Since January 2021, when President Joe Biden came into office, the number of illegal border crossers and associated crimes have increased exponentially. That's across the board, and in nearly every category.
While polling shows the border crisis is among the top issues for voters heading into the November presidential election, it remains to be seen how much time Biden and former President Donald Trump will spend on the topic during the CNN-hosted debate Thursday night in Atlanta.
Biden has blamed Trump and congressional Republicans for what he now acknowledges is a border crisis after years of saying there is no border crisis.
Trump and others argue Biden created the border crisis on his first day in office by reversing Trump-era border wall construction, the “Remain in Mexico” policy, Title 42 health authority expulsions, and key agreements with Central American countries and Mexico. Biden also reinstated an Obama-era catch-and-release policy that Trump halted and implemented over 60 actions House Speaker Mike Johnson argues created the border crisis.
Since January 2021, multiple states have sued to halt Biden’s border policies and House Republicans impeached Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, alleging he helped create the border crisis. None of their efforts stopped an estimated 12 million foreign nationals from illegally entering the country from over 150 countries under Biden’s watch.
Since January 2021, nearly every month and every year, new records are made with the greatest number of apprehensions at the southwest and northern borders, the most apprehensions of known or suspected terrorists, criminal noncitizens and gang members, and largest seizures of weapons and drugs reported in U.S. history.
