Rice Univ. Study: Biden Policies Encourage Illegal Immigration

Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy recently released a study comparing the size and scale of migration into the United States under the Biden Administration versus the previous administration.

The conclusion made by the Baker Institute shows that the Trump Administration did more to help deter illegal immigration through policy and rule-making than the Biden Administration, whose policies have encouraged record-setting inflows of illegal migration across the southwest border.

According to the study, President Biden’s reversal and cancelation of effective border policies created by the previous administration, like Remain in Mexico, eliminating catch-and-release, and Title 42, opened the proverbial floodgates to surges of illegal border crossers.

Included in the study’s matrix was President Biden’s refusal to pressure the governments of countries south of the border, particularly the Mexican government, to help slow the flow of illegal aliens passing through their countries en route to the United States.

In fact, the study determined that President Biden’s policies, directly resulting in an expanded catch-and-release network that has released nearly 2 million illegal border crossers into the United States interior since early 2021, not only increased overall immigration but encouraged more illegal immigration.

The study noted:

On the basis of this information, we reached the conclusion that immigration policies that are perceived to be punitive in nature — including the MPP (“Remain-in-Mexico”), ending “Catch and Release,” and other Trump-era policies — affected migrant caravans negatively, or deterred their formation and movement, while perceived permissive immigration policies — including DAPA, DACA, and ending Title 42 — likely affected migrant caravans positively, or spurred their formation and movement.

Permissive immigration policies in the U.S. tend to convert migrant perceptions into “pull” factors because of the perception that a particular administration may not be “hard” on immigration, causing more migrants to cross the border illegally and stay in the U.S.

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