As President Donald Trump’s second term ramps up immigration enforcement in January 2026, conservatives are pointing fingers at the Biden administration for what they call a self-inflicted crisis. Critics argue that Biden’s policies allowed over 10 million migrant encounters at the southern border since 2021, many resulting in releases into the U.S.
This surge, they say, necessitated ICE’s current operations—from fraud raids in Minnesota to mass deportations—claiming Democrats “caused this problem” by rolling back Trump-era restrictions like Remain in Mexico and Title 42 expulsions.
Under Biden, U.S. Customs and Border Protection recorded historic highs, with 2.4 million encounters in FY2023 alone.
Supporters of this view assert that lax asylum rules and catch-and-release practices invited chaos, leading to over 1.7 million “gotaways” evading detection.
They contrast this with Trump’s first term, when encounters averaged under 500,000 annually, crediting his wall construction and deterrence measures.
In his second term, Trump has already driven crossings to record lows, with November 2025 marking the lowest in over 50 years.
Trump’s fix includes executive actions for mass deportations, ending Temporary Protected Status for groups like Somalis, and freezing funds to sanctuary states. aclu.org +1
Administration officials promise to deport millions, rebuild the wall, and impose tariffs on non-cooperating countries.
Democrats counter that global factors like poverty and violence drove the surge, and Biden’s late restrictions reduced encounters by 55% in 2024. presidency.ucsb.edu +1
They label Trump’s approach inhumane, warning of family separations and economic fallout.
The debate boils down to causation: Did Biden’s policies invite the influx, or were they inevitable? As Trump vows to “fix it,” his aggressive tactics test whether enforcement can reverse years of migration pressures without deepening divisions.
