Good News on Illegal Immigration
By • 4/9/08 |
Attempted border crossings declining sharply. |
There’s been quite a bit of good news about illegal immigration recently. According to the chart to the right, which was taken from a recent Wall Street Journal article, the number of people detained while trying to cross the border illegally declined sharply in 2007, indicating a decrease in the influx of illegal aliens.
A story on AOL news sums up the developments nicely.
- Border crossings are down 17 percent from the same time last year.
- Border crossings in Arizona are down 76 percent.
- The Border Patrol had only 9,000 agents along all the U.S. borders a few years ago; they now have 15,800.
- Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is using unprecedented powers—approved by Congress—to get the border fence built. Last week, Chertoff issued waivers suspending more than 30 laws he said could interfere with the “expeditious construction of barriers” in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas.
The decrease in border crossings is due in part to new enforcement efforts. As Ramon Rivera, an assistant chief with the U.S. Border Patrol, says “We have more manpower, we have new infrastructure, we have new technology. A combination of the three is what is working.”
A wide range of enforcement initiatives are responsible for the massive drop in border crossings in Arizona:
In recent years [Arizona] has barred illegal immigrants from receiving government services, from winning punitive damages in lawsuits and from posting bail for serious crimes. A new state law shuts down businesses that hire illegal workers. And the sheriff of Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix and three-fifths of the state’s population, dispatches his deputies and volunteer “posses” to search for illegal street vendors or immigrants being smuggled through the county…
The biggest effect has come from the new employer sanctions law, which took effect in January.
The law is fairly straightforward.
Any business caught hiring illegal immigrants is put on probation. If it is caught doing the same thing again, the state revokes its business license.
The recession and the bursting of the housing bubble are also playing a role:
Economist Dawn McLaren of Arizona State University said that part of what’s pushing immigrants out is the collapse of the state’s housing-based economy. In the construction sector, which employs many immigrants, 10% of jobs have vanished over the last year as home prices have plunged.
Nevertheless, we shouldn’t get complacent. If you have not yet acted on the illegal immigration Action Alerts I’ve been posting, you should.
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Let’s name names. The enemy is the current ruling elite ensconced in government, media, and corporate positions throughout the West.
By on 4/11/08 at 12:29 am
Rather staggering, though — 800,000! What other country in the world has that much pounding at its door each year? I wonder if they’re waiting, gathering strength for a rush to the border once one of our pro-amnesty presidential candidates gets into office; and how long Chertoff the Fence Builder would last with Clinton or Obama at the helm. In any case, the facts seem to show that enforcement works.
By on 4/11/08 at 12:44 am
This is all great news!
But indeed, we mustn’t get complacent. And we must realize that the real problem isn’t border crossings, it’s interior enforcement.
Until Americans have the sense of identity, and the courage, to say to illegal aliens, “We’re American and you’re not, therefore we have a right to be here and you don’t, and we are going to enforce that right,” our country will continue to draw those who want to plunder the wealth that previous generations of Americans built for their posterity like a magnet.
So yes, let’s be glad there are fewer border crossings, and do all we can to reduce the number even more. But remember the real issue, our own unwillingness to treat the invaders already within our borders with firmness and resolve. As Pogo said, “we have met the enemy and he is us.”
By on 4/10/08 at 11:02 pm