Thread: The State of Obama’s Facts - Boots on the Border

The State of Obama’s Facts

We assess what was said, and left unsaid, at the State of the Union address. Posted on January 25, 2012

Boots on the Border

Obama took credit for an unprecedented level of border patrol guards along the Mexican border and for a shrinking number of illegal border crossings.

Obama: I believe as strongly as ever that we should take on illegal immigration. That’s why my administration has put more boots on the border than ever before. That’s why there are fewer illegal crossings than when I took office.

Actually, Obama has increased the Border Patrol only modestly since it nearly doubled under George W. Bush, when the number grew from 11,264 in fiscal year 2005 to 20,119 in fiscal year 2009 (which began Oct. 1, 200. After that, the number went up to 21,444 by the end of fiscal year 2011, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. About 85 percent of those guards are stationed along the southern border.

It’s true that arrests for illegal border crossings have decreased since Obama took office — from 556,041 in fiscal 2009 to 340,252 in fiscal 2011. (Those are nationwide figures, although more than 98 percent of arrests occur along the Mexican border, according to a Congressional Research Service report.) But immigration experts have said the U.S. economy was the number one reason illegal immigration has slowed.

Source (and other Fact Checks): FactCheck.org : The State of Obama’s Facts

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