The Immigration Crisis

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past three years, you’re well aware that we have an immigration crisis taking place on our southern border.  On Biden’s first day in office, he reversed former President Trump’s policies that had reduced illegal immigration, sending a signal to the entire world that our border was now wide open for anyone who wanted to wade across the Rio Grande, no strings attached. 

Under Trump, migrants who had been crossing the border, were detained and processed under Title 42, temporarily replacing Title 8.

Title 42 is part of the Public Health Service Act of 1944 and was codified to help prevent the spread of communicable diseases in the U. S. President Trump activated it in March 2020 to combat COVID 19, and it was to remain in effect until it expired on 11 May 2023, during the Biden administration.

On that day, DHS Secy. Alejandro Mayorkas said, “Starting at midnight, people who arrive at our southern border will be subject to our immigration enforcement authorities under Title Eight of the United States Code.”  Right now, he is undergoing impeachment hearings in the House for lying to Congress repeatedly, claiming the border was secure, and failure to enforce Title 8.  There is zero chance he will be removed from office because the Democrat-controlled Senate will save his job, and even if he was, Biden could just nominate another puppet.

Trumps policies also included building the wall, increased border security funding, zero tolerance for migrants caught illegally crossing by returning them to Mexico, ending the diversity visa lottery, banning immigration from 7 predominately Muslim countries that harbored terrorists, restricting family-based immigration, and expediting asylum procedures.  When Biden reversed all that, the cartels started coaching migrants to claim asylum.

Chart 1:  This graph shows how quickly illegal immigrant encounters escalated as soon as Biden took office in January 2021 (the red dots on the graph).  Notice the last month data was available shown here is Nov 2022, and compare that to the numbers shown below for the previous five months.

It is also noteworthy that in April 2020, almost all encounters were of Mexican nationals and by November 2022, there were an estimated 129,090 encounters from “other countries” (62.6% of the total), excluding Mexico (23.5%) and the Northern Triangle (13.9%). [1]   

Chart 2:  Fiscal Years 2021 (beginning Oct 2020) through 2023 plus Q1 of 2024, showing the rapid escalation in illegal immigrant encounters since Biden took office on 20 January 2020 (the red line separates Trump and Biden).

In Biden’s first full month in office, encounters increased 29% and February 2021 was the only month during Biden’s term with fewer than 150,000 encounters, other than June 2023 (144,556). [2]    

You will see below under The New Immigration Bill that the Democrats are proposing 150,000 immigrants per month.

The Customs and Border Protection (CBP) estimates for encounters at the southwest border since August 2023, by month, were 232,963 (Aug), 269,735 (Sep), 240,981(Oct), 242,407 (Nov), 302034 (Dec), the latest figures available.  The Democrats will tell you 150,000 is an improvement, cutting down on illegal crossings.  Similar to how they say gas prices are declining because $4 is cheaper than $5, even though it was $3 before they launched their war on American energy.

And those are just the known immigrants.  There have been another estimated 1.5 to 2 million “got-aways” during the past few years who preferred not to meet immigration officials.  Those are the ones everybody should be concerned about. 

According to Tom Homan, former Acting Director of the U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement under President Trump from 30 January 2017 to 29 June 2018, those illegals actually paid more money to the cartels to cross undetected for a reason; they didn’t want to be fingerprinted, they didn’t want to get a notice to appear before an immigration judge, they didn’t want to be profiled.  They are the bad guys who probably have bad intentions.  They are the criminals, the drug mules, the gang members, and the human traffickers.

Those illegals who cross and turn themselves in can get across the river for a cheaper rate than the “got-aways”.

It only took 19 foreign nationals to carry out the 9/11 terrorist attacks.  Imagine what 2 million unknowns could do.  One tenth of one percent is 2,000 individuals.

It’s not a question of whether anything bad is going to happen.  It’s only a question of when, and where?

Existing Immigration Laws

Despite the repeated misrepresentations you hear from high-ranking Democrats and their Propaganda Media Complex, who echo the mantra “our immigration system is broken”, as if there is nothing we can do about the influx of illegals, and that they need “comprehensive immigration reform”, the truth is we already have immigration laws.  They simply aren’t being enforced.  That fact alone, raises a whole host of serious questions, as in:

Doesn’t the Constitution mandate in Article II, Section III that the President shall “take care that the laws be faithfully executed”? 

