During the 2020 election, former President Donald Trump issued a dire warning: if Joe Biden won the presidency, his administration would dismantle the progress made in securing America’s borders and controlling illegal immigration. Nearly four years later, that prediction has come true. Federal data reveals that by the time President-elect Trump returns to office in January, President Biden’s border policies will have permitted approximately nine million illegal migrants to enter the United States.
Trump’s overwhelming victory in last week’s election was fueled in large part by his promise to rectify the border crisis—a crisis many argue was exacerbated by Biden’s lenient approach to immigration. The task awaiting Trump is monumental: undoing four years of what he calls “failed policies” and reasserting control over the nation’s borders.
According to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), there have been nearly 11 million recorded encounters between illegal migrants and border officials since Biden took office in January 2021. This staggering figure does not include an estimated two million “gotaways”—individuals who crossed the border illegally but evaded capture. Moreover, the number of undetected border crossings remains unknown.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) further breaks down these figures. Between January 2021 and June 2024, approximately 2.5 million migrants were turned away under the now-defunct Title 42 public health order, which was repealed in May 2023. Another 1.9 million migrants were deported through various enforcement actions, leaving nearly six million illegal entrants who have been allowed to remain in the U.S.
Adding to this crisis, CBP data shows that approximately 600,000 more migrants crossed the border illegally between June and October 2024, with around 400,000 of them permitted to stay. At the current rate, it’s estimated that another 300,000 illegal migrants will enter between November and January 2025. These figures bring the total to nearly nine million, a number that excludes undetected “gotaways” and legal entrants who overstayed their visas.
Critics argue that the Biden-Harris administration’s immigration policies have been a disaster. Biden’s rollback of Trump-era policies, such as the “Remain in Mexico” program and the construction of the border wall, coupled with a more lenient stance on asylum claims, has been widely seen as an open invitation to migrants….
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