How does the Biden administration's border control strategy differ from the Trump administration's?
Executive summary
The Biden administration pursued a mix of enforcement and legal pathways: it reversed many Trump-era rules early on but also used expulsions, Title 42-era removals, and a 2024 presidential proclamation to restrict asylum, producing roughly 1.1 million deportations through Feb. 2024 and overseeing large numbers of expulsions under pandemic-era authorities [1] [2]. The Trump approach emphasized “zero tolerance,” broad expulsions, ending CBP One and “catch-and-release,” and in 2025 pursued rapid deportations, military support and executive orders aimed at sharply reducing encounters [1] [3] [4].
1. Direction and tone: “Humane restoration” vs. “hard-line control”
Biden campaigned to roll back what he called Trump’s harsh immigration measures and initially framed his agenda as more “humane,” restoring legal immigration and refugee pathways while pledging to reform interior enforcement priorities [1] [5]. By contrast, Trump’s stated objective has been to restore stringent border control and to end practices he calls “catch-and-release,” a framing repeated in the White House’s 2025 statements about deportations and releases [4].
2. Tools and rules: rescinds, replacements, and new restrictions
Biden rescinded or delayed many Trump-era regulations early in his term and created administrative programs (including CBP One appointments and expanded humanitarian parole) to manage flows, while also issuing hundreds of immigration-related executive actions across his presidency [6] [5]. Under pressure in 2024, the Biden White House issued a presidential proclamation and rule that further restricted asylum — a move described as tightening rather than undoing Trump-era constraints [2].
3. Enforcement on the ground: expulsions, deportations and encounters
Under Biden, authorities recorded large enforcement volumes: about 1.1 million deportations from FY2021 through Feb. 2024 and millions of encounters — in part because Title 42 expulsions continued into his term and accounted for roughly 3 million expulsions between March 2020 and May 2023 [2]. Trump’s approach emphasized rapid expulsions and lower reported encounter counts after he returned to office in 2025; his administration credits large decreases in apprehensions and encounters to executive action and operational shifts [4] [7].
4. Asylum policy: legal access vs. sharp limits
Biden expanded formal pathways for some migrants (parole programs and CBP One appointments) that allowed humanitarian migrants to request processing rather than crossing irregularly, but the administration also adopted tighter asylum restrictions in 2024 when arrivals surged [8] [2]. Trump’s 2025 policies aimed to sharply curtail asylum access, including ending the CBP One app and issuing orders to mobilize military and other enforcement tools to prevent asylum entries [9] [3].
5. Administration claims and the data debate
Both administrations have cited short-term drops in encounters to validate their strategies, but independent reporting cautions against simple comparisons. PBS and other outlets say drops in illegal immigration have occurred but that trendlines predate Trump’s return and short windows can mislead [10]. DHS and White House releases present very different framings: DHS highlighted historic lows in apprehensions in 2025 as evidence of success, while analysts note that enforcement counts combine repeat encounters and policy-driven turnbacks, complicating simple apples-to-apples comparisons [7] [2].
6. Institutional changes and capacity investments
Biden’s teams sought system modernization and border management investments, and DHS proposed creating contingency funds for overwhelmed Southwest Border operations (a $4.7 billion fund) and emphasized rebuilding refugee resettlement and naturalization processing [2] [5]. Trump’s 2025 actions put a premium on operational control through executive orders that direct Defense Department support, expanded surveillance and rapid deportations [3].
7. Political dynamics and limits of executive action
Both presidents relied heavily on executive authority where Congress did not act; Biden issued hundreds of immigration actions but struggled to pass legalization legislation, while Trump has leaned on emergency declarations and executive orders to change operational rules [5] [3]. Analysts warn that judicial review, statutory constraints and resource limits mean administrative changes can be partially reversible or litigated — an implicit constraint noted across reporting [6] [1].
8. What sources emphasize and what they omit
Migration Policy Institute and related reporting emphasize deportation and encounter totals under Biden and note policy complexity, including Title 42’s legacy and the 2024 asylum rule [2] [5]. Government statements from the Trump White House and DHS stress steep declines in apprehensions and ending releases [4] [7]. Available sources do not provide a single, harmonized estimate of net unauthorized population changes attributable solely to either administration; they also do not settle long-term causal effects of specific policies (not found in current reporting).
Bottom line: Biden’s record is a blend of reversing Trump-era measures, expanding legal routes, and imposing new asylum limits when pressured; Trump’s approach centers on rapid expulsions, operational militarization and ending programs like CBP One — and both administrations point to falling encounters while analysts caution that short-term metrics and different counting methods muddy direct comparisons [2] [3] [10].