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FACT BRIEF

Is the Biden administration continuing to turn back most people crossing the border illegally despite official policy changes?

Saturday, March 20, 2021
By Stevie Rosignol-Cortez
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YES

While the Biden administration reinstated “catch and release” policies shortly after taking office, it has continued to expel most people apprehended after illegally crossing the southern border, invoking health regulations because of COVID-19.

In February 2021, authorities reported, 72,113 of 100,441 apprehended persons were expelled. Under catch and release practices, apprehended entrants who would otherwise be detained until their court appearances are released from custody in the U.S. and monitored or tracked. Those policies, revoked by President Trump as part of a broad effort to discourage immigration, were officially reinstated by a Feb. 2 Biden order.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said that single adults and families apprehended at the border are nonetheless being expelled into Mexico “with limited exceptions” while unaccompanied minors are allowed to remain.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
Department of Homeland Security Statement on current border situation
US Customs and Border Protection February 2021 statistics
White House Executive order on immigration
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Gigafact
Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.
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Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.