As of December 27, 2023, President Biden’s administration, through the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), announced the completion of its 11th deportation flight to Central America and Venezuela. This development marks a significant milestone, with nearly half a million individuals deported between May and December 2023.
This figure surpasses the highest seven-month deportation tally under former President Donald Trump. According to the Biden administration’s DHS, the current deportations almost surpass the total for the entire fiscal year of 2019 and exceed the annual totals from 2015 to 2018.
In addition, the DHS highlighted that daily deportations and enforcement returns have nearly doubled the pre-pandemic average from 2014 to 2019, a rate higher than during the Trump era. The Cato Institute’s David J. Bier reveals an even more striking comparison: The Biden administration is deporting individuals at a rate 3.5 times higher per month than the Trump administration.
Under Trump, the DHS recorded 1.4 million arrests over fiscal years 2019 and 2020, spanning 24 months. In contrast, the Biden administration’s DHS has made over 5 million arrests in just over 26 months. Additionally, while the Trump administration deported a minority of those arrested, the Biden administration has deported a majority.
These figures have raised concerns among Biden’s supporters, especially those who believed in his pre-election promise to end deportations for non-criminal immigrants. Despite the significant number of deportations, groups like Witness at the Border, which tracks flight data, indicate that these measures have not effectively curbed the surge in illegal border crossings. For instance, Venezuelans alone accounted for more than 85,000 illegal crossings in October and November, trailing only Mexicans in frequency.
Since the beginning of the new fiscal year on October 1, 2023, migrant encounters at the southern U.S. border have exceeded 760,000, marking the highest quarter on record.
There have also been about 82,000 “known getaways” since that date.
The situation is also notable in terms of detention data. According to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained 36,263 immigrants as of December 17, 2023, with 66.8% having no criminal record. The South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, has the highest average daily detainee count, with 1,963 individuals in December 2023.
In an election year, the Biden administration seems to be adopting more centrist policies. Last month, it expressed willingness to congressional lawmakers to support new measures for expelling migrants without asylum screenings and significantly expanding immigration detention and deportations, as reported by CBS News.
Sameera Hafiz, policy director at ILRC, criticizes these policies, accusing the Biden administration of adopting “racist policies” and using immigrants as “political pawns.” Hafiz has called for leadership that listens to communities, meets the needs of migrants compassionately, and rejects political and hateful pressures.
Interestingly, CNN surveys indicate a shift in immigrant voter preferences, with Biden and Trump currently tied at 48% among this demographic. This is a stark contrast to the 2020 election, when Biden led Trump by about 20 points among immigrant voters. Biden should be very worried!
Felicia J. Persaud is the publisher of NewsAmericasNow.com, a daily news outlet focusing on Black immigrant issues.
So wait a minute. Biden should be worried? There has been more deports & more drugs caught at the Border than under Agent Orange……so that’s a good thing, correct?! Numbers don’t match the popular narrative of people & drugs pouring in across the border. Biden isn’t the one saying all coming into this country & are various shades of we people darker than blue- are ” poisoning the blood of this country”. Someone please make these editorials make sense!
Bullsh1t. No one is being deported and millions have entered since Biden stole the presidency
Yes Nick and Trump never lied 30,000+ times in 4 years, the country was destroyed by Carter, Clinton, Obama and Biden, but like the Phoenix magically comes out of the ashes a day after they leave Office. The two trillion Trump added to the deficit before the pandemic was magic pixie dust, The stock market crashed after Biden took office like Trump promised, if you think setting record highs over and over again means crashing, and maybe your drugs will wear off soon.
Now just a note suggesting that the drugs might wear off is giving a benefit of the doubt that it’s not something more permanently wrong with the mind.
500,000 expelled people divided by 11 (nber of flights) mean 45,455 passengers in each plane ! ! These planes must have been quite huge… be even larger An than any of the aircraft carriers in the world!
what is wrong with everyone, one deportation is better than nothing. Per Nick BS he says. Tell Repub to sign the D bill. This can only get worst if bill not pass.
Yes, I think that was some sloppy journalism they left something out.