Isn’t it part of the Presidential Oath of Office to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States”?

The answer to those two questions is “YES”

Why doesn’t this President enforce existing immigration laws?

There seems to be an agenda behind that policy.  One that encourages illegal immigration for a purpose.  Many suspect that purpose is to import sympathetic voters who will support the Democrat Party, “paying” Democrats back for the generous handouts they have been given. 

In fact, illegal immigrants have been given financial incentives to come here, all paid by the good old American taxpayer.

In case you missed it, Illegals are now receiving emergency Medicaid, free treatment at hospital emergency rooms, school meal programs, and other federal assistance.

After meeting a five year residency requirement, illegals can qualify for Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR) status, which makes them eligible for additional federal programs such as Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance (CHIP), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance (SNAP, or food stamps), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and Supplemental Security Income (SSI), the last two are essentially guaranteed incomes.

On top of that, many states have programs that pay benefits to illegal immigrants immediately, such as California’s CalFresh Food Assistance Program and their Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants (CAPI).  Governor Newsom (D-CA) is currently pushing for totally free health insurance for 700,000 illegals.  What would he do if 10,000,000 show up?  Maybe all the illegals should be sent to California.

According to the National Immigration Forum, “documented and undocumented immigrants pay more into public benefit programs than they take out”.  The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy claims undocumented immigrants contribute an estimated $11.74 billion to state and local economies each year. [3]

The date of that two-page paper is 2018, obviously during the Trump administration when immigration was in check.  It’s a much bigger problem now.

Perhaps we should consider a more recent report from the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) [4], wherein they found that the net cost of illegal immigration for the United States, at the federal, state, and local levels, was at least $150.7 billion.  That’s net cost, as in after being offset by collected taxes.  FAIR calculated that number by subtracting tax revenues ($32 billion) from the gross negative economic impact ($182 billion).  That averages out to an estimated $957 per year for each American taxpayer.  Those numbers are quite different from the above referenced National Immigration Forum of 2018, and the influx of illegals has grown exponentially this past year, making it even worse.

FAIR estimates that there were at least 15.5 million illegal immigrants in the United States at the beginning of 2022.

Actually, the Biden administration is breaking immigration laws every day, thereby violating Article II, Section III and his oath of office.

The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 is contained in Title 8 of the United States Code (U.S.C.) covering “Aliens and Nationality”.  Below is a partial list of the provisions in Title II of the Act, titled Immigration, as may be amended. [5]

8 U. S. Code § 1181 – Admission of immigrants into the United States

8 U. S. Code § 1157 – Annul admission of refugees and admission of emergency situation refugees

8 U. S. Code § 1158 – Asylum

8 U. S. Code § 1182 – Inadmissible aliens

8 U. S. Code § 1226 – Apprehension and detention of aliens

8 U. S. Code § 1226a – Mandatory detention of suspected terrorists; habeas corpus; judicial review

8 U. S. Code § 1227 – Deportable aliens

8 U. S. Code § 1229a – Removal proceedings

8 U. S. Code § 1230 – Records of admission

8 U. S. Code § 1302 – Registration of aliens

8 U. S. Code § 1321 – Prevention of unauthorized landing of aliens

These are just a few of the myriad of provisions in INA 1952, Title II of the Act.  Obviously, I don’t have the time or space to thoroughly cover the definitions of all of these statutes, so I have listed the above in case anyone wishes to click the links and investigate on their own.

There have been subsequent laws passed to supplement and partially alter INA 1952, most notably:

The 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, which abolished the national-origins quota system defined in the 1952 act, and replaced it with a system whereby immigrants could be admitted based on their relationship to a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident family member or U.S. employer.  The new law provided for a cap of 120,000 on the total number permanent residents who may be admitted from the Western Hemisphere.  That doesn’t mean all immigrants.

The Refugee Act of 1980, which established a new statutory system for processing and admitting refugees from overseas as well as asylum seekers physically present at U.S. borders or in the country.  It further defined “refugee” as any person outside that person’s country of nationality who is unable or unwilling to return to that country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or particular opinion.

The illegal immigrants crossing our southern border today have been coached to plead asylum, whether their claim is justified, or not.

The Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986 created two legalization programs; one to allow unauthorized aliens who have lived in the U. S. since 1982 to “regularize” their status; the other permits people who have worked at least 90 days in certain agricultural jobs to apply for permanent status.  Under these programs, about 2.7 million immigrants eventually became lawful permanent residents.

The 1990 Immigration Act raised legal admissions to 50% above the pre-IRCA level, mainly concerning employment-based immigrants.  It also terminated the discretion of sentencing judges in granting relief from deportation orders for criminal offenders, i.e., made it harder for criminals to avoid deportation.

The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA) added new crimes to the definition of aggravated felony and established an “expedited removal” procedure for arriving noncitizens who border officials suspect of lacking proper entry documentation, or committing identity fraud.  Another measure to tighten up the system.

The new immigration reforms proposed don’t tighten up the system.  They just codify a way to allow a much larger influx of immigrants and probably hidden somewhere in clauses on “page 6,341” (i.e., buried), defines an easy way for them to become legal permanent residents, with voting rights.

The New Immigration Bill

At this writing, the Senate has crafted a new bill they are touting as immigration reform with some bilateral support from the Republican side of the aisle.  We don’t know what’s in it because it hasn’t been released. 

The first question that comes to mind is why not? 

Is there something they don’t want the full body of the Senate, or the House, to be able to scrutinize?

Maybe the sponsors don’t want to give the rest of Congress time to digest the full meaning of the bill and all its potential ramifications. 

Maybe they don’t want the political pundits to have time to examine it and publicize its negative impact on American citizens.  In any case, the bill should be released for public review and comment.  The fact that they don’t puts this bill, and every other one that is kept secret until it’s too late, in “shady” territory.

To make matters worse, reportedly it’s linked to additional funding for the Ukraine war.  WHY?

Democrats don’t want to close the border.  They can use it as a political weapon.  That’s right. 

Follow the thinking:

Democrats know the basic elements of the immigration law are not acceptable to the Republican majority in the House.  Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has publicly stated the Senate bill, based on the leaked rough details, is “dead on arrival” in the House.

Their plan is to attach another funding package to Ukraine, knowing it won’t pass the House because of the major objections to the elements in the immigration reforms.

Remember, it’s an election year.  So, actually knowing the bill won’t pass, the Democrats figure they can blame the Republicans for failure to pass immigration reform that essentially guarantees the massive influx of illegal immigrants will continue as it is right now.  And all those illegals, receiving federal and state benefits are highly likely to become Democrat voters.  As a bonus, they can blame the Republicans for not sending “critical” aid to Ukraine.

You’re not supposed to realize that all of this has been caused by the Democrats in the first place, and their Propaganda Media Complex will remind you of that constantly.  You know the border crisis was directly caused by Biden’s policies, right?  And it’s because of his projected weakness that Putin invaded the Ukraine in February 2022.  Under Trump, the Russians, the Chinese, the Iranians, the North Koreans, and everyone else, was kept in check.

The only “details” we have been made privy to in the immigration reforms are that the daily influx shall not exceed 5,000 immigrants, and that the President will have the authority to shut down the border when it reaches that threshold.

Wait a minute while I do a little math.  5,000 per day equals about 150,000 per month and 1.8 million per year.

The Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1952, allowed 50,000 immigrants per year.  So this bill proposes 36 times that quota.

The Democrats claim it would never get to 5,000 and would slow down to “only” 4,000 per day.  Biden claims if he gets this deal, he will shut down the border that day.  Do you really believe any of that?  Remember, he also said he never spoke to Hunter about his business.  You are ordered to forget all that testimony from Hunter’s business partners and all those taped phone conversations.  That didn’t happen.  No one f***s with the Bidens.  Not even the law.

So I say, kudos to the Republican leadership in the House and every Representative who is vehemently opposed to this new immigration reform package.  It simply normalizes a massive influx of illegal immigrants from all over the world, most of whom we know absolutely nothing about, what they may have done in their native land, or what they are capable of here.  Not to mention the enormous cost to the American taxpayer and the excessive burdens placed on our infrastructure.  No matter what the Democrats and their media militia say, we don’t need another 1.8 million illegal immigrants coming here to threaten America in many potential ways.

As far as the aid package to Ukraine, bring it up in a stand-alone bill.  In fact, stop attaching unrelated legislation altogether.  Make every piece of legislation a stand-alone bill.  That’s the only way it can be fairly assessed.

