Is the U.S. Border Secure?

In 2011 net immigration from Mexico was zero or perhaps less. Now let’s talk about immigration reform.

One of the most common refrains that's heard from politicians and from people on the street is that we can talk about reforming our immigration policies when the border is secure.

When politicians talk about securing border, they generally mean the border with Mexico. But, here is the vital question; what makes the border secure?

Is the border secure when there is no net migration from Mexico? Is the border secure when no one crosses the border illegally? Is the border secure when there is no smuggling—no infiltration of illegal drugs and weapons? Is the border secure when no terrorists enter the United States? Is the border secure where no one attempts to use a visa to cross into the United States, but then stays in the United States beyond the terms of their visa? What if the person enters the United States on a visa that does not allow a person to work legally in the United States and then starts working; is the border not secure?

Migration From Mexico

Here is the little secret that no one is talking about: in 2011, there was no net migration from Mexico to the United States. According to the Pew Research Hispanic Center, net migration from Mexico in 2011 was zero, or perhaps even less.  

There are several reasons for the change in migration from Mexico including the weaker U.S. economy, the stronger Mexican economy, and lower birth rates from Mexico. However, one of the main reasons for the change in migration is $18 billion. 

In 2012, United States Spent More On Immigration Enforcement Than All Other Types Of Law Enforcement Put Together

In 2012, the United States spent more on immigration enforcement than on all areas of law enforcement combined. The United States government spent $18 billion on immigration enforcement and it spent a total of $14.4 billion on the rest of federal law enforcement including the FBI, the Secret Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and the Drug Enforcement Agency. This massive influx of money into immigration enforcement has helped to secure the border. 

Over The Past Four Years The Obama Administration Has Deported More Immigrants Than Any Other President In History

The other secret that no politician is talking about is that the Obama Administration has deported more documented and undocumented immigrants than any other modern president. As of July 2012, Obama deported 1.4 million documented and undocumented immigrants since the beginning of his administration in 2009. 

According to official numbers from the Department of Homeland Security, Obama has deported 1.5 times more immigrants every month on average than Bush deported.

To put these numbers in an even larger context, between 1892 and 1997 a total of 2.1 million people were deported from the United States. In 2012, more than 400,000 people were deported. If future policy goes according to this trend, by 2014, President Obama will have deported more than 2 million people. In other words, more people will have been deported from 2009 through 2014 than all of the people deported prior to 1997 combined. President Obama has been “stronger” on illegal immigration than any other modern president.

There Has Been A Decrease In Violent Crime And In Arrests Along The Border

Recently, the Department of Homeland Security has recorded a decrease in violent crime along the border. The Department of Homeland Security statistics show a decrease in violent crime and in arrests along the Mexican-American Border. 

Most Of The People Arrested On Federal Terrorism Charges Are U.S. Citizens—Usually Entering The United States At An Airport

According to a recent study at the University of Maryland, most of the people indicted on federal terrorism charges were U.S. citizens and these people usually entered the United States at airports from countries through out the world.

Roughly 40 Percent Of Undocumented Immigrants Entered The United States Legally

According to the popular website PolitiFact roughly 40 percent of the undocumented immigrant population in the United States originally entered the United States legally and then stayed beyond the terms of their original visa.

Should the United States be tracking every person who enters the country?  Should we be monitoring their movements and arrest all those who overstay their visa? If a person enters the United States on a non-work visa and starts working, should the U.S. government track this person down and deport him or her?

How do we determine that the border is secure and who should make this decision? According to some, the Senate Plan calls for a commission of border state governors and other officials make this decision?

The Democrats are trying to ensure that this Commission makes recommendations that Congress then weighs. How do we keep the border safe and secure? Do we militarize the border? 

Despite all of the noise out there; is it actually possible that the border is secure?

Next Post:  The Senate’s Immigration Plan


None February 14, 2013 at 02:28 AM
I have found that there are several good comments here on this blog, and I believe that there is a lot of real interest in this subject. Why do so many good questions, questions that I really believe really bring out the real points in this issue are never responded to? I still ask, what does “Comprehensive Immigration Reform” really mean? What, other than the enforcement of our existing laws by “Our Government” is broken? When does something diametrically opposed to our existing law become “OK,” and when does the violation of our laws become an issue that requires an amnesty as its only cure?
JustUs February 14, 2013 at 02:55 AM
" I still ask, what does “Comprehensive Immigration Reform” really mean?" Richard, basically it means that they (our leaders) are bringing in a bunch of indigent and illiterate people from Mexico (and other poor nation) that you must pay for to appease those other countries and to relieve them of their responsibility to take care of their own people. So we do it for them. And, in return, those nations fill the politician's pockets with lots of money. If you really want to cut through all the non-sense, that is what it means. No immigration attorney will tell you that though. But I will.
Wire February 14, 2013 at 03:27 AM
Sheriff Dever said that a Border Patrol supervisor informed him that the agency was ordered to keep the number of arrests down during specific reporting periods. "The senior supervisor agent is telling me about how their mission is now to scare people back. He said, 'I had to go back to my guys and tell them not to catch anybody, that their job is to chase people away. … They were not to catch anyone, arrest anyone. Their job was to set up posture, to intimidate people, to get them to go back,'" Dever said. The following month, Dever told the Senate Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security that the Border Patrol's new policy of giving a warning to illegal crossers rather than taking them into custody, known as "Turn Back South" was not only being practiced near the border, but far north of it as well. Dever reported: "It appears, according to numerous reports from current and former border agents, that this practice has gravitated many miles north of the border. That means that, regardless of proximity to the border, people who are detected but not caught are considered to be 'Turned Back South.'" The testimony was in direct conflict with the Obama administration's public assertions on border security.
JustUs February 14, 2013 at 03:31 AM
But that is the problem and the way that the American people are being played for fools, Wire. As soon as 11M-25M (nobody really knows the number) of illegals are given LEGAL residence and the right to work in America (amnesty) a new group of illegals will break into the country and undercut the wages of the illegals who were just granted a 'path to citizenship'. And the new 'path to citizenship' residents will all go on public assistance since the new wave of illegals just took their old jobs. It's a vicious cycle. We saw what happened after Reagan gave 1M illegals the right to legal residence and eventual citizenship. The border remained open and millions more of illegals entered the country. It's a scam, Wire. The American people are being scammed by the World Government. They are doing to us what they did to the West Germans when they united West and East Germany. But those were Germans helping Germans. In our case it is Americans helping 3rd world indigents that their countries of origin want nothing to do with. And it's all about big money for the American politicians who promote it.
JustUs February 14, 2013 at 03:39 AM
"The testimony was in direct conflict with the Obama administration's public assertions on border security." Why would that surprise anybody with a brain? Do you have any idea how many times the POTUS has blatantly lied to the American public in the last 4 years? Are you familiar with 'Fast and Furious'? Read the article linked above on the UNANIMOUS "NO CONFIDENCE" vote by the Border Patrol agents of their executives and the Obama adminstration relative to border security. Its the BP agents who work the border. They are at ground zero. They know it's an open border. That's the reason for the NO CONFIDENCE vote. This is not brain science. All the garbage you read about the border being secure is PROPOGANDA. Let's all grow up and face the TRUTH!!!


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