Biden-era deportations down sharply from Trump era despite media and activist narrative: analysis

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FIRST ON FOX: Removals of illegal immigrants from the U.S. interior are sharply down during the Biden administration compared to the Trump administration, a new analysis is revealing, just as the administration and some in the media highlight that its removal numbers overall are increasing.

The new analysis by the National Immigration Center for Enforcement (NICE), a pro-enforcement group, has looked at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data and compared removals by that agency between administrations. Simply put, it found that in terms solely of deportation of illegal immigrants by ICE, numbers are down significantly under Biden compared to the Trump era despite massively increased numbers of migrants arriving under the Biden administration.

The analysis shows that there were 935,346 ICE removals of illegal immigrants during the Trump administration, 31.1% of the more than 2 million encounters.

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Analysis by the National Immigration Center for Enforcement

During the Biden-Harris administration, there have been more than 9.6 million encounters, a significantly higher number. But just 4.4% of those, or 406,638, have been removed by ICE.

The analysis uses ICE official data, which showed that fiscal 2018 and fiscal 2019 saw more than 250,000 ICE removals a year before dropping to 185,000 in fiscal 2020 and just 59,011 in fiscal 2021 during the COVID pandemic. It has since risen to 72,177 in fiscal 2022 and 142,580 in fiscal 2023.

It contrasts with, although it does not directly contradict, claims by the administration and some in the media who have pointed to a sharp increase in overall removals since the ending of Title 42.

"Biden is now deporting more people than Trump" a Reuters headline said this month.

"Trump says he wants to deport millions. He’ll have a hard time removing more people than Biden has," a Politico story said.

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Those articles and the administration itself have pointed to overall Department of Homeland Security (DHS) returns and removals, including those conducted by Customs and Border Protection (CBP), in which a migrant can quickly be turned back at the border before being released. Both articles note that ICE deportations alone are down from the Trump era.

When CBP removals are included, numbers are sharply higher after the end of Title 42 in May last year, when expulsions increased significantly. The Reuters analysis shows that under that metric, Trump saw 1.5 million deportations and returns, while Biden has overseen more than 1.1 million until February this year.

ICE agents are pictured arresting a man. (ICE ERO El Paso/X)

"The majority of all Southwest border encounters during the past three fiscal years resulted in a removal, return, or expulsion. DHS removed or returned over 740,000 individuals in the 12 months after the end of the Title 42 public health Order, more than any year since 2010," DHS said in a recent fact sheet. "That included more removals to countries other than Mexico than in any prior year ever."

Critics have noted that those numbers also come during a Biden era that has seen multiple years of record border encounters that far eclipse anything seen during the Trump administration. As that crisis has been ongoing, millions have been released into the U.S., with the number of illegal immigrants on the non-detained docket recently hitting the 7 million mark.

"Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are intentionally dismantling immigration enforcement. While they continue to muddle data and mislead the American people, illegal aliens continue to roam the country and commit heinous, preventable crimes," Joe Edlow, a former Trump Administration official who also serves on the NICE advisory board, told Fox News Digital. "Biden-Harris deportation numbers being echoed by the media are mostly returns, meaning a migrant voluntarily departed at the border without receiving a formal removal order." 

"As this comparison clearly illustrates, President Trump was deporting more illegal aliens with a focus on criminals, an effort that is sure to be expanded and properly executed under his leadership. American communities will once again be safe and our border will be secure."

President Biden walks along the U.S.-Mexico border fence in El Paso, Texas, on Jan. 8, 2023. (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

But the high overall removals tap into a broader narrative by the Biden administration that it has successfully tackled the ongoing crisis at the border. It has recently highlighted numbers showing a more than 55% reduction in encounters in recent weeks after an executive order that further limited asylum claims in June.

"We’re also securing our border. Border crossings are lower today than when the previous administration left office," Biden said in an address to the nation.

Other Democrats have presented the border as a job done, particularly given Vice President Harris’ role in talks with international partners on root causes.

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"Border crossings are down. And one of the reasons is her assignment was diplomacy, and she did a lot of work in other countries to try to stop the flow," former White House communications director Jennifer Palmieri told Politico. "And the numbers are down."

It's a narrative that conservatives, including Republicans in Congress, are pushing back against. House Homeland Security Chair Mark Green told Fox News Digital that "despite the efforts by many in the media to absolve President Biden and border czar Kamala Harris of their dismal record on immigration enforcement, the facts simply will not allow it."

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"The numbers are clear. The Biden-Harris administration has gutted interior enforcement and made it next to impossible for ICE agents to detain and remove illegal aliens. One federal court has even found that the guidance put in place by DHS on their watch is built on the premise that an official should not enforce the law," he said. "Biden and Harris have sent an unmistakable signal to the world: If you cross illegally into this country, you will likely be released, and you are almost certainly here to stay, as DHS’ own reporting has documented."