In absolute terms, the Biden DHS is removing 3.5 times as many people per month as the Trump DHS did. These figures are important for understanding how each administration has carried out border enforcement.
During the Trump administration, DHS made 1.4 million arrests—what it calls “encounters”—in fiscal years 2019 and 2020 (24 months). Of those people arrested, only 47 percent were removed as of December 31, 2021, which includes people arrested by Trump and removed by Biden, and 52 percent were released into the United States.
Under Biden, DHS made over 5 million arrests in its first 26.3 months, and it removed nearly 2.6 million—51 percent—while releasing only 49 percent. In other words, the Trump DHS removed a minority of those arrested while the Biden DHS removed a majority. Biden managed to increase the removal share while also increasing the total removals by a factor of 3.5.
CHART
Again, the snapshot of outcomes as of December 31, 2021, overstates Trump removals because it includes the removals of border crossers arrested during the Trump administration but removed by Biden from January to December 2021. Unfortunately, we don’t have a snapshot of outcomes as of January 20, 2021, but another DHS report shows that as of March 31, 2020, Trump had removed .. https://www.dhs.gov/immigration-statistics/special-reports/enforcement-lifecycle .. just 37 percent of those arrested through 18 months of fiscal years 2019 and 2020. Overall, as of March 31, 2020, President Trump had failed to remove 1.2 million arrested border crossers who entered during fiscal years 2017 to 2020—1.1 million of those crossers were still not removed as of December 2021.
Of course, the absolute numbers of releases have been higher under President Biden, but that reflects much higher arrivals, not any meaningful change in policy.
The pandemic-?era authority called “Title 42” had enabled Border Patrol since March 2020 to quickly expel most crossers to Mexico. That ended in May 2023—after March 31, 2023, which was when the new data for Biden’s term cuts off—so the release percentage has probably increased since then. But, as noted above, the release percentage was also significantly higher during the Trump administration before Title 42. Of course, fluctuations will happen, but the point is clear: the Biden administration has not overturned immigration enforcement.
These numbers highlight how difficult it was even for the most determined administration in US history to expel everyone who enters illegally. This is yet another reason why it makes more sense to create policies that enable immigrants to apply to enter the country legally.
Knowing that there is still a high likelihood of having to release migrants who enter illegally, President Biden has created some legal pathways for immigrants. Unfortunately, his administration has capped these programs at such a low level that massive backlogs have developed, which has effectively shut down the processing of new applicants. President Biden should prioritize the removal of these arbitrary caps, which would enable more immigrants to enter the country legally and reduce illegal immigration.
Republicans aren’t fixing the migrant border plight. In fact they’re making it worse
"‘The border is not open’: US immediately replaces Title 42 with strict new rules Trump used Title 42. Biden replaced Title 42 with something designed to help more refugees enter legally, while at the same time imposing more penalty for refugees attempting to enter illegally."
Andrew Gawthorpe
Republicans seem gleeful at the possibility of ‘chaos’ and ‘disaster’ – and their policies make the humanitarian crisis worse
Tue 16 May 2023 20.10 AEST Last modified on Tue 16 May 2023 22.05 AEST
People wait for a bus to take them to a processing center after they turned themselves over to US border patrol agents at the Mexico-Texas border. Photograph: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images
Last week saw the end of Title 42, the Trump-era border restriction which was technically introduced as a health measure during the coronavirus pandemic. The policy allowed the Trump and then Biden administrations to expel without due process the vast majority of people seeking asylum at the United States-Mexico border. Given that the acute phase of the pandemic has passed, the end of the policy – which has been used about 2.7m times – was inevitable.
[Insert: Biden's immigration policy is fairer than that under Trump, and it's tougher. Fairer and tougher. Yet, Republicans continue to tell mammoth lies about it solely to trick, and deceive, American voters.]
Not to be outdone, Republicans have responded to the situation by promising to return to the failed and cruel policies of the past. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives has passed a bill which would order the resumption of Trump’s border wall and eviscerate the right to asylum for those who reach the US. Meanwhile, speaking at a CNN town hall last week, Trump defended .. https://time.com/6278925/trump-family-separation-border-cnn-town-hall/ .. his policy of family separation and indicated that he would consider reinstating it if he became president again.
[conix, You say "MAY be." Why if you don't have a clue do you feel you have to say something. [...] Trump admits he ruined border deal to hurt Democrats
All of these proposals show that even though there are many reasons to be concerned about the humanitarian situation at the southern border, Republicans have no solutions to it. Migration is driven by human suffering and the desire for a better and safer life, rooted in structural factors like the climate crisis, human rights violations and economic inequality. US government policies have some impact, but they’re not determinative. If people could be prevented from seeking asylum through angry posturing or cruel policies like family separation, then it’s hard to explain why 2019 – a year when Trump was president – saw .. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2020/03/02/how-border-apprehensions-ice-arrests-and-deportations-have-changed-under-trump/ .. the largest number of arrivals in 12 years.
