As he looked out over the murky waters of the Rio Grande one day last week, Mike Banks, the head of U.S. Border Patrol, mused on the difference nine months can make.

“We’re watching cranes take off as the boats pass. We’re watching ducks fly,” Banks told NBC News aboard an airboat in Eagle Pass, Texas .

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The quiet, Banks said, is a stark contrast to what he saw more than two years ago, in fall 2023, when border crossings were at a peak and the border sector where Eagle Pass is located would encounter 2,000 migrants a day.

That number is now just about 20 a day. Across the border, Customs and Border Protection apprehended the lowest number of immigrants crossing the border in the past year than at any point since 1

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