Biden White House Cuts Deportations
The Biden administration significantly reduced the number of planned deportations compared to the Trump White House. President Joe Biden’s team expects to deport just 125,000 illegal immigrants in fiscal year 2025, which is half the number Trump’s White House deported in 2019.
The reduction of deportations in the next fiscal year is lower than that of 2023, in which there were 142,000 removals. In 2019, the number of removals that budget year under Trump was almost 270,000.
Overall, the number of individuals deported would represent 6% of those who attempted to cross into the country in FY 2023.
The news comes amid reports the Biden administration paid for flights of migrants into the country to avoid having them cross the southern border.
The flow of migrants has increased significantly under the Biden administration, and especially in the last year. December 2023 saw the highest level of attempted border crossings, surpassing 300,000 for the first time ever.
Last year also saw the highest overall rate of attempted crossings, according to federal law enforcement authorities. There were more than three million attempted crossings in 2023. Overall, more than seven million illegal immigrants are believed to have entered the country since Biden took office in 2021.
The increased flow of migrants has led to a number of different responses. Texas launched Operation Lone Star to combat the number of illegal immigrants, weapons and drugs entering the state. The Texas state legislature also made it a state crime to enter Texas illegally.
The Biden administration is currently challenging both Texas’ border operations and the new law in court.
Furthermore, attention regarding the flow of illegal immigrants into the country has increased since the murder of college student Laken Riley. During last Thursday’s State of the Union address, Biden described the alleged killer as an “illegal.”
Following the statement, Biden repeated the sentiment the following day, saying that the migrant should not have been in the United States. However, over the weekend Biden apologized for using the word “illegal.”
The White House then said Biden did not, in fact, apologize despite his words being part of a media interview.
