How many illegals entered under Biden
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Executive summary
The short answer: there is no authoritative source showing "20 million" or "25 million" people illegally entered and remained in the United States during the Biden presidency; government encounter counts and expert estimates point to millions of crossings and a smaller—but still substantial—net increase in the undocumented population (estimates and methods vary) [1] [2] [3]. Analysts disagree about how to convert encounters into people and how many stayed, with independent researchers putting the net undocumented increase during Biden at a few million rather than tens of millions [4] [5].
1. What proponents of the 20–30 million figure are actually citing
Claims that 20–30 million "illegals entered under Biden" typically conflate raw Border Patrol “encounters” or political projections with people who settled in the country; proponents often point to cumulative encounter tallies—running into multiple millions—as evidence, but encounters count events not unique individuals and include repeat crossings, expulsions and removals [1] [2] [6].
2. What the official encounter and processing numbers show
Across the Biden years, DHS and reporting compilations show several million southern‑border encounters—FactCheck and other trackers put total border encounters at roughly 6.5–7+ million for large chunks of the administration and document that roughly 2.5 million people were initially released while roughly 2.8 million were removed or expelled in early tallies—illustrating that encounter totals do not equal permanent entrants [2] [7].
3. What independent estimates of the undocumented population say
Nonpartisan demographers at institutions such as Pew estimate the unauthorized‑resident population reached about 14 million in 2023—Pew’s methodology estimates stock (who live here), not flow (who crossed during a particular presidency)—which runs counter to claims of a 30–50 million undocumented population and implies a much smaller cumulative increase under Biden than some partisan claims assert [3] [1].
4. Academic and policy estimates of the net increase under Biden
Scholars who have parsed Census trends and migration flows argue the increase in the undocumented population during the Biden years is likely measured in the low millions: Cato’s analysis estimates a net undocumented increase of roughly 5.5–6 million attributable in part to post‑2020 trends, while other academic or Congressional witnesses have produced figures such as 6.7 million—numbers far below 20 million but large enough to be politically significant [4] [8].
5. Enforcement, expulsions and why “entered” ≠ “stayed”
MigrationPolicy and other analysts emphasize that millions of migrants were removed, expelled, repatriated or otherwise returned during the period—MigrationPolicy notes nearly 4.4 million repatriations under Biden when combining deportations and expulsions—so the flow into the country and the net population change move in different directions and must be distinguished [7] [2].
6. Politics, rhetoric and methodological pitfalls
The 20–30 million talking point has circulated widely in partisan venues and among some Republican officials as a headline number, but fact‑checkers and researchers warn it rests on conflating encounters, parole programs, and population estimates; such conflation amplifies political messaging while obscuring methodological limits—Newsweek, FactCheck and others have flagged these distortions and cautioned that reliable estimates require clear definitions of "entered," "released," "removed" and "remained" [1] [2] [5].
Conclusion: a precise, evidence‑based answer
No credible source supports the claim that 20 million (or 25–30 million) distinct unauthorized migrants entered and remained in the U.S. during the Biden presidency; government encounter totals and scholarly estimates point instead to several million encounters, a mixture of releases and removals, and a net increase in the unauthorized resident population measured in the low single‑digit millions by many analysts—while Pew’s stock estimate reached about 14 million unauthorized residents in 2023, not 30–50 million [2] [4] [3] [1].