Has 'illegal immigration' risen 400% under the Biden Administration?
There is no measure of illegal immigration per se, as people who enter the U.S. undetected cannot be recorded. Estimated successful unlawful entries have trended downward and remain low due to an increase in Border Patrol agents initiated by George W. Bush.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection keeps a tally of undocumented immigrants attempting to enter the country both legally and illegally who are encountered at the border and denied entry. Such attempts have risen considerably: CBP recorded 1,956,519 border "enforcement actions" in fiscal year 2021 (October 2020 to September 2021) compared with 646,822 in fiscal year 2020 (October 2019 to September 2020) — an increase of about 300%. So far in fiscal year 2022, there have been more than 1.2 million enforcement actions.
COVID-19 lockdowns and Trump's decision to shut down the border are thought to have reduced immigration attempts in fiscal year 2020. Attempted entries spiked after lockdowns across Central America were lifted. Trump-era policies incentivized migrants to attempt entry repeatedly, adding to the total.
The American Immigration Council noted that "migration increased across the entire hemisphere in 2021" due to factors such as food instability, violence and political persecution.