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How many crossed the border illegally under biden
Executive summary
Counting how many people “crossed the border illegally under Biden” depends on the measure: U.S. Border Patrol encounters/apprehensions rose to record highs during Biden’s term — CBP and advocacy tallies suggest roughly 11 million total “encounters” across his four years, and Border Patrol recorded multi‑million yearly apprehensions at peaks like FY2023’s ~2.2 million — but numbers fell sharply after policy changes in 2024 and into 2025 (CBP and DHS reporting) [1] [2] [3]. Available sources do not provide a single undisputed total labeled “illegal crossings under Biden,” because agencies report encounters, apprehensions, expulsions and not all crossings are detected [3] [4].
1. What official counts mean — “encounters,” “apprehensions,” and gaps
Federal reporting commonly cites “encounters” (contacts between migrants and CBP), which can include Border Patrol apprehensions, Office of Field Operations inadmissibles at ports of entry, and Title 42 expulsions; these figures can count the same person more than once if they try multiple times [4] [3]. The BBC explains CBP’s encounter metric and cautions that it doesn’t capture undetected crossings and mixes different legal categories [3]. Therefore any aggregate number — for example a multi‑million total cited for Biden’s term — reflects operational contacts rather than a precise headcount of unique people [3] [1].
2. Magnitude under Biden — peaks and cumulative totals reported by some groups
Multiple sources note record highs during the Biden era. FAIR (citing agency figures) and other summaries state that Border Patrol encountered about 11 million people over Biden’s four years — a cumulative figure used by advocacy and policy commentators to describe the scale of encounters during his term [1]. CBP historical data and news reporting document extreme monthly and yearly spikes, including fiscal year 2022–2023 periods with millions of Border Patrol apprehensions [1] [3].
3. Declines after policy shifts in 2024–2025 — DHS and CBP accounts
DHS and CBP began reporting steep declines in encounters after the Biden administration’s June 2024 “Secure the Border” rule and other enforcement actions; CBP said encounters between ports of entry fell more than 60% from May to December 2024, and March 2025 recorded historically low monthly southwest border crossings (~7,180 reported in March) compared with earlier four‑year monthly averages [5] [6]. Migration Policy Institute and CBP materials attribute continued drops to the rule plus increased Mexican enforcement and operational changes [2] [7].
4. Disagreement over attribution and short‑term comparisons
Analysts disagree about how much of the decline is due to administration policy versus other factors (e.g., Mexican enforcement, seasonal trends). PBS cautioned that short‑term comparisons can mislead and that declines beginning in early 2024 were already underway before later actions; it urged caution in attributing trends exclusively to one administration’s policies [8]. Migration Policy Institute highlighted a mix of deterrence measures and regional cooperation as drivers of falling encounters [2].
5. How later reporting reframes the picture (FY2025 and beyond)
Preliminary FY2025 data obtained by outlets like CBS and the BBC show a sharp reversal by late 2024–2025: Border Patrol recorded roughly 238,000 apprehensions for FY2025, the lowest annual level since 1970, with many of those apprehensions concentrated in the final months of the Biden administration — a framing used by the subsequent administration and reported widely [9] [10]. Those 2025 lows are being compared against the much larger encounter totals from earlier in Biden’s term to argue a dramatic change in scale [9].
6. Why no single definitive “illegal crossings under Biden” figure exists
Official sources measure different things (encounters, apprehensions, expulsions) and count attempts rather than unique individuals; CBP data portals and DHS releases warn of revisions and definitional issues [4] [5]. Independent outlets and advocacy groups sometimes aggregate these metrics into headline totals (e.g., “about 11 million encounters”), but that should be read as an aggregate of recorded contacts, not a precise count of unique unauthorized migrants [1] [3].
7. Bottom line for readers
If your question seeks a simple tally of unique people who crossed illegally during Biden’s presidency, available sources do not offer a single, uncontested number — reporting uses encounter/apprehension tallies that reached multi‑million cumulative counts and peaked in 2022–2023, then declined sharply after mid‑2024 policy changes [1] [2] [6]. Different stakeholders highlight different figures for political effect: advocates and agencies emphasize cumulative encounter totals to show scale [1], while later administration releases and some news outlets highlight the post‑2024 collapse in encounters and FY2025 lows [6] [9].