On day one and the weeks after, Biden unwound much of the Trump immigration architecture: EO 13993 narrowed interior enforcement priorities, companion orders (14010, 14011, 14012) targeted the 'root causes' of migration and rebuilt the legal-immigration and refugee systems, and the administration wound down the 'Remain in Mexico' (MPP) program before letting the Title 42 pandemic expulsion authority end in May 2023.
A cluster of Inauguration-week executive orders plus DHS policy changes; several pieces (ending MPP, the parole programs) were litigated for years.
Positive impactsubstantiated
Ended hardline measures and restored access to asylum and refugee resettlement.
Interior enforcement was refocused on security and public-safety threats, refugee admissions were rebuilt, and a task force worked to reunify families separated under the prior 'zero tolerance' policy.
Negative impactsubstantiated
Border encounters rose to the highest levels on record.
Southwest border encounters reached ~1.73M (FY2021), ~2.38M (FY2022), and an all-time high of ~2.48M (FY2023) per CBP, with nationwide encounters topping 10 million over the term — straining border communities, shelters, and big cities that received arrivals.
Negative impactsubstantiated
Immigration became Biden's worst-polling issue by a wide margin.
By early 2024 roughly 26% approved and about 71% disapproved of his handling of immigration (Monmouth), a gap that persisted for most of the term.
Negative impactcontested
Widely cited as a major factor in the Democrats' 2024 defeat.
Immigration ranked among voters' top issues and Trump held a large polling edge on it; how decisive it actually was in the election outcome is debated among analysts.