What policy changes under Biden affected deportation numbers compared with Trump and Obama?
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Executive summary
The Biden administration enacted immediate enforcement changes — including a 100‑day moratorium on most removals at inauguration and guidance to use prosecutorial discretion — and also created targeted protections such as Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) blocks for certain nationalities; those moves coincided with lower ICE removals on average (about 35,000 per year vs. ~80,000 under Trump) but total removals and expulsions rose in later years to levels comparable with or exceeding Trump-era peaks (DHS/ICE reporting and press accounts) [1] [2] [3].
1. What Biden changed on Day One: a pause and new priorities
On Biden’s first day the acting DHS secretary issued a memorandum instituting a 100‑day pause on most deportations and rescinded Trump’s broad criminal‑priority enforcement directive, instructing agencies to exercise prosecutorial discretion rather than pursue removal in many low‑level cases — a straight reversal of Trump’s prioritization model that immediately reduced ICE’s arrest-and‑remove posture [1]. Available sources do not mention other specifics of the Day‑One memo beyond the 100‑day pause and rescission [1].
2. Targeted protections and relief programs that reduced removals for some groups
The Biden administration used administrative relief tools such as Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) for groups (for example Liberians, Hong Kong residents and others) and parole programs that permitted work authorization and temporary stay — moves that effectively shielded certain cohorts from deportation and reduced removals among those categories while they were in effect [2] [4]. Pew and Wikipedia reporting show these programs expanded lawful temporary stays but later policy shifts and court rulings changed their reach [4] [2].
3. Enforcement still continued — and removals did not vanish under Biden
Despite early pauses and discretion guidance, enforcement continued: ICE deportations averaged roughly 35,000 per year during Biden’s presidency versus about 80,000 per year under Trump, indicating a lower ICE‑directed deportation rate even as other removal pathways (expulsions and expedited removals) remained heavily used [2]. Migration Policy Institute reporting notes that the Biden administration carried out many removals and that expedited (fast‑track) removal processes accounted for a substantial share of removals in FY2022–FY2024 [3] [5].
4. Policy tools that drove differences: prosecutorial discretion vs. expanded expedited removal
The key policy divergence was method: Biden emphasized case‑by‑case discretion and programmatic relief (pauses, DED, parole) while Trump expanded fast‑track authorities and broad enforcement priorities that increased the use of expedited removals and mass deportation plans. MPI finds expedited removal accounted for more than half of removals during Biden’s FY2022–FY2024 period, showing continuity in the use of fast procedures even amid different rhetoric [5] [3].
5. How rules and court fights changed counts over time
Counting differences matter: “deportations,” “removals,” and “expulsions/returns” are recorded differently. Wikipedia and DHS figures note that although ICE’s regular deportations fell on average under Biden, overall removals/expulsions in some years rose to a 10‑year high (271,000 in FY2024), surpassing the Trump‑era 2019 peak of about 267,000 — a product of changes in border policy, Title 42/expulsions and other authorities [2]. Media reporting traced internal White House debate about deterrence and asylum policy that shaped those outcomes [6].
6. Political and operational drivers behind the shifts
Source reporting shows political pressure, operational capacity and litigation shaped policy. Biden advisers warned early of surges and pushed for stricter deterrence measures; the administration later issued a presidential proclamation and rule restricting asylum in response to migration spikes, which affected encounter and removal numbers [6] [3]. Budget proposals and detention capacity limits also constrained large‑scale removals absent congressional funding [3] [7].
7. What changed after 2024 and why comparisons get messy
After 2024, policy reversals, program suspensions and new rules from subsequent administrations (including retraction of parole programs and renewed enforcement pushes) led to rapidly shifting counts; Pew documents that parole programs instituted by Biden brought roughly half a million CHNV parolees but were later ended or had protections revoked, altering the unauthorized population and removal figures [4]. Migration Policy and other trackers emphasize that changes in authorities (e.g., expanded expedited removal) and legal rulings make year‑to‑year comparisons complex [5] [4].
8. Bottom line and limits of the available reporting
Biden’s early policy changes — a 100‑day moratorium, prosecutorial discretion guidance, DED and parole programs — reduced some ICE removals and provided relief to specific groups, but enforcement continued through expedited removals and expulsions, producing years where total removals equaled or exceeded Trump peaks [1] [2] [5]. Available sources do not provide a single, definitive causal breakdown attributing year‑to‑year removal totals to any one policy; multiple mechanisms (policy choices, operational capacity, legal rulings and later administrations’ actions) jointly produced the observed trends [3] [2].