Under President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has reported over 10.3 million encounters at the nation’s borders during the current fiscal year, with more than 8.3 million of those occurring along the Southwest border, according to data released by the National Immigration Center For Enforcement.
According to the report, the number of border encounters in the fiscal year 2023 alone surpassed the total recorded during Donald Trump’s entire presidency. These figures do not include the estimated 2 million “gotaways” who managed to evade Border Patrol agents.
Immigration Enforcement Comparisons: Trump vs. Biden-Harris
A key indicator of immigration enforcement is the number of removals, which have significantly decreased under the Biden-Harris administration. During Donald Trump’s presidency, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) removed illegal aliens at a rate of 32% relative to the total number of encounters. Under Biden and Harris, that rate has dropped to just 3.5%.
Had the Biden-Harris administration maintained the removal pace set by the previous administration, an estimated 2.5 million illegal aliens would have been removed, compared to the 273,768 removed under their leadership. This reduction in removals has led to concerns about the impact on public safety.
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Convicted Criminal Alien Removals
The number of convicted criminal aliens removed over the last three fiscal years (134,617) is less than the total number of removals during just two years of Trump’s presidency (FY 2018-19).
This marks a 74% decrease, undermining claims by Vice President Harris that ICE is focusing on criminal aliens. Instead, critics argue that policies under Harris and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas have made it harder for ICE officers to arrest and remove illegal aliens, even those with criminal convictions or pending charges.
Arrests and Detention
ICE arrest totals—covering both criminal and immigration violators—have drastically declined compared to Trump’s tenure, despite the agency maintaining the same staffing levels. Critics argue that Harris and Mayorkas have limited ICE’s capacity to arrest and detain more individuals unlawfully present in the U.S., leading to fewer criminal arrests and more victims of crimes committed by individuals who are not removed.
In addition, despite the ongoing border crisis, the Biden-Harris administration has not fully utilized available detention facilities. By law, individuals crossing the border illegally are subject to mandatory detention, but this has not been consistently enforced. During Trump’s presidency, resources were reallocated to increase and fill detention beds, which Congress had approved.
The handling of the border crisis continues to generate debate, with critics arguing that the current administration’s policies have contributed to the challenges facing border security and public safety in American communities.
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