That might as well be the motto of the Obama administration. And we see it play out in the numbers. DHS’s immigration statistics office will probably soon release its latest estimate of the size of the illegal population (this one will be as of January 1, 2011). My colleague Steve Camarota estimates the number will be 10.9 million, give or take a couple hundred thousand. If that ends up being the case, that will mean that the illegal population stopped declining as soon as Obama took office, after dropping by one million during the last two years of the Bush administration. While part of this is obviously the economy (Hispanics got the majority of new jobs in 2011), the stark change in enforcement is also a factor. Obama’s administrative amnesty has made it crystal clear to illegal immigrants that only chumps obey the law and go home.
And much of the drop in the illegal population was accounted for by established, long-term illegal aliens, not those who’d just arrived and turned back around. Published DHS estimates show that the number of illegal immigrants who’d arrived here before the year 2000 dropped by more than 800,000 between 2007 and 2009. Sure, some died and some finagled a green card, but hundreds of thousands left.
That’s because illegal aliens are people too, and they respond to changed incentives just like anyone else. When the signals they were getting after the collapse of the amnesty bill in 2007 and the subsequent increase in enforcement said “Go home,” lots of them did, including many who’ve lived here for many years. Since The One’s inauguration, the signals are practically screaming “Stay!,” so they stay.
Compare the number of undocumented immigrants deported per year during the last two presidencies, and you'll see that Bush was more compassionate with Mexican nationals than Obama.
And I say this as a Dem (although, a Mexican-American one).
For all his faults, I believe that Bush empathized more with undocumented immigrants, specifically Mexican ones (perhaps b/c of his extended family?), than the current president.
Jorge Ramos, lead anchor at Univision Network News (seen by about 3.5M every evening), has been very critical of the President's immigration policy.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI can't help but think the Dems see the illegal immigrant population as a very important constituency for the welfare state they are growing.
If welfare was under control immigration would be under control.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe people already here must not reproduce at all costs, and the people streaming in must not be turned away. Does anybody think, seriously, that the Left is not trying to replace Americans with a new population, that will be their more pliant subjects?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhat Congress and the media should be asking is not how many are being caught, but how many are being released straight back into the community. This includes all those so called "priority" cases like fugitives with outstanding removal orders, certain criminals, and recent border crossers (released fairly promptly upon claiming a vague "fear" of return to their country, a simple statement that will, in 99% of cases, ultimately result in their release into the community.) If any of them happen to meet any of the factors for consideration of "prosecutorial discretion," that often trumps the "priority" for removal...and back into the community they go, for reasons as minor as having a child with a learning disability, a US citizen spouse or children, or if they or anyone in the family has a minor or treatable medical or mental health problems (think asthma, diabetes, depression or general anxiety disorder).
To say this Administration is doing an end-run around any and all immigration laws to ensure as many illegals as possible remain in the US, not to mention, are not inconvenienced by being forced to comply with the law or an order to leave the country - is a massive understatement.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseCIS estimates that roughly 4% (310K out of 6.8M according to the report) of long term established illegal aliens have self deported over a two year period during the worst recession in decades and views this as a success?
The report ends with, "The bottom line is that the population of long-time resident illegal aliens can fall quite a bit in a relatively short period of time, as illegals respond to changing circumstances. The argument that established illegal immigrants will never leave and therefore they must be amnestied is simply wrong."
I draw the exact opposite conclusion. This is one of the most enticing moments for illegals to self deport and very, very few have decided to leave. Whether Krikorian likes it or not we will have to deal with the illegal populations in this country in a means other than attrition through enforcement.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse