The most defensible answer is that there is no single agreed number for how many unauthorized migrants entered the U.S. during Biden’s presidency, because different sources count different things, such as border encounters, estimated unlawful crossings, and the undocumented population already living in the country.

A few widely cited figures are:

  • About 7.3 million land border interactions during Biden’s term, according to a Fox News analysis of CBP figures; encounters are not the same as successful entries.
  • Roughly 900,000 people entered through the CBP One parole program and were allowed to stay temporarily with work authorization; that is legal parole , not illegal entry.
  • Pew estimated the unauthorized immigrant population reached 14 million in 2023 , which is a stock estimate of people already in the country, not a count of all arrivals during one presidency.

What that means

If someone says “20 million entered,” that claim is not supported by the public data in the sources above and is widely described as exaggerated or misleading. The better way to think about it is:

  1. Border encounters : several million.
  2. Actual unlawful entries : lower than encounters, but not precisely known.
  3. Total unauthorized population : around 14 million in 2023, according to Pew.

Plain-English answer

So the honest answer is: millions , likely around the high single-digit millions in border encounters , but not a verified “X million illegal aliens entered” total for the whole Biden presidency. The exact number depends on whether you mean encounters, illegal crossings, or the total undocumented population.

TL;DR: There is no reliable public figure proving a massive 20 million number; a more grounded reading is that border encounters were around 7.3 million during Biden’s term, while the undocumented population peaked at about 14 million in 2023.