[Libertarianize the GOP]

.

[stilts]

OR....they have gotten worse at detaining them.

[PRND21]

Bump

[Jhoffa_]

Great!

(Maybe.. It's down, it may not be down.. It could be up.. We arent sure but we wrote the story anyway)

[Texasforever]

But the California study, based on census figures and community surveys, counters that illegal immigration nearly tripled during the past decade despite a major border crackdown in 1993 and a tripling of the annual border re-enforcement budget to $2.5 million.

Simple answer? Check the welfare benefits in California in relation to Texas. If California wants to cut down on freeloaders then stop being a welfare Mecca.

[Marine Inspector]

For the eighth month in a row, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service reported a sharp drop in the number of immigrants detained entering from Mexico, viewed as the best gauge of how many are crossing the border illegally.

True, but what the INS is not telling you is that those sharp drops are dropping sharply themselves. In October 2001, the number of apprehensions dropped by over 50% from the previous year, but , by May of 2002 the number of apprehensions had only dropped 20% from the previous year.

The original 50% drop was due to 9/11 and wide spread rumors in Mexico that the US was going to enlist illegals to go fight in Afghanistan. As the shock of 9/11 wears off and the rumors dies out, the numbers start to rise to their previous levels.

Analysts and some patrollers, however, are cautious about jumping to conclusions. A report released yesterday by the Public Policy Institute of California said that, despite the short-term drop in apprehensions, illegal immigration has continued to rise for the past nine years.

This is also true and is due to the stepped up enforcement on the border. In the past, many of the illegals would frequently cross back and forth. Since the many border operations by the INS has made crossing the border more hazardous, many of the illegals are opting to stay in the US, as opposed to subjecting themselves to the risk of apprehension on the border, thus increasing the permanent illegal population in the US.

[spectre]

Probably means everybody from Mexico and Central America have all finally arrived.

[F16Fighter]

Quite frankly, I think these numbers are totally contrived for purely political reasons...

Imagine the hue and cry had conservatives been given the real numbers? The numbers that reflect virtually NO change in illegal immigration invasion despite a supposed "hightened security" at the borders?

[TADSLOS]

"It's going down at an average of about 300,000 a year,"

That's like me saying the fire ant migration in my yard is going down 300,000 a year, but my failing to mention that the total population of fire ants already in my yard building nests and laying eggs is in the millions and growing exponentially.

Who do these buffoons think they're fooling?

[MissAmericanPie]

Yeah sure, let's believe their "statistics" and not our lying eyes.

[Militiaman7]

Is it zero yet? What about the one's already here? Are they being deported?

[Spiff]

This is stupid. They have no way to know how many illegals have crossed. They're only counting how many have been detained which leave out all of those that slipped across undetected. There have also been reports of BP agents given instructions to purposely do things which would lead to less captures and to underreport some captures.

Living on the border, I don't see the number going down. What I do see is that the inept BP management are playing political games for some reason.

Posted wirelessly from my PocketPC