Thread: Flow of Illegals Crossing the Border at 20-Year Low

Flow of Illegals Crossing the Border at 20-Year Low

Undocumented immigrants are transported to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection processing center after being detained near Falfurrias, Texas. (John Moore/Getty Images)

Thursday, 28 May 2015 08:49 AM
By Melissa Clyne

The flow of illegal immigrants coming to the United States is on the decline, though there is debate about whether the trend is the result of beefed up border security or other factors such as a less-than-robust American economy, according to The Washington Post.

Citing data from the Pew Research Center, the Post reports that immigration flows are at their lowest level in 20 years. The population of illegal immigrants in the U.S. tripled between 1990 and 2007 — to 12.2 million — a figure that has dropped by about 1 million.

In December, Pew also reported that, for the first time in more than 60 years of Border Patrol data, more non-Mexicans than Mexicans were apprehended at U.S. borders in 2014.

In April, Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Jeh Johnson credited the "massive investment" in border security over the last decade that has funded drones, sensors, more than 600 miles of new fences, and a near doubling of the Border Patrol to more than 18,000 people, according to The Los Angeles Times.

"The word's gotten out that it's now harder than it used to be to cross our southern border," Johnson said.

President George W. Bush can be credited for a great deal of the resources poured into Customs and Border Protection’s budget, which has seen a 75 percent increase — to $10.7 billion — in the past decade, according to the Post, which notes that President Barack Obama has "marshaled more forces as well."

The steady decline in immigration flows, even as the U.S. economy picks up, runs counter to conventional wisdom.

Since the 1990s, the Post reports, "the opposite was true: The better the economy, the more people tried to come."

"Every month or quarter that the economy continues to improve and unauthorized immigration doesn’t pick up supports the theory that border security is a bigger factor, and it’s less about the economy and we have moved into a new era," Marc Rosenblum, deputy director of the U.S. immigration program at the Migration Policy Institute, told the newspaper.

But not everyone agrees with that reasoning. A series of studies have found "little linkage" between border security and illegal immigration, according to the Post.

Princeton University sociologist Douglas Massey, who oversees a project that has interviewed thousands of illegal Mexican migrants over three decades, said demographic changes in Mexico, such as women having fewer children, are impacting the numbers, not border enforcement.

Researchers tell the Post that corollary issues could be at play as well. Enhanced security means the trip across the border has become much more costly.

"In particular the exploding cost of hiring a guide," according to the Post. "The journey has also become more arduous and dangerous, in part because the DHS has plugged traditional crossing points and driven migrants deeper into the desert."

Current and former DHS officials tell the Post that a "confluence" of factors play a role in the decline, but they say they are confident that enhanced border security is the key.

"It used to be that you could literally sit at a bar in Tijuana, Mexico, look across the border into San Diego, wait for the Border Patrol to drive in the other direction and make a run for it," said Steve Atkiss, a former Customs and Border Protection chief of staff. "It’s much more difficult and expensive now."

http://www.newsmax.com/US/immigratio.../28/id/647183/

Report: Undocumented border crossings decreasing

KVUE11:44 a.m. CDT May 28, 2015


(Photo: FREDERIC J. BROWN, AFP/Getty Images)

AUSTIN -- As the Texas legislature tries to put the finishing touches on a border security bill, new numbers from the Department of Homeland Security show that fewer people are trying to cross the border without documentation.

According to the Washington Post, numbers from DHS show that "illegal immigration flows have fallen to their lowest level in at least 20 years." Pew Research Center told the Post the total population of undocumented immigrants has dropped by about one million in the past few years.

According to the Post, DHS officials say the data shows that after Mexican migration peaked in 2000 at 1.6 million apprehension; the numbers fell to just 400,000 per year since 2012 and "have fallen another 28 percent in the first part of fiscal 2015 compared with last year." DHS officials told the Post that even the spike in minors trying to cross the border that made headline has "receded dramatically."

The Texas border security package would see the state hire hundreds of troopers to replace National Guard troops along the border. The sponsor of the Senate bill, Senator Brian Birdwell, said the bill addresses the "number once concern in Texans' minds."

Homeland Security officials told the Post that the border "is much more secure than in times past." Currently, there are more than 18,000 Border Patrol agents at the border,according to the Post.

http://www.kvue.com/story/news/local...sing/28072657/

So Jeh Johnson, the head of DHS thinks we should be content with it being harder to cross the border illegally. Jeh, that is resting upon your laurels, if any. A job worth commending would be having a border nearly impossible to cross illegally. And Jeh, start at the drawing board.