The immigration policy of the Biden administration initially focused on reversing many of the immigration policies of the previous Trump administration and expanding legal pathways. It later focused on efforts to restrict unlawful entry amid rising border crossings.
On his first day in office, Biden unveiled the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, which would provide a pathway to citizenship for as many as 11 million immigrants living in the United States illegally. Upon taking office, Biden moved to dismantle several policies implemented under Donald Trump, halting construction of the Mexico–United States border wall, ending Trump's travel ban on countries with predominantly Muslim populations, and signing an executive order to reaffirm protections for DACA recipients. The Department of Homeland Security, under the leadership of Alejandro Mayorkas, narrowed the scope of interior immigration enforcement, directing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to prioritize national security and violent crime concerns over petty and nonviolent offenses. The administration also attempted to terminate the Remain in Mexico policy.
The administration also ended or revised policies limiting asylum eligibility and expanded the use of humanitarian protections such as Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and DACA. In January 2023, Biden announced a humanitarian parole program to increase the admission of immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, while also announcing that his administration would crack down on those who fail to use the plan's legal pathway and strengthen border security. Nearly 530,000 migrants took advantage of the parole program as of August 2024. Biden also launched the CBP One app in January 2023, allowing over 813,000 migrants to enter the country and schedule asylum appointments online, as of August 2024.
Between January 2021 and January 2024, US Border Patrol confirmed more than 7.2 million illegal migrants trying to cross the US-Mexico border, not counting gotaways. 2023 was a record year with over 2.5 million encounters. In response to sustained high levels of migration and growing political pressure, the administration implemented stricter measures beginning in 2023. Biden faced criticism from immigration advocates for extending Title 42, a Trump administration border restriction that arose due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as restarting the use of "expedited removal" of certain Central American families. In May 2023, the Biden Administration approved sending 1,500 more troops to the U.S.-Mexico border following Title 42's expiration.
On June 4, 2024, Biden signed A Proclamation on Securing the Border to shut down the border if illegal crossings reached an average of 2,500 migrants a day in a given week. Migrant encounters subsequently dropped down to 2020 levels.
Background Over 86 million people have immigrated to the U.S. legally since 1783. Immigration policies have changed from president to president. There are significant differences between the immigration policies of the two major political parties, the Democratic Party and Republican Party.
Immigration to the United States is the international movement of non-U.S. nationals in order to reside permanently in the country. Immigration has been a major source of population growth and cultural change throughout much of U.S. history.
Immigration policy Border wall
On January 20, 2021, soon after his inauguration, Biden halted construction on the Mexico–United States border wall, ending the national emergency declared by the Trump administration in February 2019.
Travel ban
Biden also ended the Trump travel ban, a set of three executive orders issued by Donald Trump restricting entry into the United States from 14 countries, most of which had majority-Muslim populations.
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Biden reaffirmed protections to DACA recipients and urged Congress to enact permanent protections for the 700,069 illegal immigrants benefited by the policy.
Deferred Enforced Departure Liberia The same day, Biden sent a memorandum to the Department of State reinstating Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) for Liberians, deferring the deportation of any "person without nationality who last habitually resided in Liberia, who is present in the United States and who was under a grant of DED as of January 10, 2021" until June 30, 2022. It was later extended to June 30, 2026."DED Covered Country - Liberia". U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Retrieved September 21, 2025.
Hong Kong On August 5, 2021, Biden instituted 18 months of Deferred Enforced Departure for certain Hong Kong residents who were present in the U.S. on August 5, 2021. On January 15, 2025, Biden instituted 24 months of Deferred Enforced Departure for Hong Kong residents who were present in the U.S. as of January 15, 2025, as well as Hong Kong residents already covered under the previous Deferred Enforced Departure. It is scheduled to end on February 5, 2027."DED Covered Country – Certain Hong Kong Residents". U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Retrieved September 21, 2025.
Lebanon On July 26, 2024, Biden instituted 18 months of Deferred Enforced Departure for certain nationals of Lebanon who were in the U.S. on July 26, 2024, and have continuously lived in the U.S. since then. It is scheduled to end on January 25, 2026."DED Covered Country – Lebanon". U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Retrieved September 21, 2025.
Deportations
The administration also issued a pause on deportations from the Department of Homeland Security for the first 100 days of Biden's presidency.
On January 22, 2021, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the Biden administration on the grounds of violating Biden's written pledge to cooperatively work with the State of Texas.