What’s even worse is that the policies that Republicans want to pursue in other areas of life only make the structural factors underlying migration more severe. The party is opposed to serious efforts to tackle the climate crisis, and it cut .. https://www.americanprogress.org/article/taking-migration-seriously-real-solutions-to-complex-challenges-at-the-border/ .. foreign aid to Central America under Trump – in some cases actually as punishment for the arrival of migrants at the border. Furthermore, the weak US gun laws which Republicans back create an “iron river” of firearms flowing into Mexico and Central America, where 70% and 50% of guns used in crimes are traced back to the US.
[Hopefully by election time more present evidence-free voters will be more aware of the facts of the two administrations records. Specifically on the border issue: P - B402 - The gaping hole in conix's position is her blaming Biden for the border situation. That position is bullshit. Some objective info on those two positions most of us here agree on: [...]Title 42: Trump-era border policy creates headache for Biden [...] President Biden's proposal to provide a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented Americans has also been blamed for spurring the record influx at the southern border. [...] Cuba, for example, has lost much of the aid [Note: Trump also cut aid to countries from which most of the border refugees come.] it received from Venezuela pre-pandemic - creating more economic difficulties there - while Nicaragua's decision last year to eliminate visa requirements for Cubans means they now have a starting point to begin their journey from Central America to the US. P - A lack of diplomatic relations between the US and these countries also means that the US cannot repatriate them home. [...] Mr Biden, for his part, has said that sending migrants back to Cuba, Venezuela or Nicaragua is "not rational" and that he is working with Mexico and other countries to "stop the flow". [...] In mid-October, [Biden time] US and Mexican officials agreed to a plan that would enable the US to expel Venezuelans while at the same time granting humanitarian access to them by air. P - Venezuelan nationals who attempt to cross the border and are detained are ineligible for the legal pathway in the future. Since the plan was introduced, "encounters" with Venezuelan migrants fell from 1,100 to 300 per day. [...] Mr Isacson said that the policy leads to statistical "distortions". P - "Title 42 has made it easy for people to try over and over and over," he said. "If they keep getting caught, there's no real sanction." [...] Yes, There’s a Crisis on the Border. And It’s Trump’s Fault. [...] In fiscal year 2017, the last year of the Obama administration and the first of Trump’s, 303,916 migrants were arrested by the Border Patrol. This was the lowest level in more than three decades. The Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations had worked hard to tackle the problem of illegal migration through substantial increases in border security staffing, improvements in technology, innovations in strategy and improved security coordination and assistance to Mexico. Coupled with improved economic conditions in Mexico, these administrations were hugely successful in deterring and breaking the cycle of illegal crossing: Unlawful Mexican economic immigration, which had historically been the primary immigration enforcement issue at the border, dropped nearly 90 percent between 2000 and 2016. Is there really a border crisis? https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=173927004]
The party also has a long history of promoting US military intervention in Latin America, which has caused instability and propped up the regimes that fuel the inequality and violence of today. Republicans are busy right now proposing that the US invade Mexico .. https://amerex.substack.com/p/no-america-shouldnt-invade-mexico .. to take out its drug cartels, an action that would contribute to the country’s insecurity and undoubtedly fuel an increase in migration northwards.
[Mummy, the Indictment Fairy Finally Came! Friday, March 31st, 2023 [...]Look at the statement the New York Young Republican Club smeared on the wall in fecal matter. Seriously, look at it: “President Trump embodies the American people—our psyche from id to super-ego—as does no other figure; his soul is totally bonded with our core values and emotions, and he is our total and indisputable champion.” P - Wow, that is definitely how people who aren’t in cults talk. [...]I see history’s dumbest death cult formally added Capitol Riot worship to the already embarrassing ritual they refer to as a “Trump rally,” where they gather to fete their living idiot god, currently on year four of bragging about passing a cognitive test once. https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=171593325]
If Republicans wanted to actually help deal with the refugee crisis, there are many things they could do. They could join with Democrats to properly fund the system of refugee centers, in which the number of detainees is already exceeding capacity, and immigration courts, where some refugees have been waiting more than a decade for a hearing. They could try to advance proposals to work constructively with the nations with which the United States shares a hemisphere to tackle common problems like the climate crisis, economic inequality and gun violence. And they could work to expand, rather than contract, legal pathways to citizenship and asylum.
The Biden administration is now working to do just that, announcing plans to set up immigration processing centers throughout Latin America, with the first to open in Guatemala and Colombia in the coming weeks. Eventually, the administration hopes to reduce the need for desperate people to arrive at the border by offering them an opportunity to apply for asylum from elsewhere. This should not only dial down the political heat at home, but much more importantly mean that would-be migrants don’t have to suffer the harrowing journey north, which for many ends in abuse or death.
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But these plans can only be effective and sustainable over the long term with the cooperation of Republicans, both in Congress and in future administrations. For that to happen, the party would need to start seeing immigrants and refugees as fellow human beings in need of assistance rather than as enemies to be quashed. Only then can America really make progress in tackling this problem and escaping the cycle of cruelty in which it is currently trapped.
Andrew Gawthorpe is a historian of the United States at Leiden University and the creator of America Explained, a newsletter and podcast
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