Immigration has been a defining challenge of Biden’s presidency, which has been marked by record numbers of asylum seekers and other migrants arriving at the US-Mexico border. President Joe Biden promised to modernize the country’s immigration system and rebuild the refugee resettlement program, which had hit historic lows under the previous administration.
But despite issuing a record number of immigration-related executive actions — surpassing the Trump administration — Biden’s efforts have drawn criticism from both sides of the political spectrum. Critics on the right said the administration was being too lenient, while critics on the left said it was too harsh.
The Biden administration inherited a broken immigration system, including a backlog of asylum cases, reduced refugee processing capacity, and policies like Title 42, which have significantly shaped migration patterns.
During a webinar, Muzaffar Chishti, a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), provided an overview of the Biden administration’s record. He said Biden’s approach to enforcement off limits It has been regarded largely favorably by experts and immigration advocates.
He said Biden administration officials focused on enforcement guidelines rather than trying to deport everyone, yet the crisis at the border cast a long shadow over his legacy.
He emphasized the success of legal immigration under Biden, pointing to the high number of visas issued, record numbers of naturalizations and a resurgence of refugee admissions.
“Nearly 3.5 million people have been naturalized under the Biden administration, the most of any single-term presidency,” he said.
However, Chishti Said that the administration was less successful in handling border security. The administration faced a massive influx of migrants, many of whom were coming from Mexico and countries beyond Central America.
“The Biden presidency entered office with a crisis at the border, caused by the COVID crisis and Title 42,” he said. He said the administration’s failure to call the situation a crisis, despite efforts to manage it through new programs like the CBP One app and various parole initiatives, contributed to the perception of mismanagement.
handling the border
Cornell Law School Visiting Scholar Marylena Hincapie, who participated in the webinar, praised the Department of Homeland Security’s leadership in increasing naturalization rates, speeding up work permit processing, and implementing innovative policies such as deferred action for undocumented workers experiencing labor. Appreciated the efforts. Controversy.
These measures benefit not only immigrants but also the broader American workforce and economy, he said.
Hincapie also criticized the administration’s handling of border issues, calling it misguided. Mismanagement.
He highlighted the role of Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in escalating the crisis by busing and flying thousands of migrants to New York, Chicago and elsewhere.
“There’s not only the busing and flight of immigrants, which DeSantis did, but also the litigation,” Hincapie said, pointing to additional involvement at the state level.
“And I really see it as Biden’s inner circle, his political and communications people, failing to understand that this was a narrative war and the fact that he refused to call it a crisis, while that’s what voters thought. … They became silent and decided not to prioritize immigration, and by doing so, they abandoned the narrative,” she said.
migration change
The Biden administration also faced changes in migration patterns.
Colleen Putzel-Kavanaugh, associate policy analyst at MPI, said the reality at the US-Mexico border changed once again during Biden’s tenure, with large numbers of migrants arriving from countries in the Western Hemisphere and around the world.
He said the demographics of migrants had also changed, from single adults to families, and many were seeking asylum, making border processing even more complex.
U.S. law grants asylum to people who face persecution in their home countries on the basis of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular group.
Although there are two types of asylum, affirmative and defensive, not all asylum claims come from migrants arriving at the border. Immigrants can claim affirmative asylum within one year of their latest arrival in the United States or request defensive asylum while fighting a deportation order.
“All of this has resulted in large numbers of migrants being released into the interior of the United States,” Putzel-Kavanaugh. Said.
This led to a border crisis in the country’s interior, with large numbers of newly arrived migrants concentrated in cities like New York, Chicago and Denver – cities already facing housing shortages.
Putzel-Kavanaugh also praised the Biden administration’s work to pair increased enforcement with options for safe and orderly legal migration.
He said, “We saw the introduction of programs like the CBP One app, which allows migrants to make appointments at ports of entry along the border, and parole programs for citizens of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. ”
Despite these efforts, Putzel-Kavanaugh said that many viewed the measures as “too little, too late.”
But the shift in arrivals of migrants from irregular crossings to those arriving at ports of entry legally has been one of the few success stories of Biden’s border management strategies.
Monthly migrant encounters fell significantly from a peak in December 2022, falling from more than 300,000 encounters to about 106,000 in October 2024, according to CBP data.
issue for years to come
While Biden’s efforts to modernize immigration systems and address asylum claims were important, experts said the ongoing challenges of irregular migration and border security will remain the focal point in US immigration policy for years to come.
“I think in short, we have two real significant crises in our country,” Chishti said. “We have a labor market crisis in lower, middle to upper level occupations [and a border crisis]That’s why many of these people who have come, even if they have come irregularly, have been absorbed.”
Chishti pointed to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s comments about the US labor market and its dynamics in 2022. Powell said immigration is a major source of labor supply, and the significant decline in immigration levels during the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the labor supply-demand mismatch.
The decline in immigration has resulted in fewer workers available to fill jobs, especially in sectors that have traditionally relied on immigrant labor, such as health care, hospitality, and agriculture. Powell acknowledged that addressing labor supply constraints, including immigration policy, could help reduce pressure to raise wages and reduce inflation without causing significant harm to employment levels.
“The reason nothing is happening on change or reform of our legal immigration system — so that we can get more people in legally for our labor market needs — is because of the border crisis,” Chishti said.
“These are twin crises, but they are interconnected,” he said. “Until we get the border crisis under control, we will not be able to solve our labor market crisis.”