Washington – The number of Mexican immigrants in the U.S. illegally has declined so sharply over the past decade that for the first time, they no longer make up the majority of that category, according to an estimate by the Pew Research Center Wednesday.
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But the number of Central Americans in the country illegally is increasing — from 1.5 million in 2007 to 1.9 million in 2017, the study found.
The numbers reflect the conundrum the U.S. is facing at the southern border: The number of Central American migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border is rising dramatically, and they are not easily returned over the border — unlike in previous years when the majority of the border crossers were single men from Mexico.
Curbing immigration is President Donald Trump’s signature political issue, but his hard-line and chaotic border policies have failed to stem the tide, and in fact, the numbers have increased since he took office.
There were about 4.9 million Mexicans in the U.S. illegally in 2017, down 2 million from 2007. The decrease was the major driver in bringing down the overall population of immigrants in the country illegally. In 2017 it was about 10.5 million — the lowest since 2004. The research group found the peak was in 2007 at about 12.2 million. Previously, Mexican nationals made up most of that population. Now, it’s a combination, with Central America having the second-largest, and Asia following with 1.4 million.
Pew based the estimates on government data and used a so-called “residual” method to determine the estimate. The method is similar to those used by Homeland Security’s Office of Immigration Statistics and other groups that track immigration, like the Migration Policy Institute and Center for Migration Studies.
The method uses U.S. census counts and government surveys to calculate the number of immigrations living in the U.S. in a particular year, followed by immigrant admissions and other official counts. The number of lawful immigrants is subtracted to get the estimate of immigrants here illegally. The estimate includes some 320,000 people with Temporary Protected Status, and about 700,000 beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, two programs ended by Trump that are on hold dude to court challenges.
Their research found that longterm residents outnumber more recent arrivals. There are also fewer people working who are not legally allowed to be in the country. Five states had increases in the number of people there illegally: Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, North Dakota and South Dakota.
Thank you President Trump
(Breitbart) – A group of Senate Democrats say American citizens “have an obligation” to give amnesty to potentially millions of foreign nationals living in the United States who they say have “earned the right” to be in the country.
After House Democrats and seven House Republicans passed an expansive amnesty to any illegal alien claiming to have arrived in the U.S. as a child, Senate Democrats are now demanding the Senate do the same.
Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Ben Cardin (D-MD), and Tim Kaine (D-VA) are urging the GOP-controlled Senate to pass their amnesty plan, which gives nearly half a million foreign nationals living in the U.S. on Temporary Protected Status (TPS) a pathway to American citizenship.
Cardin said in a statement that Americans are obligated to give foreign nationals permanent legal residency and eventually U.S. citizenship via an amnesty. According to Cardin:
These individuals have lawfully lived and worked in the U.S. as our neighbors, as they sought refuge in the U.S. We have an obligation to take action and give needed predictability and safety to people who are in an uncertain status.
Feinstein said the 440,000 foreign nationals who would receive the amnesty have “earned the right” to permanently stay in the U.S.
“The Senate needs to follow the House’s lead and pass these important protections for immigrant families who have been living and working in the United States for decades,” Feinstein said. “After fleeing wars and natural disasters, these families have established deep roots in our communities and earned the right to remain together here in the United States.”
TPS has become a quasi-amnesty for otherwise illegal aliens created under the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1990 (INA) that prevents the deportation of foreign nationals from countries that have suffered through famine, war, or natural disasters. Since the Clinton administration, TPS has been transformed into a de facto amnesty program as the Bush, Obama, and now Trump administrations have continuously renewed the program for a variety of countries.
Every year, the U.S. admits more than 1.2 million mostly low-skilled legal immigrants who compete in the labor market for jobs against poor, working, and middle-class Americans. About 70 percent of legal immigrants enter through the process know