The U. S. Customs and Border Protection agency has released the number of “encounters’, i.e. enforcement actions at our southern border for March 2022. The graph of the results is at the top of this post.
As you can see it is the largest in recent reckoning. The number of such “encounters” in 2021 exceeded the number for any year in the last 20 years at least with 1.74 million “encounters” having taken place. The greatest number of encounters is of single adults but there are a large number of families and unaccompanied minors as well.
At the Wall Street Journal Tarini Parti and Michelle Hackman report:
WASHINGTON—The U.S. has made more than a million arrests at the U.S.-Mexico border since October, the fastest pace of illegal border crossings in at least the last two decades, according to new data released Monday by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Border agents made 209,906 arrests along the border in March, making it the busiest month in two decades. Another 11,397 migrants were permitted to enter the country to seek humanitarian protection at land border crossings, according to the data. The numbers cover a period from the beginning of the fiscal year to the end of March.
The numbers included a sharp rise in migrants from Cuba and Ukraine. About 32,271 Cubans crossed illegally at the border in March alone—almost as high as the 38,390 Cubans who crossed in all of the last fiscal year. So far this year, 79,377 Cubans have crossed the border illegally.
Nearly 5,000 Ukrainians were allowed to enter the country on temporary humanitarian grounds, primarily at a border checkpoint near San Diego.
There are several factors that should be taken into consideration. First, noone really knows what percent of people entering the country illegally via our southern border are apprehended. Maybe it’s 100%; maybe it’s 1%. Second, by and large these encounters end with those apprehended being released within the United States, presumably to appear at a hearing later. Based on recent statistics about a quarter of those fail to appear.
Third, over the last two years the number of illegal immigrants entering the country by our southern border constitute at least 1% of our total population.
What do I think should be done? Several things. Unaccompanied minors should be returned to their countries of origin full stop. If their countries of origin cannot be determined they should be returned to Mexico. There is no good solution to the problems they pose for us but what we are doing now amounts to kidnapping.
With respect to asylum claims we should pick one of the following. Either
- We should change our laws to add whatever conditions we believe are reasonable and just to our present laws. If we think that poverty is a legitimate cause for asylum, we should add that to the law. If we think that high levels of crime and violence are a legitimate cause for asylum, we should add that. If we think that women having cruel and/or violent husbands have a legitimate cause for asylum, we should add that. None of those are presently legitimate claims for asylum and those presently making such claims are overloading our system. Only a minority of asylum claims are granted OR
- We should enforce our present laws.
What we are doing now is arbitrary and capricious and inconsistent with the rule of law. We should also expand our publicity campaigns in Mexico and Central America to ensure that people have the correct information.
I’ve also made my views on immigration clear. I think that
- We should greatly expand the number of work visas for which Mexican workers are eligible.
- We should end the lottery and family reunification provisions of our present code.
- In general we should have immigration systems much more like those of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand than like the system we presently have.
I also think the very high percentage of foreign-born residents presently in the U. S. is destabilizing and our first line of attack should be in reducing the flow of illegal immigrants across our southern border.
One observation is that the “push” factors will be extraordinarily strong for this year and most likely next year.
So far, Peru, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Lebanon have already major economic disruptions (hyperinflation, fuel storages) and resulting protests.
I think Cuba and Haiti are at high risk as well.
The progressive Democrats are determined to change the racial composition of America, so as to dilute out the White heritage population. No steps will be taken to reduce immigration, both legal and illegal.
The Republicans are in on the gag, too. Changes in Congress or the Presidency will not produce changes in policy.
I don’t care whether the racial composition changes or not. I do care that the cultural composition remain materially what it has been but I suspect that battle has already been lost.
Example: historically, Americans have been among the hardest-working people on the plant. I attribute that to a cultural feature sometimes referred to as the “Protestant work ethic”. In essence that ends with the millennials. They’re a lot more like Europeans were 50 years ago than they are like Americans were 50 years ago.
The two groups that routinely rank as working longer hours than Americans? Mexicans and Asians. I am not sure millennials are truly less committed to work but if they are I am less sure how that is related to immigration. The agricultural work that the illegals are doing is actually pretty hard work in case you did not know. In my experience the millennials who seem to make it a point to act just like their stereotypes are usually middle class or above kids. The kind who want to make lots of money but work few hours.
There is also a poor underclass that doesn’t work much at all, legally.
Steve
Mexicans and Asians, salt of the earth.
But of course the country we live in today was was built on the blood and labor, not to mention genius, of African slaves.
Blacks, Mexicans, and Asians, salt of the earth.
Tell your kids they’re no damn good, that’s the Liberal Mantra.
Americans 60 years ago worked so hard because they had nothing at all to fall back on.
Slaves never worked any harder than they had to, no use in it..
Oh, I know. I’ve picked crops.
The availability of lots of workers who will work hard for very low wages changes how jobs are performed and what work there is to do. Maybe more of our agriculture should be more highly automated. Maybe we shouldn’t be growing some crops here at all. IMO more of the Mexican agricultural workers presently employed should be here on work visas.
The surest way to maintain a “poor underclass” is to continually bring in more workers willing to work for low wages.
I thought your actual complaint was that they would ruin our culture by destroying our work ethic. I see you want to change that. You want to make it an economic argument. I largely agree with that.
“Blacks, Mexicans, and Asians, salt of the earth.
Tell your kids they’re no damn good, that’s the Liberal Mantra.”
Very poor rant. You get a D minus. No connection between work hours in 2022 with the historical work hours of slaves, or anyone else for that matter. At least pretend to make a relevant comment.
Steve
Lot’s of generalizations going on.
People of all stripes work hard, or don’t.
Culturally, it is very hard to make the case that someone from Mexico is the same as one from Haiti is the same as one from the Middle East. Furthe, the left has beaten it into our heads that the exalted diversity should be the goal. I guess not so culturally similar, eh?
The biggest short term problem is that we simply cannot assimilate the numbers illegally immigrating, few have skills not present here, and they disrupt the wage structure for lower skilled US citizens.