A certain assertion that has been making the rounds is that fewer migrants have entered the U.S. under President Biden’s reign compared to that of former President Donald Trump. However, an analysis of the facts reveals a different reality. This claim does not accurately reflect the situation, as evidence demonstrates an unprecedented number of border crossings during Biden’s tenure.
In a recent interview published in a leading daily about the 2024 elections, certain Democrats were of the view that their defeat was in part due to cultural factors. They argued that voters primarily cast their ballots based on economic status, inflation and immigration, which they characterized as policy issues. In the process of criticizing Trump’s portrayal of incoming immigrants as being largely constituted by individuals with criminal tendencies, they altered the narrative into a cultural dialogue.
As part of their defense, they outrageously declared that a reduced number of individuals have made their way into the country during Biden’s administration compared to Trump’s time in office. It’s almost laughable when you consider the actual figures. However, the significant decrease in illegal immigration over the past few months was cited as a support for this statement.
Such a skewed perspective might be based on a selective interpretation of recent data that, they argue, show a larger number of deportations carried out under Biden when compared to Trump. But this information was not made explicit during the interview, leading to nothing but confusion.
In order to comprehend the real scenario, we need to look at the hard numbers. Reports reveal that, from February 2021 (Biden’s first full month in office) until September 2024, U.S. Border Patrol agents engaged unauthorized immigrants trying to cross borders outside of official entry points around 7.2 million times. By contrast, under Trump’s presidency, these encounters only happened around 1.8 million times between February 2017 and January 2021.
The presented data does not offer any evidence as to how many people were actually granted admission into the country. In this context, it is important to remember that federal data show a whopping 3.6 million individuals were released by the Customs and Border Protection during Biden’s era to await court hearings, compared to the modest 313,000 under Trump’s tenure.
Going by these figures, it is clear that ‘reduced immigration’ is not a term that can be associated with President Biden’s administration. However, it is important to bear in mind some important nuances regarding how these statistics have been recorded and interpreted.
For instance, since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, the way in which data related to immigration is monitored has significantly changed. Previous statistics pertaining to illegal crossings were primarily based on apprehension records. However, following the pandemic outbreak, while apprehension continued, expulsions under Title 42 public health policy were also recorded. This policy allows for individuals to be expelled, whereas those apprehended under immigration law in certain circumstances could still potentially gain entry.
This alteration in tracking immigration events considerably complicates the process of making fair comparisons between different presidencies. Moreover, it’s worth noting that immigration records do not recount the number of individuals, but rather the number of immigration events.
The same individual making multiple attempts to cross the border would count as several encounters in the immigration records, despite them being the same person. It’s also noteworthy as per the allowances of Title 42, repeated attempts at entries aren’t penalized, essentially encouraging increased border-crossing activities.
In recent times, there has been a sharp decline in border encounters, following the implementation of a policy that restricts people’s ability to apply for asylum at the southwestern border. In fact, Border Patrol encounters plummeted to less than 54,000 in September, from over 117,000 in May. From July to September, monthly counts have been lower than during Trump’s last four months in office.
While observers might point to this recent downturn in encounters as evidence in favor of the original claim, it isn’t an accurate reflection of the overall scenario. The focus on a small window of time is a mere attempt by the present administration to avoid culpability for the onslaught of illegal immigration they faced earlier in their tenure.
So, any assertion that maintains fewer individuals have entered the U.S under Biden’s administration compared to Trump’s is simply a manipulation of statistics and a distortion of the truth. Despite occasional dips in counts and many data caveats, the overarching narrative of an increase in illegal entry into the U.S under the Biden administration persists.