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President Joe Biden led the largest immigration surge in U.S. history, surpassing even the Ellis Island era, according to a recent New York Times analysis. From 2021 to 2023, net migration reportedly averaged 2.4 million people annually, reshaping the country’s demographic landscape at a faster pace than any recorded period.
The historic surge has come with significant challenges, as detailed in a new Migration Policy Institute (MPI) report examining Biden’s immigration legacy and highlighting 2024 as a year in the U.S. that welcomed more refugees than ever seen in the 21st century.
Released Tuesday, Dec. 10, the same day as a Democrat-led Senate hearing on the potential consequences of President-elect Donald J. Trump’s mass deportation plans and a federal judge’s temporary block on a Biden administration order extending Affordable Care Act coverage to DACA recipients, the policy institute’s report paints a nuanced picture of historic achievements eclipsed by border pressures dominating public perception.
The Migration Policy Institute’s report emphasizes the Biden administration’s efforts to rebuild legal immigration pathways, including admitting over 100,000 refugees in the 2024 fiscal year—the largest number since the mid-1990s. Biden’s legal immigration milestone came alongside him accommodating a significant number of migrants through organized humanitarian parole programs for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans (CHNV). An issue that has often created immense backlogs and human rights issues at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Of the nearly 60,000 Haitians living in the United States with Temporary Protected Status (TPS), many have taken up roots in the country, with families and businesses now firmly established over the past decade. On June 7, however, the Supreme Court decided their protected status cannot guarantee permanent residency.
For Haitian migrants and their communities in the diaspora, these programs were often a double-edged sword. Temporary Protected Status (TPS) was extended to over 1.7 million people, including thousands of Haitians, offering work permits and protection from deportation. But, as MPI’s analysis points out, these “twilight” statuses are not by any means permanent solutions, leaving many vulnerable to future policy changes.
Despite a number of gains in legal immigration, analysis by the Migration Policy Institute argues public opinion was continually shaped by happenings at the U.S. southern border, where the Department of Homeland Security recorded 8.6 million migrant encounters.
“Biden was hounded by a strong public perception that the border was uncontrolled,” researchers noted in their analysis.
Critics like Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) have often accused the Biden administration of incentivizing unauthorized migration, citing a 40% decrease in deportations.
“Biden was hounded by a strong public perception that the border was uncontrolled”
researchers noted in their analysis
“When millions show up and deportations drop, you’re inviting more people to come [into the country illegally],” Graham said in opening remarks at Tuesday’s Judiciary Committee hearing on Biden’s immigration record.
At the same time, immigrant advocates have criticized restrictive policies. These include Title 42 expulsions and the Circumvention of Lawful Pathways rule, which limited asylum eligibility for some migrants. MPI’s report highlighted how these measures while reducing irregular crossings, created bottlenecks and further strained already overwhelmed immigration courts. Congressional inaction, according to the policy institute, exacerbated these challenges.
The MPI analysis underscores how the administration’s policies overwhelmed federal and local systems. Agencies like U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) faced mounting backlogs, with over 9.2 million applications pending in 2024. Meanwhile, border arrivals overwhelmed cities and states, with Texas busing over 100,000 migrants to northern cities like Chicago and New York.
States responded with contrasting policies. Florida passed harsh measures penalizing employers for hiring unauthorized workers, while cities like Denver launched programs to integrate migrants into local economies. MPI researchers noted how these state-level actions underscore the lack of federal coordination. “Immigration remains an uneven patchwork across the U.S.,” they say.
The Biden administration attempted to modernize immigration through technology, reducing work-permit wait times and issuing the most naturalizations of any presidential term, 3.5 million. These successes often went unnoticed amid the public’s focus on the border.
The MPI analysis frames Biden’s legacy as a balancing act between modernization and crisis management.
“The administration tried to appease both advocates and hardliners but ultimately failed to satisfy either,” the researchers conclude. This duality was evident in public debates: while critics on the right decried an “open border,” advocates lamented the continuation of restrictive Trump-era policies.
With President-elect Donald Trump preparing to return to office, much of Biden’s immigration agenda faces uncertainty. Trump has promised mass deportations and stricter asylum rules, threatening to dismantle legal pathways like TPS and humanitarian parole.
For Haitian Americans, given the potential impact of his immigration, economic, and foreign policies during a time of grave uncertainty in Haiti, the Biden presidency was historic. He delivered critical relief for some but left long-standing challenges unresolved.
The post New report highlights the complexity in Biden’s record-breaking immigration legacy appeared first on The Haitian Times.
