Halted use of the Remain in Mexico policy, formally known as the Migrant Protection Protocols.
February 2:Biden took the first step to repeal the Trump administration’s “public charge” rule, which ensured legal immigrants were able to support themselves financially and would not become dependent on taxpayer-funded welfare programs.
Biden revoked a Trump presidential memorandum requiring sponsors of any non-citizens to reimburse the federal government for any government benefits – like Medicaid and food stamps – the non-citizen receives.
March 18:Mayorkas claimed the “border is, in fact, secure.”
March 24:Kamala Harris was named “Border Czar,” where she promised to slow the flow of “irregular migration” by tackling the “root causes” of illegal immigration.
April 9:Biden released his FY 2022 budget, which included no additional funding for the border wall and nixed all unused funds previously allocated to the border wall.
April 29: By Biden’s 100thday in office, he had taken more than 94 executive actions on immigration.
April 30: Biden claimed “illegal crossings were “way down now” and that “we’ve now gotten control” of the border.
June 15:The Biden administration expanded the Central American Minors (CAM) program, which increased eligibility for Central Americans under the age of 21 to come to the U.S. if they have a parent or guardian already in the program.
August 9: After court rulings delayed the Biden administration, DHS announcedpreparations to quicky terminate the Remain in Mexico policy after it was initially delayed by the court.
August 11: All 50 Senate Democrats voted against keeping Title 42 – a successful Trump-era tool that fought illegal migration by allowing quick deportations.
September 2: Biden sent additional funds to Tajikistan to help fund their border security with Afghanistan following his failed withdrawal, but continued withholding support for U.S. border protection.
September 22: Mayorkas: “We do have a plan to address migration at the southern border, we are executing it, and we’re starting to see the results.”
September 23:Mayorkas: “We have rescinded so many Trump immigration policies, it would take so much time to list them,” without providing nearly any policies the Biden administration has taken in their place.
September 24: Biden said Border Patrol agents, who were falsely accused of “whipping” illegal immigrants, “will pay” and “there will be consequences” despite lack of evidence for his claims.
Kamala Harris falsely smeared the Border Patrol agents by saying, “there needs to be consequences” and this “evoked images of some of the worst moments in our history.”
Mayorkas was made aware via email that no whipping occurred by Border Patrol agents yet continued to smear his own employees.
September 30: The Biden administration published new directives to ICE officers, instructing them that migrants’ illegal presence in the country “should not alone be the basis of an enforcement action against them.”
November 1: After a federal court ordered the administration must resume the Remain in Mexico policy, the Biden administration restarted it but failed to faithfully use it, with only a very small percentage of illegal immigrants enrolled over the following months.
November 15: Mayorkas did not know basic information regarding Biden’s border crisis.
Mayorkas: “We have more control” over the border than in previous administrations.
Mayorkas said he would “give myself an A” when asked what grade he would give himself for how successful Biden’s border polices have been.
December 15: Biden’s Transportation Security Administration (TSA) began to allow illegal immigrants to use warrants, including a “Warrant for Arrest of Alien” and a “Warrant of Removal/Deportation,” to board domestic flights in the U.S.
March 15: CBP announced 164,000 illegal immigrants were encountered at the southern border in February, making this the new highest total for February in 22 years.
June 15: CBP announced that illegal crossings along the southern border totaled nearly 240,000 for May 2022, making this the new highest one-month total in DHS history.
September 5: Roughly 47,000 immigration cases were dismissed because Biden administration officials failed to file the correct Notice to Appear paperwork for FY 2022.
September 8: The Biden administration finalized a rule change that rolled back the Trump administration’s public charge rule.
October 21: CBP announced over 227,000 illegal immigrants were encountered at the southern border in September 2022, which marked a record4 million for the year.
October 28: Reporting surfaced that 853 migrants died trying to cross the southern border in FY 2022, making it the deadliest year on record.
November 15: Mayorkas continued to maintain that the border is “secure.”
December 1: Reporting surfaced that 73,000 illegal immigrants evaded Border Patrol in November 2022, marking the highest monthly number of gotaways ever recorded at the southern border.
December 27: The Supreme Court halted the Biden administration’s termination of Title 42.
2023
January 5: The Biden administration announced its intention to give two-year work permits to 30,000 Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan migrants per month who have no basis for legal immigration.
January 12: The Biden administration offered work permits and deportation deferrals to 2,000 Somali immigrants under Temporary Protection Status (TPS).
January 20: CBP announced there were more than 250,000 illegal crossings at the southern border in December 2022, breaking the record for the worst month in DHS history.
