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Fact check: How many immigrants entered the US during Biden term and are they considered illegal?
Executive Summary
The available data and reporting present competing tallies: officials and researchers describe millions of people arriving through a variety of legal channels and through unauthorized crossings during the Biden administration, while border enforcement agencies report large numbers of attempted illegal entries concentrated in specific fiscal years. Across the sources, counts range from just over 1 million admitted under specific parole or sponsorship programs to aggregate figures of roughly 14 million illegal-border-crosser encounters attributed to the Biden-Harris period; whether an individual is “illegal” depends on the legal pathway used—parole, lawful permanent residence, temporary visas, or unauthorized crossing—so simple headcounts mask complex legal categories [1] [2] [3] [4] [5].
1. Big Claims on Numbers: What Each Side Is Counting and Why It Jumps Out
The reporting threads make bold, different claims about scale, and the largest figures come from counting all enforcement encounters and estimated attempted entries rather than immigrants granted legal status. One set of sources reports that the Biden administration admitted over 1 million migrants under targeted parole and sponsorship programs, with specific tallies such as 422,000 using an app to schedule processing at ports of entry and 340,000 arriving via sponsorship at U.S. airports [1]. Other analyses present a much larger cumulative number by adding paroled entrants, asylum seekers processed outside normal ports, and repeated border encounters, claiming totals as high as 5.8 million paroled or allowed entry or about 14 million illegal-entry encounters during the administration [2] [3]. These differences matter because “admitted” under parole or sponsorship is legally distinct from being counted as an illegal border crosser [1] [2] [3].
2. The Legal Picture: Why “Illegal” Is Not a Single Data Point
Legal status depends on the authorization mechanism at the moment of entry and on subsequent immigration processes; sources make this clear by distinguishing parole, permanent resident admissions, temporary visas, and apprehensions for unauthorized entry. One source reports nearly 3.5 million naturalizations granted during the term and 5.8 million paroled or allowed to enter without traditional authorization, while another documents historically high numbers of green cards and temporary visas issued in specific fiscal years [2] [5]. At the same time, Customs and Border Protection reported nearly 3 million attempted illegal entries in fiscal 2024 alone, and aggregate enforcement data is used to describe cumulative unauthorized attempts during the term [3]. The key point is that being “admitted” under parole or receiving a visa is not the same as being an unauthorized entrant, and enforcement encounter totals do not equal net new residents.
3. Year-to-Year Shifts: Surges, Peaks, and Recent Declines
The sources show an immigration surge after 2020 with notable peaks in fiscal 2023–2024, and sharp declines in specific later months. A working paper and statistical reporting argue that total net immigration rose substantially, with 10.5 million net immigrants between 2021 and 2024 contributing to a higher annual population growth rate [4]. Border enforcement numbers spiked to record highs in 2023–2024, with nearly 3 million foreign nationals illegally entering or attempting to enter in FY2024 [3]. Yet the most recent enforcement snapshots show dramatic drops: September reports cite only 26,002 illegal border crossers, a 92.4% decline from September 2023, and fiscal 2025 apprehensions reported at 238,000, the lowest since 1970, signaling a substantial falloff in enforcement encounters [6] [7] [8]. These contrasts emphasize that timing and the metric chosen (net residents vs. enforcement encounters) change the narrative.
4. Counting Residents vs. Counting Encounters: The Methodology Conflict
A central cause of divergent headline numbers is whether sources count net new residents, lawful admissions, temporary visas and naturalizations, or enforcement encounters and attempted crossings. One analysis highlights that in FY2022 more than 1 million people became lawful permanent residents and that the State Department issued over 10 million temporary visas in FY2023, metrics that reflect legal admissions and status changes rather than unauthorized entries [5]. Enforcement-centric sources tally encounters and attempted illegal crossings—figures that can include repeat attempts by the same individuals and do not directly measure net migration or long-term residency [3]. Thus, apples-to-oranges counting explains much of the apparent contradiction between claims of millions admitted and millions crossing illegally.
5. What This Means for Public Understanding and Policy Debates
The mixed data produce competing political narratives: advocates point to legal admissions, parole pathways, and high naturalizations as evidence of system throughput and lawful integration [1] [2] [5], while critics focus on aggregate enforcement encounters and record numbers of attempted illegal crossings to argue for border control failures [3]. Recent declines in encounters reported in late 2025 complicate both narratives, showing that numbers are dynamic and sensitive to policy, enforcement, and international conditions [6] [8]. The take-away is straightforward: no single number answers “how many immigrants entered and are they illegal”—you must specify whether you mean legal admissions, paroled entrants, naturalizations, or enforcement encounters to get a clear, comparable figure [1] [2] [3] [4].