‘What to do with millions of illegal aliens in the US? The issue is still a sleeper in the presidential campaign. But maybe not for long. Americans who want strict law enforcement before a “total” immigration solution now have proof that stronger enforcement can bring results,’ the Christian Science Monitor opines.
Exhibit A: The illegal migrant population has dropped an estimated 11 percent through May after hitting a peak last August, based on census data used in a report by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). Much of that decline is due to people who self-deported by slipping back across the border.
The drop began well before unemployment went up, which points to the real success story: Washington’s wake-up call last summer to beef up enforcement, from plugging leaks in the border to cracking down on employers who hire illegal workers…
Much of the credit for stronger enforcement goes to Secretary Michael Chertoff of Homeland Security. He has quickly increased the number of Border Patrol agents and detention centers. Employers are feeling the heat to hire legally. The fenced portion of the border is longer, too.
This means that approximately 1.3 million illegal immigrants, of a total of 12.5 million, have left the country in a relatively short amount of time. The two approaches as described by the CSM seem to be paying off more than most people had anticipated; 11% is a gigantic number. And keep in mind that these people don’t leave the United States because they are forced to leave, but because they think they may be forced to leave. In other words; the threat is enough to send quite some people back home.
Illegal immigrants who left are probably those who lived in the US for a short amount of time and are, therefore, also the ones the government could forcibly remove if they were caught. But what about the millions who have lived in the US for years, possible a decade (or more)? Those people will not be sent back by the US government, regardless of their status as illegal aliens. Neither will they leave voluntarily, considering the fact that they have a life, home, and friends in America.
Additionally, a CIS study ‘estimates a 50 percent drop in the illegal population is possible in the next five years if current enforcement continues. Such a sustainable decline would send a credible signal to Americans that government is serious about enforcing immigration law in a post-9/11 world.’
In other words; one can wonder whether there is any use to calling for a more aggressive policy towards illegal immigrants. The current approach – actual enforcement – works quite well.
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