Oh, I almost forgot.  How else are these charlatans supposed to piggy-back unpopular, nefarious legislation, onto worthy causes?

Biden Issues Ultimatum as Texas Enforces Their Own Border

On the 18^th of December 2023, Governor Greg Abbott of Texas signed into law a bill that authorized state authorities to arrest and detain illegal immigrants anywhere in the state.  It is slated to take effect on 5 March 2024.  In the meantime, Texas has been augmenting and beefing up existing coils of razor wire at the border to deter illegal crossings.  Within hours of Abbott’s signing ceremony, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed suit to challenge the new law, formally known as SB4, alleging the state is “grasping control over immigration from the federal government and depriving people subject to that system of all the federal rights and due process that Congress provided to them, including the rights to contest removal and seek asylum.” [6]

The White House has responded through spokesperson Angelo Fernandez Hernandez that, “the federal government, not individual states, is charged with determining how and when to remove noncitizens for violating immigration laws.”

Both of those statements are true, however, as Gov. Abbott has clearly stated, the federal government has failed to protect the citizens of not only Texas, but the entire country, by not enforcing existing immigration laws, and has therefore neglected its constitutional duties.

Abbott wrote an apparent open letter, presumably addressing the Executive Branch in general, in which he outlines his position on the border.  You can read the one page letter by clicking the link in FOOTNOTE [7]  

On Monday 22 January 2024, the U. S. Supreme Court issued an order by a 5-4 vote, that federal agents should be granted access to the Shelby State Park near Eagle Pass to cut razor wire installed by Texas’ Department of Public Safety.  That order merely vacated a lower court ruling that barred the federal agents from cutting the wire until the case plays out in court.  Ultimately, the Supreme Court will need to decide whether the federal government is solely responsible for all immigration enforcement or states have the right to defend their own borders.  In the following days, Texas has refused access to the feds.  Biden gave Texas a 24 hour ultimatum to permit CBP agents to begin cutting the razor wire.  That deadline has come and gone and Biden has done nothing.  He’s actually on record as saying, “I’ve done all I can do” in terms of overall border security, and this new bill “would give me, as President, a new emergency authority to shut down the border when it becomes overwhelmed.”  

NEWS FLASH:  Hey Joe, you don’t need that authority.  You already have it.  And the border is already overwhelmed.

Put those zingers in the same category as “I never spoke to my son about his business dealings”.  In five minutes he could reinstate the policies Trump put in place to secure the border.  The same policies he reversed on his first day in office.  In my opinion, Biden will never admit that Trump’s policies worked.  Apparently, he has taken the advice of his former boss, Obama.  Just deceive them with lies and run out the clock.  He’s good at that.

Normally, I would say that federal law supersedes state law but this case bears further examination because the federal government is derelict in their obligations to the matter.  Stay tuned.  It could get interesting real soon.

COMMENTS ALWAYS WELCOME

FOOTNOTES

[1]  Gramlich, J. ; Monthly Encounters with Migrants at U.S.-Mexico Border Remain Near Record Highs ; Pew Research Center ; January 13, 2023 

Monthly encounters with migrants at U.S.-Mexico border remain near record highs

[2]  Southwest Land Border Encounters ;U. S. Customs and Border Protection ; Last modified 26, January 2024  

https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/southwest-land-border-encounters

[3]  Fact Sheet: Immigrants and Public Benefits ; National Immigration Forum ; 2018

https://immigrationforum.org

[4]  The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration on United States Taxpayers ; Federation for American Immigration Reform ; March 8, 2023

[5]  United States Citizenship and Immigration Services ; U. S. Department of Homeland Security ; Immigration and Nationality Act

https://www.uscis.gov/laws-and-policy/legislation/immigration-and-nationality-act

[6]  Montoya-Galvez, C. ; Texas Immigration Law Known as SB4, Allowing State to Arrest Migrants, signed by Gov. Greg Abbott ; CBS News ; December 19, 2023

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/texas-immigration-law-sb4-signed-greg-abbott/

[7]  Letter from Greg Abbott, Governor of Texas ; addressed presumably to the Executive Branch of the Federal Government ; January 24, 2024

https://gov.texas.gov/uploads/files/press/Border_Statement_1.24.2024.pdf