How many have crossed border illegally under Biden? We check Cruz’s, Abbott’s numbers

In Reality Check stories, Star-Telegram journalists dig deeper into questions over facts, consequences and accountability. Read more. Story idea? RealityCheck@star-telegram.com.

Just how many people have crossed the U.S. border illegally since President Joe Biden took office?

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told Republican National Convention attendees in their speeches that the number is around 11 million.

Immigration is a popular political topic among former President Donald Trump’s supporters and one that’s close to home for Abbott and Cruz given that Texas makes up roughly half — about 1,250 miles — of the U.S. Mexico border.

Abbott and Cruz have blasted Biden’s border security efforts in the past and their convention speeches in Milwaukee were no different, hammering the administration on its policies, though apprehensions across the southern border in June marked the fewest per month since January 2021, according to The Texas Tribune. Arrests for illegal border crossings had reached an all time high in December, going back as far as monthly numbers have been released, according to the Associated Press.

In his speech, Cruz said there is a “literal invasion” on the southern border — rhetoric that advocates and Democrats have criticized when discussing migrants.

He continues that, “11.5 million people have crossed our border illegally under Joe Biden.”

Abbott, in his remarks, said that under Biden’s watch, “around 11 million immigrants have crossed our border illegally.”

Both officials relied on data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, according to their campaigns.

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, there have been about 10.1 million enforcement encounters nationwide since Biden took office in January 2021. Looking at just the southwest border, there have been about 8.2 million.

🔎 Here's what else we've Reality Checked:

→ Is AI 'manipulating' your thermostat?

→ Are American Airlines flight attendants really going to strike?

→ True or false: Snakes can swim up your toilet

Those figures include people who have tried to enter the country more than once.

Cruz also included the number of “gotaways” in his tally, according to his campaign, pointing to a New York Post article that says more than 1.7 million migrant have crossed the border without being apprehended while Biden has been in office. The term refers to a person who was observed crossing the border illegally but was not apprehended.

The New York Post article cites numbers reported by Fox News that were obtained through an open records request. The numbers reported in the Fox News article show just roughly 1.8 million “USBP nationwide gotaways” between October 2020 and September 2023.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection does not confirm information reported by other news organizations.

A Dec. 20 news release from House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mark E. Green, a Tennessee Republican, states that, U.S. Customs and Border Protection “sources have confirmed over 1.7 million known gotaways at the Southwest border.”

Encounters reflect times when migrants interact with federal immigration officials through apprehensions or expulsion, according to the Pew Research Center.

The center found that there were an estimated 10.5 million people living in the country illegally in 2021 compared to 10.2 million in 2019.