As the Biden administration enters its final year in office, the President is still carrying the burden of unprecedented numbers of border crossings throughout his tenure. At the start of 2021, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported a record number of nearly 120,000 people apprehensions in January alone, with over 18,000 being unaccompanied minors – an even higher proportion of minors than the already record-high ratio in 2019. In addition, illegal immigration across the US-Mexico border is projected to continue rising in 2021.
It is undeniable that President Biden has inherited an entire immigration system in disarray, after the previous administration drastically cut budgets and staff, and failed to provide comprehensive solutions to combat the root causes and reduce immigration flows. The current administration has dealt with immense challenges in the border sector, with an influx of groups of families and unaccompanied minors from Central America amid a pandemic.
President Biden has taken steps to strengthen human rights-centered border policies, focusing on the safety and protection of families and unaccompanied minors. The administration’s main objectives include creating pathways for individuals to seek protection under humanitarian programs, ensuring due process for all migrants, and rapidly increasing resources for fair and humane processing of incoming immigrants.
However, the immigration reform package unveiled earlier this year has encountered opposition in Congress, limiting the Biden administration’s ability to make further changes to the U.S. immigration system. The difficulty of addressing these pressing border issues in the midst of a divided Congress is a major burden the President and his team have been forced to shoulder, and it a burden that will likely face future administrations long after President Biden has left office.
High volumes of border crossings, as well as the resulting complexities of the US immigration system, are certainly issues that will remain at the forefront of domestic politics beyond the 2024 election. Despite President Biden’s efforts to make the system more humane and fair, the road to meaningful change remains long and winding. The record-high levels of crossings and apprehensions demonstrate how urgent the situation is, and the burden of Immigration reform ultimately falls on Congress and will be felt by future presidents.
