For many years, the federal government told us that there were 12 million illegal aliens living in the United States. However, the actual number is more than likely, three to four times as high.
The way the feds arrive at their numbers is as absurd as their assertion that we can maintain law and order without actually defending our borders.
In 1986, under the Immigration Regulation and Control Act, President Ronald Reagan granted amnesty to the nation’s illegal alien population. At the time, we were told that population was about 1.5 million. However, amnesty was actually granted to three million of those who crossed our borders illegally.
Washington arbitrarily estimates that every year since 1986, a half million illegal aliens take up residence in this country, either by over-staying their visa or by crossing into this country illegally. Additionally, they believe that the one million illegal aliens who did not qualify for the 1986 Amnesty (many were criminals), simply stayed anyway.
When you multiply a half million by 25 years, then add the additional million criminal aliens to the total, you have 13.5 million illegal aliens.
Then, in 2010, the Department of Homeland Security announced that the number of illegal aliens in the United States had dropped to only 10.8 million. Of course, that figure was only an estimate, and considering the source…questionable at best.
DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said that the new number could be attributed to tougher enforcement measures, and has repeatedly claimed that 35 percent of the U.S./Mexican border is now “effectively controlled.”
The claim was seen by many as merely another ploy to sell amnesty legislation to the American people who have consistently, and overwhelmingly rejected the legalization of millions criminal aliens.
However, using the Border Patrol’s own data, the numbers being presented publicly by the federal government seem rather implausible.
Between 1987 and 2005, the average annual number of apprehensions made at the U.S./Mexican border was roughly 1.3 million, with arrests reaching a peak of 1.6 million in 2000.
Over the last few years, that number has dropped.
Between 2006 and 2010, the average annual number of apprehensions was roughly 650,000.
While many individual Border patrol agents estimate that for every one illegal crosser they catch, another seven or even ten successfully enter the U.S., those reports are difficult to substantiate as no agent is willing to go on record with such inflammatory data.
However, in June 2010, former president of the National Border Patrol Council, T.J. Bonner told Fox News that for every person caught trying to enter this country illegally over the U.S./Mexican border…at least two more successfully make it here.
“We’re about 33 percent effective. It’s like shoveling sand against the tide, said Bonner.
So, using Bonner’s rather conservative estimate, 41.8 million illegal aliens have entered the U.S. since the 1986 amnesty.
When one considers the relative ease with which drug smugglers and illegal aliens make multiple crossings into this country, and the lackluster immigration enforcement of every administration since that of Dwight D. Eisenhower, it is safe to assume that the actual figure is even higher.
We have been told that the Obama administration deported close to 400,000 individuals in 2010. But, not all of those deported actually entered the country illegally. DHS also deports those who entered the country legally on legitimate visas, but who either committed a crime while here or overstayed their visa.
So, we do not know exactly how many removals involved those who crossed into the U.S., by eluding the Border Patrol. However, when the DHS is deporting 400,000 foreign nationals while an estimated 1 million crossed the border illegally that same year…it is obvious that the federal government is losing ground each and every year.
Sources:
T.J. Bonner interview: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/06/30/apprehensions-plummet-custom-agents-skyrocket-border/
DHS data: http://http://www.dhs.gov/files/statistics/immigration.shtm
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