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How many illegal immigrants came into the U.S. under Joe Biden’s presidency.
Executive Summary
The question “How many illegal immigrants came into the U.S. under Joe Biden’s presidency?” has no single, definitive figure because available measures report different things: population estimates of unauthorized immigrants, Border Patrol “encounters,” expulsions versus releases, and “gotaways.” Aggregate source material points to roughly 10–11 million recorded CBP encounters since FY2021 and separate population studies showing about 14 million unauthorized residents in 2023, but neither metric equals the precise number of distinct people who entered during Biden’s term [1] [2]. Determining a unique count requires reconciling overlapping events, repeat encounters, administrative parole releases, and survey-based population estimates, which the sources document and dispute [3] [4].
1. Numbers that make headlines—but mean different things: encounters, residents, and releases
Public figures cited in the debate conflate at least three distinct metrics: CBP “encounters” (apprehensions and expulsions), estimates of unauthorized residents living in the U.S., and administrative parole/release totals. CBP data compiled since Fiscal Year 2021 records more than 10.8–10.9 million nationwide encounters, including over 8.7–8.8 million at the Southwest border, but the data counts events not unique individuals and includes repeat attempts [3] [1]. Separately, population estimates from research centers put the number of unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S. at about 14 million in 2023, a figure that reflects cumulative stock, not flow during a single presidency [2] [4]. The difference matters: encounters overstate distinct entrants when people are stopped multiple times, while population estimates undercount recent entries if many leave or are removed.
2. How government enforcement data portrays the scale—and its blind spots
CBP enforcement statistics provide a high-volume count of interactions: monthly and fiscal-year encounters peaked in late 2023 and totaled into the tens of millions of events over the Biden administration’s years, with official summaries noting nearly 11 million encounters nationwide since FY2021 [5] [1]. These datasets also document recidivism—roughly a 27% recidivism rate in FY2021—and “gotaways,” estimated by some reports to number nearly 2 million and potentially undercounted by as much as 20 percent [6] [3]. CBP figures also separate Title 8 apprehensions and Title 42 expulsions; policy shifts like Title 42’s termination and new parole pathways have altered counts, making comparisons across years nontrivial [6] [7]. Therefore enforcement data signals scope but cannot be read as a headcount of unique illegal entrants.
3. Population surveys and research centers give a different picture of cumulative immigration
Independent research, such as Pew’s work, frames the issue as a population stock rather than enforcement flow: the Pew Research Center estimated an all-time high of 14 million unauthorized immigrants in 2023, driven largely by arrivals from countries other than Mexico and influenced by temporary legal protections and asylum policy shifts [4] [8]. Pew notes preliminary 2024 increases slowed after tighter asylum policies; such surveys use Census Bureau and DHS inputs and are subject to sampling and methodological uncertainty. Population estimates answer “how many unauthorized people live in the U.S. now” but do not specify when people arrived or how many entered during any given presidency.
4. Political claims and committee reports that amplify numbers for policy debate
Political and oversight reports emphasize large totals to press specific policy positions: a House Homeland Security report tallied more than 10.8 million encounters since FY2021 and called out nearly 2 million gotaways and over 1.4 million parole releases, framing them as security and enforcement concerns [3]. Conversely, some administration-leaning or independent summaries highlight decreases in encounters after policy shifts in 2024 and differentiate between encounters and final entries [7] [9]. These differing framings reflect competing agendas—security and deterrence arguments versus policy defenders emphasizing legal nuance and changing conditions—so identical raw numbers are used to support opposite conclusions.
5. The bottom line: why a single, definitive “how many entered under Biden” number is not available
Reconciling the available material shows there is no single verified count of distinct illegal entrants during Biden’s presidency in the public record provided. CBP encounter totals since FY2021 approach 11 million events, while population estimates put unauthorized residents at 14 million in 2023, and House reports add concerns about gotaways and parole releases that complicate flow accounting [1] [2] [3]. A definitive figure would require merging enforcement databases, deduplicating repeat encounters, confirming interior parole and release records, and aligning those with survey-based population changes—work none of the cited sources completes. Any simple claim of “X million entered under Biden” therefore overstates what the current data can legitimately establish.