Tulsi Gabbard on immigration: what the evidence says · JRE #2143
SUBJECT: IMMIGRATION
Not a true/false call. Every claim is logged with its sources; read the exhibits below.
because we know how many people are coming through the numbers that are being reported. I think it's close to 9 million now, just over the course of the Biden administration.
What the evidence says 01 / RECORD
CBP tracks nationwide encounters, which combine Border Patrol Title 8 apprehensions, Office of Field Operations Title 8 inadmissibles, and Title 42 expulsions across land, air, and sea. This episode aired in February 2024, and cumulative nationwide encounters since President Biden took office in January 2021 were near 9 million by then, reaching more than 9.5 million by the end of April 2024 per a House Committee on Homeland Security factsheet, so the roughly 9 million figure is in line with the reported data. The framing is imprecise, however: an encounter is an enforcement event, not a unique person, so a single individual crossing repeatedly is counted multiple times, and a large share of those encounters resulted in expulsion or removal rather than release into the country. The nationwide total also includes ports of entry and northern and coastal borders, not only unauthorized southwest crossings.