How many migrants crossed the US-Mexico border during each year of the Biden administration?
Executive summary
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reports “encounters” — a combined count of Border Patrol apprehensions, port-of-entry inadmissibles and Title 42 expulsions — that rose sharply early in President Biden’s term: roughly 1.66–1.7 million encounters in fiscal 2021, about 2.2–2.5 million in fiscal 2022, and a record near 2.45 million in fiscal 2023; encounters then fell to roughly 2.1 million in FY2024 as policy changes and stepped‑up Mexican enforcement took effect [1] [2] [3] [4]. Sources disagree on exact annual totals depending on whether they count only Border Patrol apprehensions, include ports of entry, or add expulsions under Title 42 — so any year‑by‑year headline number requires careful definition [5] [6].
1. What the official “encounters” number means — one metric, many processes
CBP’s published totals called “encounters” combine multiple categories: U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) apprehensions between ports of entry, Office of Field Operations (OFO) inadmissibles at ports, and expulsions under Title 42 when it was in effect; that definition changed operationally after March 2020 and is explained on CBP’s data pages [6] [5]. Reporting that a year had “1.66 million” or “2.2 million” encounters therefore does not equal a count of unique people who entered and remained in the United States — repeat attempts, expulsions and gotaways are handled and tracked differently [5] [7].
2. Year‑by‑year snapshots from the available reporting
- FY2021: CBP Border Patrol recorded about 1.66 million encounters at the southwest border in FY2021 — widely reported as the highest annual total to that date — while other tallies put the USBP detentions/encounters of that year at “more than 1.7 million” [1] [8] [5].
- FY2022: Multiple outlets and data compilations show FY2022 rose to roughly 2.2 million encounters (often described as a record at the time), reflecting diversified nationalities and continued repeat crossings and expulsions [2] [3].
- FY2023: Reporting and CBP‑based analyses place FY2023 at a historic high near 2.45–2.5 million encounters, with December 2023 alone peaking at nearly 302,000 encounters in a month [3] [9].
- FY2024: Analysts and CBP‑based summaries show a decline to about 2.1 million encounters for FY2024 after a mix of U.S. policy changes (June 2024 proclamation/rule) and stronger Mexican enforcement; Migration Policy Institute and Pew note a sharp drop in monthly encounters through 2024 [4] [10].
3. Why totals diverge between sources
Different organizations use different slices of the raw data. CBP’s “Nationwide Encounters” is the direct source (combining components), but research groups, news outlets and think tanks sometimes report only Border Patrol apprehensions between ports of entry, or they add estimated “gotaways” and other counts — creating variance in headline totals [6] [7]. Some advocates and critics also emphasize expulsions under Title 42 (2.9 million expulsions across three years, largely during the Biden term) to show enforcement intensity; others highlight released‑into‑U.S. numbers to show domestic impact [3] [7].
4. Context: repeat crossings, expulsions, and “unique individuals”
A large share of encounters in 2021–2023 involved repeat crossers. MigrationPolicy and Pew analyses note that recidivism (people attempting multiple times) and Title 42 expulsions inflated encounter counts relative to unique individuals, complicating comparisons to past years that used different counting practices [5] [1]. FactCheck and others urge caution: encounters are not a simple headcount of people who entered and stayed [7].
5. Policy shifts that changed yearly flows
Two policy developments had major effects on annual totals: the use and eventual wind‑down of Title 42 (March 2020–May 2023 for many groups) which increased expulsions and repeat attempts; and the Biden administration’s mid‑2024 proclamation and rule that narrowed asylum access, paired with Mexico’s stepped‑up interior and northern enforcement — together linked to the drop from FY2023 peaks into FY2024 [5] [4] [10].
6. How to interpret the numbers going forward
Numbers must be read as process indicators, not precise counts of newcomers who settled in the U.S. For an accurate year‑by‑year comparison under Biden, cite the CBP “encounters” definition you are using and note whether expulsions, ports‑of‑entry inadmissibles, repeat attempts and gotaways are included — the main data sources and analysts (CBP, Migration Policy Institute, Pew Research, FactCheck) document these differences [6] [11] [5] [7].
Limitations and next steps: available sources give clear annual encounter totals only when you accept CBP’s encounter definition; they do not provide a single, undisputed count of unique migrants who crossed and remained. If you want a table with exact fiscal‑year encounter figures and the component breakdown (apprehensions vs. ports vs. expulsions), I can extract the CBP monthly tables cited by Migration Policy and CBP and produce a year‑by‑year table with source‑by‑source notes [6] [11].