Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California recently conducted an interview with the New York Times, reflecting upon the 2024 election results where the Democrats suffered losses. Pelosi attributed these defeats in part to what she deemed ‘cultural issues.’ However, her classification of these matters as cultural issues was fiercely contested by interviewer Garcia-Navarro, who correctly labeled them as policy issues instead.
Pelosi made a rather strange assertion that the presidential candidate labeling illegal immigrants as criminals made it a cultural issue, which is, without doubt, a flawed interpretation. Garcia-Navarro confronted Pelosi with the facts: notably the influx of millions of illegals into the U.S. under the watchful eye of President Joe Biden.
In response, Pelosi defended Biden by stating that a smaller number of individuals made illegal crossings under his administration compared to that of Donald Trump’s tenure. However, this statement could not be further from the truth. Recent data reveals that unlawful immigration has actually declined during the past four months. Interestingly, these numbers are lower than those recorded during Donald Trump’s closing months as president. However, comprehensively considering Biden’s term, the total illegal border interceptions far exceeded those during Trump’s entire first term.
An in-depth look at the data reveals a startling revelation. From the period of February 2021, marking Biden’s first full month in office, up until September 2024, Border Patrol agents reported encounters with illegal migrants attempting to cross U.S. borders without permission a total of 7.2 million times. In stark contrast, during Trump’s administration, spanning from February 2017 to January 2021, border agents intercepted illegal immigrants only 1.8 million times. Quite a remarkable disparity, don’t you think?
However, Pelosi seems to have conveniently ignored or misunderstood these statistics. It’s essential to note that these ‘encounters’ do not radiate the exact number of people who successfully entered the U.S. Unfortunately, no specific data set can depict this number succinctly. Nonetheless, federal data paints a rather disquieting picture: approximately 313,000 individuals were released under Trump’s administration to await trial, while around a staggering 3.6 million were seen loose under Biden’s watch, also pending court proceedings.
These numbers include people granted humanitarian parole and permitted to work and reside in America for a couple of years, another decision courtesy of the Biden administration. Despite these facts, Pelosi continues to espouse that under Biden, fewer people made it into the U.S. compared to Trump’s tenure. However, it is fundamentally incorrect and misleading to propagate such a narrative.
It is vital to clarify a common misunderstanding regarding immigration data. A single ‘encounter’ does not necessarily mean a single individual. Let’s consider this – if an individual attempts to cross the border a total of three times and is stopped each time, this number counts as three encounters, despite it involving a single individual. Hence, the number of encounters could be inflated due to multiple failed attempts by the same individuals.
While we maintain our scrutiny of a supposedly declining trend of border interceptions, we observe that since June, when Biden restricted the capacity to apply for asylum at the southwest border, border patrol encounters did see a noticeable drop. In the ensuing months, the numbers from July to September, Border Patrol encounters were indeed below the interceptions seen during Trump’s last four months in office. However, this tightened policy does not negate the initial lax approach of the Biden administration.
Another important category of data is repatriation, and it is only fair to give credit where it’s due. Biden’s administration has repatriated more people compared to Trump (4.3 million compared to 2.2 million). However, when only considering Immigration and Customs Enforcement data, Trump continues to lead (approximately 294,000 compared with about 114,000 under Biden).
Interestingly, the soaring encounters predominantly contributed to a decline in Immigration and Customs Enforcement removals. A shift in the Biden administration policy materialized, with a focus on repatriating people at the border, while, shockingly, those who had been residing illegally in the U.S. for years were largely left untouched, undisturbed.
Biden’s administration’s repatriations elevated primarily due to rapid public health expulsions, which did not necessitate elongated court orders — a method employed much longer under Biden compared to Trump. It is also noteworthy that under Biden’s term, a diverse demographic of immigrants arrived from countries other than the usual Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.
These immigrants came from diverse nations and provided unique ‘legal and logistical’ difficulties in terms of deportation, according to a report from the Migration Policy Institute. So the Biden administration essentially welcomed a broad range of issues that now have stranded solutions.
Despite all the data points and observable decreases in interceptions, Pelosi’s repeated assertion that fewer illegal crossings occurred under Biden than under Trump is fundamentally incorrect. This misrepresentation may suit certain political narratives, but it grossly neglects the facts and the reality of the situation.
In conclusion, the truth does not align with Pelosi’s assertion, revealing a worrying underestimation or inappropriate downplaying of Biden’s border crisis that needs serious addressing. The Biden administration’s initial lax strategies, followed by reactionary constraints, contributed to these unprecedented numbers, effectively damaging the very fabric of lawful immigration and border control.