How do border crossing numbers during the Biden presidency compare to previous administrations?

1. Big swings, two eras: record highs under Biden, steep declines after June 2024

During the Biden years the border experienced record levels of recorded encounters, culminating in a December 2023 monthly high of nearly 250,000 encounters, according to reporting that cites CBP totals ^[1]. After the Biden administration’s June 2024 “Securing the Border” proclamation and related DHS/DOJ rule — which limited asylum access for people who cross between ports of entry — official encounters fell quickly: DHS and CBP report about a 60% decline in encounters between ports of entry from May to December 2024 and December 2024 encounters roughly 81% lower than December 2023 ^{[2] [3]}.

2. December 2024 as a watershed month — low daily averages and changed patterns

CBP and reporting groups note December 2024 was the Biden administration’s last full month and marked one of the smallest per‑day apprehension averages of his term: roughly 47,330 total Border Patrol apprehensions at the U.S.–Mexico border in December (about 1,527 per day), the smallest per‑day average of any month of the Biden presidency, and November–December 2024 saw more encounters at ports of entry than between them for the first time in this era ^{[4] [2]}.

3. Administration statements and partisan narratives diverge

DHS and CBP emphasize the causal link between the June 2024 rule and falling encounters — citing a more than 60% decline in some measures and a roughly 60% drop in between‑ports encounters from May to December ^{[3] [2]}. Outside commentators and fact‑checkers caution that trends are influenced by multiple factors (policy changes, Mexican enforcement, broader regional dynamics) and that short‑term comparisons can be misleading when used to credit or fault a presidency without longer windows of data ^{[5] [6]}.

4. Comparing administrations — apples, oranges and different metrics

Directly comparing “border crossings during the Biden presidency” to prior administrations requires caution: CBP reports different encounter categories (Border Patrol between‑ports encounters vs. CBP ports‑of‑entry encounters) and monthly versus fiscal‑year aggregates, and policy tools (Title 42 expulsions, parole programs, asylum rules) changed across administrations — affecting recorded encounters. Analysts have noted that the high totals in 2022–2023 under Biden were followed by policy shifts in 2024 that produced rapid declines, making point‑in‑time comparisons sensitive to which months and which encounter metrics are selected ^{[6] [7] [2]}.

5. What other outlets and trackers show about the immediate post‑Biden period

Tracking projects and newspapers report that after January 2025 arrivals and recorded crossings fell further under the new administration, and outlets like NBC and others show dramatic declines in encounters and increases in removals/ICE arrests; migration‑policy analysts say the lows seen in early 2025 partly build on the reduction trend that began with Biden’s 2024 rule ^{[8] [6]}. Fact‑checkers warn that short windows (e.g., comparing the last seven days of one administration to the first seven of another) can be misleading and that the relative effects of different administrations’ policies need longer observation ^[5].

6. Competing explanations and the limits of the record

Sources present multiple causes for the decline: (a) Biden administration rule limiting asylum access after June 2024 (DHS/CBP) ^{[2] [3]}; (b) subsequent Trump administration enforcement actions and deportations (reported by tracking outlets) ^[8]; and (c) increased Mexican enforcement and regional deterrence dynamics (migration researchers) ^[6]. Available sources do not mention a single, definitive attribution; they show overlapping policies and regional actions all likely contributed ^{[6] [5] [2]}.

7. Bottom line for readers wanting a straight comparison

If you measure by peak monthly encounters, Biden’s term included the post‑pandemic surge peaking in December 2023 (nearly 250,000), followed by a sustained decline after the June 2024 rule, with December 2024 at roughly 47,300 encounters — an 81% reduction from December 2023 per CBP ^{[1] [2]}. Analysts and fact‑checkers caution that different metrics, changing rules, and short windows can overstate partisan causal claims; longer‑term, metric‑consistent comparisons are required to fully determine how the Biden presidency’s border numbers stack up against previous administrations ^{[5] [6]}.

Limitations: this summary uses the provided reporting and agency releases; the evidence set highlights December 2023 peaks and December 2024 troughs and documents DHS/CBP claims about policy effects, but available sources do not provide a unified, administration‑to‑administration normalized dataset or definitive causal proof attributing all changes to any single policy ^{[2] [6] [5]}.