Border crossings are 3 times higher than during the Trump era – but not all because of Biden
The ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy has allowed deported migrants to try to cross the border again, while the current administration’s expansion of work visas has encouraged them to do so
The US Border Patrol (USBP) reports that since Joe Biden took office as president, the US-Mexico border has seen more than three times the number of encounters with illegal immigrants than during the time of his predecessor, Donald Trump.
(Photo: Getty Images)
Data from the USBP and the Office of Field Operations (OFO), weighed by Newsweek, show that the average number of border encounters under the Biden administration has reached a total of about 189,000 per month. That compares to an average of just under 51,000 a month during Trump’s years as president.
The number is so high that in less than two years in office as president, the southern border has seen more than a million illegal crossings than Trump has seen in his entire administration, including already more than 2 million border crossings in 2022.
It should be remembered that there are many reasons why border crossings are so high, and not all of them are the fault of Biden’s policies.
Part of the reason that the Trump era has seen fewer immigrants is the reform that his administration passed at the beginning of the Corona, ‘Title 42’ of the US Health Code – known as the ‘Remain in Mexico policy’ – which made it possible to quickly and easily deport immigrants as part of the attempt to prevent the spread of the virus.
While the move helped the administration expand existing Title 8 authority – which directs immigrants to be detained and evaluated before they enter the country – it also created a catch-and-release system that allowed immigrants to make more attempts to cross the border.
Hence, as of May 2022, about half of all older immigrants from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador who attempted to cross the border alone but were deported back to Mexico—were caught crossing into the United States a second time. This is according to a study by the American Immigration Council.
But the policies of the Biden administration only exacerbated the problem. While attempts to cross the border have only increased since the Democrats came to power, efforts to repeal Title 42 have been blocked by the courts, allowing the border to continue.
(Photo: Shutterstock)
Meanwhile, Biden is supporting and trying to promote new policies that would streamline the admissions process for workers seeking employment or education opportunities, including easing strict Trump-era restrictions on access to these benefits or asylum applications.
But this did not correspond with a sufficient increase in the availability of work visas. An analysis by the Cato Institute found that the number of vacancies in the US corresponded almost directly with the number of encounters at the southern border.
On top of that, the fact that minors were exempt from the restrictions of ‘Title 42’, led to a sharp increase in the number of children crossing the border unaccompanied by an adult.
The lack of clarity in the border of who is deported and who is not, added to the fact that many immigrants tried to cross the border again. “It’s often unclear why one person was deported and another released, encouraging immigrants to try their luck at crossing again — sometimes repeatedly,” the Immigration Policy Institute’s analysis summary published in January said.
Last week, White House press secretary Karin Jean-Pierre told reporters that the administration was working proactively to reduce the flow of undocumented immigrants — including setting up joint patrols with Mexican and Guatemalan authorities to catch more traffickers. As well as hiring dedicated immigration judges so that asylum seekers can receive a faster hearing in their case, increasing funding for the Department of Homeland Security and expanding access to additional work visas.
“Restoring the immigration system, especially the one that was destroyed under the previous administration, will not happen overnight. We are not turning on a switch and doing it,” she said at the time.
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