Deportations of undocumented immigrants declined dramatically in the first half of 2021 compared to the previous year as the Biden administration implemented new priorities and grappled with pandemic-related challenges, according to a new report, and critics warn new policies could leave dangerous criminals on the streets.
The report published by the Center for Immigration Studies, a group that favors more restrictive policies, is based on Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation data for fiscal year 2019 through July 10, 2021. The records do not specify whether a detainee was arrested at the border or in the interior of the country, but the numbers do not include those expelled at the border under Title 42 public health authority due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The report only covers the first five full months of President Joe Biden’s term, but it shows an 80% drop in deportations from the same period in 2020 and a 90% decline from 2019, the last full year not affected by the pandemic. The comparison is somewhat skewed by the fact that the 2020 data includes three pre-pandemic months in which deportations were much higher than the rest of the year, but they continued to drop under Biden.
“Biden officials claim that the new policies make ICE more efficient, but in fact, the result is simply less enforcement, and even enforcement against criminals, who should be the top priority,” said Jessica Vaughan, author of the report and CIS director policy studies.
President Biden attempted to halt nearly all deportations during his first 100 days in office, but some policy shifts were blocked in federal court. New rules that prioritize the deportation of national security threats, aggravated felons, and recent arrivals have remained in place.
Under guidelines released in September, immigration officers can no longer detain and deport people just because they are in the country illegally. Earlier this fall, the Biden administration also ended the use of work-site raids to conduct mass arrests of undocumented workers, instead targeting employers who take advantage of unauthorized labor.
According to some immigration experts, dedicating more enforcement resources to those who potentially pose the greatest threat marks a reasonable divergence from former President Donald Trump’s strategy. Trump had declared all undocumented immigrants in the U.S. eligible for deportation, though in practice, ICE maintained most who were removed had criminal charges or convictions.
“It does make sense to devote our resources to those who are potentially threatening harm to people and property,” said Cindy Buys, an immigration law expert at Southern Illinois University.
In response to the CIS report, the Department of Homeland Security stressed it is still enforcing immigration laws and pursuing deportations, particularly at the border.
"Our borders are not open, and people should not make the dangerous journey," a DHS spokesperson said. "Individuals and families are subject to border restrictions, including expulsion. Irregular migration poses a significant threat to the health and welfare of border communities and to the lives of migrants themselves and should not be attempted.”
ICE removals have fallen to their lowest levels on record as the agency moves away from street-level immigration enforcement. DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has said he wants to reorient ICE while still fulfilling its national security and public safety directives.
“There are just different enforcement policies from administration to administration,” said Marisa Cianciarulo, interim dean of the Fowler School of Law and Chapman University.
Still, there are concerns about how effectively the Biden administration has implemented its new policies. While those with serious convictions have made up a much larger share of total deportations in 2021 than previous years, CIS noted the number of serious criminals removed has fallen by 65% since 2019, and fewer than half as many homicide and sexual assault offenders have been deported.
“Not only is this approach a waste of government resources, it greatly undermines the integrity of our legal immigration system and ends up causing public safety problems to boot,” Vaughan said.
However, experts say it is too soon to get a firm read on Biden’s deportation policies or their implications. Monthly removals had already declined by nearly 75% between January and December 2020 as the pandemic hindered arrests and detentions, so the change in administration does not appear to be the main driver of the drop.
“I am not clear what it’s going to look like,” Buys said of post-pandemic deportation policy under Biden.
With the emergence of a new variant of COVID-19, it is uncertain how much longer the pandemic will cast a shadow over immigration policy and deportation proceedings, and the backlog of cases that have built up over the last two years will take time to resolve. Some reforms the Biden administration has put in place are likely to have an ongoing impact, though.
According to the CIS report, ICE officers have blamed the decline in enforcement partly on changes in procedures that include unwieldly new paperwork. Unless an immigrant is a known security threat, officers are required to compile a multi-page memo detailing the subject’s complete immigration history and potential mitigating factors like family ties, illness, or contributions to their community.
About 90% of arrest requests submitted to supervisors using this Arrest Authorization Request Tool are approved, but officers have been pursuing fewer arrests because of the time and effort required to complete the reports. New limits on locations where arrests can be made have also complicated the process for officers.
“Routine arrests, once approved, now require a team of several officers who work for days to prepare a plan and execute each arrest, which now must take place in the community in an area not designated a ‘sensitive’ location,” the CIS report stated.
While the Biden administration has come under fire from Republicans for reversing some Trump-era deportation measures, progressives and immigrant advocates have accused Biden of leaving too many Trump policies in place. The administration continues to expel most single adults detained at the border under Title 42, and it has reluctantly revived a policy requiring many asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their cases are processed under a court order.
“It’s sort of the lightning rod people jump on...,” Cianciarulo said of deportation data. “Deportations are only a very small part of the overall equation, and they are, I think, the least indicative of the important issues with respect to immigration.”
Experts cautioned against drawing complex conclusions from simple removal statistics, emphasizing broader and more difficult questions about whether immigration policies are fair, humane, and meet the country’s needs. Although critics claim Biden has hobbled immigration enforcement, Buys has seen no evidence his policies have made the country less safe or contributed to an increase in crime.
“I have no doubt every administration wants to have a safe country and wants to minimize threats,” she said.