The Unprecedented Surge of Illegal Immigration under the Biden Administration: A Crisis of Deliberate Policy Choices

The illegal immigration crisis at the United States’ southwest border has reached unprecedented levels under the Biden administration. According to a Fox News analysis, nearly 7.3 million migrants have illegally crossed the border since President Biden took office in 2021. This figure is larger than the population of 36 individual states, including Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

The current pace of illegal immigration suggests that fiscal year 2024 will break last year’s record of 2,475,669 southwest border encounters. This number is about 18.7% of California’s population, 23.9% of the state of Texas and its residents, 32.3% of the population of Florida, and 37.3% of New York. It is more than half the size of Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Ohio.

If the number of illegal immigrants who entered the United States under President Biden were gathered together to form a city, it would be the second-largest city in America after New York. However, this figure does not include an estimated additional 1.8 million known “gotaways” who evaded law enforcement, making the total number of migrants who have crossed into the U.S. illegally during the Biden administration over 10 million.

The surge in illegal immigration is not an accident, as critics argue. It is the result of deliberate policy choices by the Biden administration. Eric Ruark, Director of Research for Numbers USA, a nonprofit that advocates for immigration restrictions, stated, “This unprecedented surge in illegal immigration isn’t an accident. It is the result of deliberate policy choices by the Biden administration.”

Republicans and anti-illegal immigration activists have long blamed Biden for allowing the current overwhelming surge of migrants by reversing former President Donald Trump’s border policies. The Biden administration has denied responsibility for the crisis and pointed to external “push” factors like violence and economic instability in South and Central America as the culprit responsible for vast waves of migration to the U.S.

However, the president’s critics argue that migrants face more of a “pull” factor in the form of job opportunities and government benefits because they know they will not face deportation under Biden’s lenient policies. Ruark further explained, “The administration has refused to enforce existing immigration law and taken every opportunity to aid and abet illegal border crossings—through policies such as catch-and-release, mass parole, and offering temporary work permits to tens of thousands of foreigners who make dubious claims for asylum. In actual effect, the United States government is completing the human smuggling and trafficking process for the Mexican cartels.”

Migrants have learned that they won’t face deportation for entering the country illegally. Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), stated, “They have sent the signal that if you come to the U.S. illegally, if you abuse the asylum system, you’ll be released into the country and allowed to remain here, in most cases given work authorization. Even if you neglect to show up for your hearings, the odds of you being removed are negligible. The president claims he doesn’t have the authority to enforce our laws. He absolutely does. He is deliberately not enforcing those laws.”

The Biden administration has called on Congress to pass new laws to address the border crisis. However, conservatives argue that the administration currently has all the authority it needs to reenact Trump’s policies and secure the border. House Republicans have impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for allegedly refusing to enforce immigration laws. The effort was criticized as politically motivated, but the Biden administration insists it is enforcing the laws on the books.

The debate over the border crisis continues, with both sides pointing fingers and offering solutions. The future of immigration policy in the United States remains uncertain, but one thing is clear: the surge in illegal immigration under the Biden administration is a crisis that demands attention and action.