On January 26, 2021, federal judge Drew B. Tipton blocked the Biden administration's 100-day deportation memorandum, citing that the state of Texas would indeed "suffer imminent and irreparable harm" and the restraining order requested by Paxton would not harm the administration nor the public.
In July 2021, Biden resumed "expedited removal" of certain Central American families to be sent back in weeks instead of years. In January 2022 the Biden administration deported Venezuelan migrants to Colombia without a chance to seek asylum after entering the United States from Mexico. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security declared it would deport Venezuelans to Colombia “on a regular basis", limited to migrants that resided in Colombia previously.
In October, the Biden administration invoked Title 42, a Trump era measure, to expel Venezuelan migrants to Mexico. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch criticized the decision. On November 15, 2022, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that expulsions under Title 42 were a violation of the Administrative Procedure Act and that it was an “arbitrary and capricious" violation of the Act. The ruling required the United States government to process all asylum seekers under immigrant law as previous to Title 42's implementation. The ruling was celebrated by the ACLU, a plaintiff in the case. In response to the ruling, a group of states seeking to keep the policy in place appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, and on December 19, 2022, Chief Justice John Roberts temporarily maintained Title 42 and stayed the decision by Judge Emmet G. Sullivan. In the year after Title 42 ended, the Biden administration deported more people than in any year since 2010.
As of February 2024, Biden nonetheless deported or expelled a smaller share of migrants who crossed the border than Donald Trump did. Deportations by ICE also fell to an average of 35,000 per year, versus 80,000 a year during Trump's presidency.
On December 19, 2024, ICE reported that deportations had surged to a 10-year high under the Biden administration with 271,000 unauthorized immigrants deported in fiscal year 2024, surpassing the Trump-era high of 267,000 deportations in 2019. The numbers were noted to be the highest since the 316,000 deportations in 2014 during the Obama administration. ICE stated that increased deportations came from efforts to streamline the deportation process and diplomatic efforts with countries to take back more deportees. The numbers did not include removals and returns of migrants at the border, which had sharply increased following Biden's June Executive Order.
Unlawful spouses of American citizens In 2020, Biden declared to reverse the actions by the former Trump administration and planned to create a task force designed to specifically reunite and keep separated families back together. On 26 January 2021, Biden rescinded the controversial family separation policy that was implemented during the Trump administration.
On 19 August 2024, President Biden announced a new program called Keeping Families Together specifically created for legally married spouses of U.S. citizens without legal status in the country. Referring the older law reserved for military personnels since 1952, the law was expanded to civilian spouses of U.S. citizens married before 17 June 2024. These spouses are given the opportunity to be inspected and either admitted or paroled into the country to later have a path to citizenship through their spouse. The new procedures will allow any undocumented spouse of good moral character, with some discretionary restrictions, who has been in the country for validated record of at least ten years to apply for parole in place, giving them the legal status needed to subsequently apply for a legal authorization to work, permanent residency and eventual American citizenship.
The controversial program was later sued by the various Attorneys General of sixteen American states and was adjudicated as unlawful and unenforceable by the U.S. Federal Judge John Campbell Barker at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in Tyler on 7 November 2024.
On 13 November 2024, the USCIS formally issued a directive complying with the U.S. Federal Court Order and shall no longer adjudicate its pending cases. Accordingly, it shall cease accepting applications for the program, along with canceling any scheduled biometric appointments for current applicants.
Legal pathways The Biden administration encouraged legal pathways for immigrants, including by opening regional processing centers in Latin America to help migrants apply for asylum, and expanded access to CBP One, a mobile application for migrants to schedule asylum appointments. 813,000 migrants entered the country legally through Mexico by making appointments on CBP One between January 2023 and August 2024.
Other Parole programs The Biden administration relied heavily on parole, including the humanitarian parole of detained migrants, and targeted programs for certain nationalities. Under a parole program started in 2022, as many as 30,000 migrants per month could legally fly to the United States from Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, or Haiti.
The Biden administration argued these programs help reduce illegal Mexico-United States border crossings. This controversial program was terminated in August 2024 due to concerns about fraudulent practices among sponsors, after approximately 520,000 migrants had used the program. The parole programs have been the subject of lawsuits by multiple Republican-led states.
Mexican border In January 2021, Biden called Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to speak about immigration, where Biden spoke of reducing immigration from Mexico to the United States by targeting the root causes, including $4 billion to aid development in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.