Fact Check: Did 25 million people cross the US border under Biden as Trump claims?
WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump repeated several long-debunked claims about elections, the economy, and immigration during a conversation with conservative New York Post columnist and podcaster Miranda Devine that was released Wednesday morning, June 3.
Among them was his assertion that 25 million people entered the United States through the southern border during Joe Biden's presidency. The claim has since gained traction online, with users sharing it across social media platforms. Let's fact-check the claim.
Claim: Trump says 25 million people crossed the border under Biden
President Donald Trump has repeatedly cited large immigration figures while criticizing the Biden administration's border policies.
In speeches, interviews, and campaign appearances, he has claimed that between 20 million and 25 million people entered the United States illegally during Joe Biden's presidency. Trump frequently points to these numbers as evidence of what he describes as an unprecedented border crisis.
He repeated the claim during a recent conversation with conservative New York Post columnist and podcaster Miranda Devine.
During the interview, Trump said that because of Biden's victory, "like 25 million people" poured into the country through the border. Later in the discussion, he dropped the qualifier "like" and stated that the number was "25 million" people.
Fact Check: Trump's claim that 25 million people crossed the border under Biden is false
The claim that 25 million people entered the United States under the Biden administration is not supported by available data. Even Trump's earlier estimate of 21 million has been widely criticized as a significant exaggeration.
Through December 2024, the final full month of the Biden administration, federal authorities recorded fewer than 11 million migrant encounters nationwide. That figure includes millions of migrants who were quickly expelled and did not remain in the country.
Even when adding the estimated number of "gotaways", migrants who crossed the border without being apprehended, the total still falls far short of Trump's claim. House Republicans estimated the number of gotaways during the Biden administration at roughly 2.2 million, making it impossible for the overall figure to approach 25 million.
Trump also claimed that migrants entered the United States from foreign jails and mental institutions, saying that countries had emptied their prisons and sent those individuals across the border. However, neither Trump nor his team has provided evidence to support these assertions, which he has repeated since his 2024 campaign.
Experts have repeatedly challenged the claim. Helen Fair, an expert on international prison policy, previously told CNN that she found no evidence that any country emptied its prisons to encourage migration to the United States.
Trump has previously cited countries such as Venezuela and the Democratic Republic of Congo as examples, but experts familiar with those nations told CNN they found no basis for the allegations. Officials from both the Democratic Republic of Congo and the neighboring Republic of Congo also denied the claims.
