homeland Security Task Force, other federal partners and local law enforcement, CBP said.
Drugs, fentanyl and ammunition
CBP said its officers at Arizona ports of entry intercepted more than 15,000 pounds of illicit narcotics through FY2026, including fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin and marijuana. Tucson Field Office Director Roque Caza said cartels are increasingly smuggling fentanyl in powder form, and that Arizona ports of entry accounted for over 30% of all fentanyl seized by CBP nationwide in FY2026, the agency said. CBP also said outbound ammunition interdictions destined for cartels in Mexico rose by more than 400%.
"By stopping these dangerous narcotics at the border, we are preventing this poison from entering our communities," Caza said, according to CBP.
CBP Air and Marine Operations Tucson Deputy Director Greg Tolley said the Tucson Air Branch led the nation in AMO fentanyl seizures in FY2026, and that, working with Border Patrol and other partners, it took part in seizing 488 lbs of fentanyl and 283 lbs of cocaine, CBP said.
The wider national picture CBP is reporting
The Tucson figures sit inside a national trend CBP has been reporting for fiscal 2026. Reporting by The Center Square on CBP's preliminary FY2026 data said southwest border apprehensions fell 95% in the year to September 30, that Border Patrol apprehensions between ports of entry were under 99,000 — which CBP called the lowest in its history — and that total nationwide encounters in fiscal 2026 were 379,243, which CBP said was the lowest in agency history and 88% lower than fiscal 2023. Those are CBP's preliminary figures, reported by The Center Square, and have not been independently audited in the reporting Awaaz Punjab reviewed.
Source: The Center Square via Star News Network
For diaspora readers, the Tucson Sector matters because Arizona has long been one of the busiest — and most dangerous — crossing corridors on the U.S.–Mexico border. A sustained fall in crossings, if the agency's preliminary numbers hold in final data, changes the smuggling market that has put migrants, including Indian nationals routed through third countries, at risk in the Sonoran Desert. Awaaz Punjab is reporting CBP's numbers as the agency's claims and will update this story if final or independently reviewed figures differ.