Fact check: How many illegal immigrants came into the country during Trump first term

1. Summary of the results

The analyses provided do not contain specific data answering the question about how many illegal immigrants entered the country during Trump's first term (2017-2021). Instead, the sources focus primarily on Trump's second term immigration enforcement activities and policy changes.

The available data shows that during Trump's current second term, there has been significant enforcement activity, with ICE arrests increasing by 627% compared to the previous year under Biden ^[1]. Border crossings have reportedly dropped to their lowest level in decades, with slightly over 6,000 apprehensions in June ^[2]. However, fact-checkers note that claims of a 95% drop in illegal immigration during the second term are misleading, with the actual drop being around 60% ^[3].

The Trump administration has implemented substantial policy changes including massive budget increases for ICE ^[4], expanded use of expedited removal, and increased the number of ICE agents ^[5]. The administration has also made unprecedented efforts to collect data held by states for immigration enforcement purposes ^[6].

2. Missing context/alternative viewpoints

The original question specifically asks about Trump's first term (2017-2021), but the analyses predominantly focus on his second term activities, creating a significant gap in addressing the actual question posed.

Missing critical context includes:

• Actual numerical data on border encounters, apprehensions, or estimated illegal entries during 2017-2021
• Comparison data between Trump's first term and previous administrations
• Distinction between different types of immigration violations and enforcement metrics
• Economic and humanitarian factors that influenced immigration patterns during the first term

Alternative viewpoints that would benefit from this narrative:

• Immigration enforcement agencies and contractors benefit from increased funding and expanded operations ^[4]
• Political figures who support stricter immigration policies benefit from emphasizing enforcement successes
• Data collection companies and surveillance technology providers benefit from expanded government data gathering efforts ^[6]

3. Potential misinformation/bias in the original statement

The original question itself does not contain explicit misinformation, but it uses the term "illegal immigrants" which can be considered loaded language. More neutral terminology would be "undocumented immigrants" or "unauthorized border crossings."

The question's framing may inadvertently promote bias by:

• Conflating different types of immigration violations under a single "illegal" category
• Implying that all unauthorized entries represent permanent immigration rather than temporary crossings, asylum seekers, or other categories
• Focusing solely on numbers without context about enforcement policies, economic conditions, or global factors affecting migration patterns

The analyses reveal potential bias in current reporting, where claims of dramatic drops in immigration are being fact-checked as misleading ^[3], suggesting that both supporters and critics of immigration policies may be presenting selective or exaggerated statistics to support their positions.