Most undocumented immigrants in this country did not enter the U.S. at the Southern border.
And they didn't enter near the border town of McAllen, Texas, which the president visited Thursday during the 20th day of a partial government shutdown fought over constructing additional barriers on the Southern border.
When it comes to people in the country without proper documentation, the majority of them didn't cross the Mexican border at all. Most of them came to the United States legally — but then don't leave.
About 700,000 travelers to the United States overstayed their visas in fiscal 2017, the most recent year for which the Department of Homeland Security has published figures. DHS estimated that, as of Sept. 30, 2017, the end of that fiscal year, more than 600,000 of those travelers were still in the U.S.
During that same year, there were just 300,000 apprehensions along the Southern border, according to Customs and Border Protection — the lowest number since 1971.
Visa overstays have outnumbered people who enter the country illegally at the Southern border every year since 2007, according to a report by the Center for Migration Studies. The report's authors estimate that the number of total visa overstays was 600,000 more than the total number of border crossers and that in 2014, visa overstays accounted for two-thirds of all new undocumented immigrants.
Immigrants traveling through Mexico, of course, take up much of the public's attention on the issue of i*****l i*********n. And they do account for almost all people apprehended by CBP, which includes the Border Patrol. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement largely works in the interior of the country.)
Those caught by the U.S. government can apply for asylum if they can claim a credible fear that their lives would be in danger by returning to their home countries; some immigrants, in fact, turn themselves in to federal agents to do so.
"A growing percentage of border crossers in recent years have originated in the Northern Triangle states of Central America," wrote Robert Warren and Donald Kerwin of the Center for Migration Studies. "These migrants are fleeing pervasive violence, persecution and poverty, and a large number do not seek to evade arrest, but present themselves to border officials and request political asylum. Many are de facto refugees, not illegal border crossers," the authors wrote.
In 2017, the Border Patrol employed more than 19,000 agents, almost double the number in fiscal 2003. And the agency's budget grew from $263 million in 1990 to more $3.8 billion in 2016, according to the American Immigration Council. The budget for Customs and Border Protection — which includes the Border Patrol — has grown from $5.9 billion in 2003 to $13.2 billion in 2016.
At the same time, apprehensions at the Southern border have declined — from a high of more than 1.6 million in 2000 to just over 300,000 in 2017.
Does the wall deter crossings?
CBP data shows that the number of people that agents have caught has decreased across the board — not just in areas where the government constructed barriers.
Both the El Paso and Rio Grande sectors have physical barriers in place to prevent illegal crossings into the United States. Pedestrian fencing stretches to both sides of the city of El Paso in West Texas, with vehicle barriers along much of the rest of the New Mexico border. In south Texas, pedestrian fencing dots the area around McAllen and expands most of the way from there to the Gulf of Mexico.
The Tucson sector, which covers most of Arizona and is almost completely blocked by vehicle and pedestrian fencing, has seen a recent increase in apprehensions. In fiscal 2018, CBP caught about 52,000 people there, including an estimated 5,000 unaccompanied minors.
The sector of the Southwestern border with the fewest apprehensions, on the other hand, has almost no fencing. The Big Bend sector, starting in West Texas and extending about halfway down the state, is the largest individual sector guarded by CBP. The rough terrain of the mountain ranges and the Chihuahuan Desert make it a difficult place to cross. In fiscal 2018, CBP apprehended just 8,000 people there.
There is no southern border “crises” and an absence of any factual information supporting that claim.
Most undocumented immigrants in this country did n... (
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