February 23: Reporting revealed that more Chinese nationals were crossing the San Diego border than Mexican nationals.
February 25: The New York Times discovered that the Biden administration lost track of more than 85,000 children after responding to Biden’s demands to “move the children quickly out of shelters“ by rolling back important vetting and safeguard procedures.
March 8: A federal judge blocked the Biden administration from using humanitarian parole and “alternatives to detention” – otherwise known as “catch and release” – to mass release migrants into the country.
April 19: Mayorkas claimed “we are doing so very much to gain operational control” of the southern border.
May 9: The Biden administration authorized Border Patrol to begin the mass release of migrants into American cities if NGOs don’t have the capacity to hold them.
June 20: CBP announced more than 204,000 illegal immigrants were encountered at the southern border in May, the second highest total for May in 22 years and a 337 percent increase over May encounters from 2017 – 2020.
June 23: The Supreme Court ruled that the Biden administration could continue setting priorities on which illegal immigrants to arrest and which to release.
Louisiana and Texas argued that Biden’s failure to arrest a significant number of illegal migrants has forced the states to jail or provide social services to people who should have been encountered.
July 7: The Biden administration addedColombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras to the list of countries approved for family reunification parole.
Those approved for family reunification parole can fly straight into the interior of the country, bypassing the border.
July 18: The Biden administration unilaterally paroled over half a million illegal immigrants using a 1950s law in an “unprecedented” way.
July 24: The Biden administration sued Texas over floating barriers placed in the Rio Grande to prevent illegal border crossings into Texas.
August 8: Border Patrol leadership set daily “bookout” targets to keep the number of migrants in custody manageable – including potentially increasing releases into the U.S. interior.
An internal CBP email read, “We respectfully request that you urgently use these bookout targets to formalize your daily processing pathway plans, to include transitioning to NTA/OR when consequence pathways are not sufficient.”
August 31: Karine Jean-Pierre: “The president has done more to secure the border and to deal with this issue of immigration than anybody else. He really has!”
September 6: A federal judge ordered Texas to remove the floating barriers in the Rio Grande after the Biden administration sued the state.
September 12: Mayorkas: Biden’s actions on immigration are “a model approach that has proven to work.”
September 21: Records obtained by the Center for Immigration Studies showed that between October 2022 and September 2023, the administration approved 221,456 Venezuelans, Haitians, Cubans, and Nicaraguans to fly straight into the interior of the United States, bypassing the border.
September 22: CBP reported that 232,972 illegal immigrants were encountered at the southern border in August, which marked the highest number for August on record.
September 28: Biden failed to visit the border during a trip to Arizona despite invitations from local officials in border communities.
October 21: With 2.5 million encounters along the southern border, FY 2023 set a new record for illegal border crossings.
October 23: CBP announced more than 269,000 illegal immigrants were encountered along the southern border in September, which set a new record for the month.
October 31: Mayorkas could not give a straight answer when asked if terrorists affiliated with Hamas and Hezbollah had crossed the southern border illegally.
Mayorkas said that Republican border solutions, including construction of a border wall, limiting asylum, and limiting the president’s parole powers, are “violence to our fundamental values.”
January 2: The Biden administration petitioned the Supreme Court to allow Border Patrol agents to remove razor wire installed by Texas along the southern border.
January 3: The Biden administration sued Texas over its immigration law that gives local law enforcement in Texas the authority to arrest migrants and judges the ability to issue removal orders.
January 19: By his three-year mark, Biden had taken 535 executive actionsrelated to immigration.
January 24: The Supreme Court ruled Border Patrol agents are allowed to remove razor wire Texas had installed to deter crossings along the southern border.
January 29: Karine Jean-Pierre argued that Republicans have “refused to do anything“ about the border and that Biden takes the border very seriously.
House Republicans passed the Secure Our Border Act in May 2023, over 250 days earlier.
January 31: Biden: “I’ve done all I can do. Just give me the power I’ve asked for the very day I got into office. Give me the border patrol, give me the people that judge. Give me the people who can stop this and work rationally.”
The same day, DEA announced over 77 million fentanyl pills and more than 12,000 pounds of fentanyl powder were seized in 2023, enough to kill every American.
Illicit drugs are flowing into the country at an alarming rate, with only 5 to 10 percent being intercepted as border officials struggle to contain the smuggling.
February 6: Biden: “The only reason the border is not secure is Donald Trump and his MAGA Republican friends.”
February 13: The House impeached Mayorkas for his handling of the border.
