Combating Disinformation: Immigration and the Border

Trump came into office with a big show of force on immigration enforcement. He declared the border an emergency, embedded Fox News camera crews in ICE raids, sent troops to the border, threatened Canada and Mexico with broad tariffs, and used military flights to deport migrants. All of it was made to be one giant spectacle.

Less than a month into office, Trump’s administration talks little about immigration enforcement. They even stopped publishing their daily migrant arrest numbers. Why? Because they’re failing to meet their goals and are lagging behind the numbers Biden had achieved. Everything was smoke and mirrors, and mass deportations were simply a massive scam.

Is the Southern Border a Problem?

The Southern border has seen high crossings for years. 2019 set a record for border crossings before the border cooled in early 2020. Then, for the final nine months of Trump’s presidency, crossings increased every month, ending at over 75,000 per month.

Crossings continued to increase under Biden’s presidency, with the largest monthly crossings occurring in December 2023. However, monthly crossings dropped rapidly throughout 2024. They were over 80% lower by December 2024, resulting in 47,000 crossings that month — 33% lower than when Trump left office and in line with the average monthly crossings of 2020.

If the border wasn’t a crisis or an “invasion” in 2020, when Trump was president, it wasn’t in the second half of 2024 either.

Did Biden cause the border issues?

Given that we had a record number of crossings in 2019 and that they had been on the rise for nine months straight before he took office, President Biden is not to blame for all the border problems.

Migration is a complex situation without one direct cause. One factor is the strict sanctions Trump placed on nations such as Venezuela. As those countries’ economies worsened, the number of migrants increased. Climate change is another factor directly contributing to the rise in migration worldwide.

Biden must take full credit for one factor, potentially the most significant factor causing increased migration: a booming economy with high job creation. A strong job market, while other nations had yet to start their recoveries, drove people to make the journey in search of a better life.

Is Trump Doing More Than Biden Did?

Trump promised mass deportations and, after taking office, said that 1,500 migrants would be arrested every day. They are arresting fewer than 600 migrants daily, and that is despite the Trump administration taking resources from the FBI, DEA, US marshals, and other agencies to help with immigration enforcement. That is why they stopped publishing daily arrest numbers.

Those military flights? They cost far more than the traditional deportation flights. Despite pretending to be focused on government efficiency and reducing the debt, cost is secondary to how impressive it looks on TV.

The Trump administration is arresting and deporting fewer migrants than the Biden administration. Biden sent more troops to the border than Trump has. Biden also got Mexico to increase immigration enforcement without the threat of tariffs, and Mexico already had troops at its borders. Colombia had no issues receiving flights of deported migrants then, either.

Migrants who have been arrested since Trump took office have been released back into the country. Republicans refer to this as catch and release and have continually vowed to end it. Another promise was to focus on deporting dangerous criminals, but the majority of migrants deported under Trump are not criminals. To correct another piece of disinformation, crossing the border is a civil violation, not a criminal one.

The one thing Trump can say has improved is that border crossings have continued to decrease. The administration clearly doesn’t see this as much of a success, or they wouldn’t be actively threatening people who are informing migrants of their rights under the law.

Is Immigration Solved?

Not at all. The number of people crossing the border may have returned to normal, but the issues remain. America still relies heavily on undocumented migrants in many jobs that are fundamental to keeping our nation running. Migrants were a significant factor in America tackling high inflation quickly while avoiding a recession. Immigrants of all types are the only reason the US doesn’t have a shrinking population—our birth rate is too low to grow on our own.

Immigration reform isn’t the president's job; it is the responsibility of Congress, which hasn’t passed a major immigration reform bill in decades. Work permits need to be overhauled to ensure all migrants can work lawfully. Significant improvements and expansions need to be made to legal immigration, including pathways to citizenship from years of working here with a visa.

Congress will never feel an urgency to act as long as they can use immigration and the border to push whatever election narrative suits the given news cycle. For that to change, we must be honest about the situation. The border is not an invasion. Migrants commit crimes at a lower rate than Americans, and Americans are the primary source of fentanyl being trafficked into the country.

Immigrants are an essential part of America, and our immigration systems need to be updated to recognize that reality and make it efficient, effective, and legal.

https://www.axios.com/2025/02/14/trump-biden-immigration-arrests-ice-border

https://wapo.st/4k5HvHU