President Joe Biden claimed that border crossings are down more than at “any time” during the Trump administration during a Tuesday interview, but a review of border data confirms this isn’t accurate.
Speaking during an interview with Speedy Mormon, a host of youth culture news outlet Complex, Biden touted the recent results of an executive order he issued last month, which aims to crack down on the number of illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border. At one point during the interview — which was conducted on Friday and aired Tuesday — the Democrat president said, “Guess what? The number of people seeking to come into the country is down lower than it was at any time when [Donald Trump] was president.” (RELATED: ‘A Significant Upgrade’: Immigration Hawks Hail Vance As Trump’s VP Pick)
While Border Patrol encounters with migrants between ports of entry are at the lowest levels since Biden entered office, they are not lower than at any time during Trump’s presidency, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data.
There were 83,536 Border Patrol encounters with migrants between ports of entry — the standard gauge of unlawful border crossings — in the month of June, according to CBP data of the U.S.-Mexico border. Biden issued his executive order on June 4, which largely shuts down the border to further asylum seekers when unlawful border crossings reach a daily threshold.
U.S. Border Patrol agents guard migrants that crossed into Shelby Park as they wait to be picked up for processing on February 4, 2024 in Eagle Pass, Texas. (Photo by Michael Gonzalez/Getty Images)
The Biden administration touted the results of the executive order in a Monday press release, saying “Border Patrol encounters between ports of entry were 29% lower than in May 2024 and were the lowest monthly total for the Border Patrol along the southwest border since January 2021 as well as lower than the number of encounters between ports of entry in June 2019, the last comparable year prior to the pandemic.”
The Monday statement was correct, as there were less than 76,000 illegal border crossings in January 2021, the last month Trump was in office, and since then there has never been a month with less than 83,000 unlawful border crossings, according to the CBP data. However, with the exception of a few months in fiscal year 2019, nearly every month under the Trump administration experienced fewer encounters between ports of entry than June 2024, CBP data confirms.
It’s not entirely clear if Biden intended to say the current border numbers are at the lowest since Trump left office, or if he intentionally claimed that they are lower than at “any time” during Trump’s tenure. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation. (RELATED: ICE Points To Biden Admin Policy As Reason Illegal Immigrant Accused Of Murdering Teen Was Out Free)
While unlawful border crossings have dropped since the executive order, June’s border data also confirms that the administration is still allowing foreign nationals to enter the country at ports of entry at virtually the same rate.
There were over 117,000 migrant encounters at official ports of entry for the month of June, according to new border data released by CBP. These numbers are largely unchanged from the roughly 119,000 encounters reported in May and the record 121,696 encounters in August 2023.
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