US-Mexico border not ‘wide open,’ most people trying to enter US are turned away

A social media attack on President Joe Biden alleges a gaping contradiction at the Mexico border.

"The COVID delta variant is so deadly Biden is restricting travel for Americans into Mexico but is keeping the border wide open for illegal aliens to walk right into our country," the widely shared tweet claims.

The post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

The Biden administration is limiting Americans’ travel to Mexico, as well as to Canada, in an attempt to curb the spread of the coronavirus. It’s a continuation of a policy established by President Donald Trump.

But the Mexico border is not wide open for illegal immigration into the United States. The vast majority of encounters result in U.S. immigration officials turning people away at the border.

The element of truth in this claim is that Biden has extended a Trump administration policy, with Mexico, on travel.

As the coronavirus outbreak began to take hold, the United States and Mexico announced on March 20, 2020, that they would prohibit for 30 days all "non-essential" travel, including travel "that is considered tourism or recreational in nature," across the border. The U.S. and Canada announced the same agreement the same day.

Both agreements have been extended monthly under Trump and Biden. In the most recent extension, announced July 21, Homeland Security cited the delta variant, which public health officials believe could be twice as contagious as the original strain of the virus.

The idea that the Mexico border is wide open for illegal immigration into the U.S. is wrong.

In March, we rated False a claim that the border "is now open to anyone from anywhere in the world who wishes to enter our country." And in April, we rated False a claim that the U.S. is locked down and there’s "a wide open border." 

Thousands of people are arriving at the southern border on a monthly basis.

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What are known as enforcement encounters at the southern border have risen each month since Biden took office — from 78,442 in January to 188,829 in June, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Encounters data includes people who are placed in immigration proceedings and people who are quickly expelled.

Border apprehensions have gone up because people are attempting to cross multiple times and failing, said Nicole Hallett, a professor and director of the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School. "Apprehensions have increased because of the strict COVID restrictions, not because restrictions have eased."

Most people trying to cross at the border are being turned away, under a March 2020 order by the Trump administration to curb the spread of COVID-19. The Biden administration is still enforcing that policy, although it’s exempting children who arrive alone, as well as some families.

Biden is also moving to limit border crossings in another way. Homeland Security announced July 26 that it would quickly turn back migrant families that immigration officials determine do not qualify for asylum during a fast-tracked screening process.

"It is simply not true that the border is ‘wide open’ for ‘illegal aliens’ to cross," Hallett said. "Customs and Border Protection apprehend individuals attempting to cross between border checkpoints. The border is more secure than ever before. Fewer people are able to cross illegally without being apprehended than at any time in the past."

Social media posts claimed that Biden "is restricting travel for Americans into Mexico, but is keeping the border wide open for illegal aliens to walk right into our country."

The tweet contains an element of truth, but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it Mostly False.