New figures have shown that illegal border crossings in the US have jumped 277 per cent since the start of the Biden administration.
US Border Patrol recorded 2,063,692 encounters with undocumented immigrants in the 2023 fiscal year.
This number is down slightly from the record high reached in 2022.
According to US Customs and Border Patrol data, Border Patrol recorded a total of 5,940,511 encounters, a 277 per cent increase from the same period during Trump's term, from 2017 to 2019.
Republicans have criticised Biden's response to the migrant crisis
Getty/Reuters
Republicans have pointed to the rise as a failure of President Joe Biden's domestic policy.
However, pro-Biden diplomats have responded to the claims, saying it is working to restore an orderly and humane immigration system.
Due to changes in reporting methods and fluctuations due to pandemic policies and impacts, it can be difficult to confirm accuracy of these statistics.
However, after the pandemic practically closed the border in 2020, the post-COVID surge in border crossings first seen in 2021 has showed little sign of slowing.
Excluding migrants quickly expelled under pandemic-era rules, the Border Patrol recorded 3,295,029 apprehensions from fiscal years 2021 to 2023, roughly coinciding with Biden's first three years in office.
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Migrants walk in a caravan as an attempt to reach the US border, in Arriaga, Chiapas state, Mexico
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Senior policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute Ariel G. Ruiz Soto said there was a number of factors behind the rise in numbers.
These factors include post-pandemic recessions in origin countries, enforcement challenges in Central America, and a lack of enforcement resources in the US.
He told the Daily Mail: "Unfortunately, the border is clearly not working...The level of migration has surpassed the current levels of capacity at the border...that's not a question."
Soto added that US agencies tasked with enforcing immigration law "do not have the resources needed to be able to manage their operations", saying "that's something that is an executive priority that needs to change, but also a congressional one."
A series of policies that were put into place by Donald Trump were rolled back by the Biden administration.
One of the most controversial of these was known as 'Remain in Mexico' officially titled the Migrant Protection Protocols, which involved asylum-seekers waiting in Mexico while their hearings took place.
Biden called the policy "inhumane" and human rights groups said it put migrants at risk from criminal gangs in Mexico as they pleaded their asylum cases.
About 70,000 people were sent back to Mexico under the policy before it was rolled back in June 2022.
