{"id":2244813,"date":"2024-05-15T03:37:02","date_gmt":"2024-05-15T07:37:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dont-buy-the-medias-spin-about-illegal-border-crossings-being-down\/"},"modified":"2024-05-15T03:43:33","modified_gmt":"2024-05-15T07:43:33","slug":"dont-buy-the-medias-spin-about-illegal-border-crossings-being-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dont-buy-the-medias-spin-about-illegal-border-crossings-being-down\/","title":{"rendered":"Avoid believing the media&#8217;s claim of reduced illegal border crossings"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdont-buy-the-medias-spin-about-illegal-border-crossings-being-down%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2244813&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The U.S.-Mexico border has seen a more than 40% decrease in illegal crossings since\u2064 December, a rare occurrence in seven years. Alejandro Mayorkas reported significant progress in deportations. However, the reduction is mainly attributed to Mexico&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/potential-isis-threat-leads-to-increased-security-at-d-c-area-malls-ahead-of-halloween-weekend\/\" title=\"Potential ISIS Threat Leads to Increased Security at D.C. Area Malls Ahead of Halloween Weekend\">increased security efforts<\/a>. Critics argue\u200d that \u200bthe current policies \u200bmay not address\u2064 the root issues leading to high\u200d border apprehensions. The economic implications of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/exclusive-border-standoff-desantis-demands-reinstatement-of-trump-border-policies-to-lift-block-on-facilities-accepting-bidens-migrant-children\/\" title=\"Exclusive \u2014 Border Standoff: DeSantis Demands Reinstatement of Trump Border Policies to Lift Block on Facilities Accepting Biden\u2019s Migrant Children\">lax immigration enforcement<\/a> remain contentious.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-content\">\n<p>Since December, illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/immigration\/2024\/04\/30\/united-states-mexico-border-surge-biden\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">down more than 40 percent<\/a>, and have been relatively stable thus far this year. It\u2019s the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/immigration-migrant-border-crossings-march-mexico\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">first time in seven years<\/a> that illegal border crossings did not increase from February to March. <\/p>\n<p>In a May 10 interview, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2024\/05\/10\/1250335148\/biden-border-asylum-policy-alejandro-mayorkas\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">told NPR<\/a>: \u201cWe have also removed or returned an historic number of people more this year than I think in any year since 2011.\u201d Economist Ernie Tedeschi meanwhile in an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.briefingbook.info\/p\/immigration-and-the-us-economy-since\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">April report<\/a> noted that the rise in the immigrant population since 2020 has accounted for about one-fifth of U.S. growth during that period.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-816323545\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-aa3b49aab8743efe193680677c02db80 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-aa3b49aab8743efe193680677c02db80\"><\/div>\n<p>Liberal pundits, unsurprisingly, are celebrating these seeming immigration-related victories for the Biden administration given recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/short-reads\/2024\/02\/15\/migrant-encounters-at-the-us-mexico-border-hit-a-record-high-at-the-end-of-2023\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">historic highs in illegal border crossings<\/a>. \u201cGOP talking points are out of date. Border crossings have plummeted,\u201d read the title of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/2024\/05\/08\/biden-immigration-border-crossings-decline\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">May 8 op-ed<\/a> by Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell. \u201cBiden\u2019s \u2018border crisis\u2019 is actually an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/netanyahu-blasts-claims-that-ap-reporters-were-lucky-to-get-out-of-building-it-wasnt-luck\/\" title=\"Netanyahu Blasts Claims That AP Reporters Were \u2018Lucky\u2019 To Get Out Of Building: \u2018It Wasn\u2019t Luck\u2019\">economic success story<\/a>,\u201d was the title of an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/opinion\/msnbc-opinion\/biden-democrats-immigration-economy-rcna146448\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">April 8 MSNBC op-ed<\/a> by Zeeshan Aleem. Yet a closer look indicates more of a failure than a success when it comes to current U.S. policies on immigration.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Not Exactly an Immigration Triumph\u2026<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cAnd to be fair, April\u2019s border apprehensions, at around 130,000, remain high by historical standards,\u201d Rampell acknowledges in her WaPo column. Indeed, even the data cited by Rampell quite clearly shows that the number of illegal border crossings from January through April of this year has hovered between 125,000 and 140,000 per month. That number is <em>more than double<\/em> (and almost triple) what we saw from 2010-2019, when numbers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/short-reads\/2024\/02\/15\/migrant-encounters-at-the-us-mexico-border-hit-a-record-high-at-the-end-of-2023\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">consistently hovered around 50,000<\/a> per month. Thus Rampell\u2019s crowing is a bit like rejoicing that instead of losing a million dollars on your investment like you did last year, you only lost $600,000. Yay?<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, the main reason for the decline in illegal border crossings thus far this year isn\u2019t a result of U.S. policies, as Rampell readily admits. Following negotiations with the Biden administration, Mexican President Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/immigration\/2024\/04\/30\/united-states-mexico-border-surge-biden\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">agreed to provide more funding and security resources<\/a> to the immigration emergency, such as military patrols, highway checkpoints, and busing migrants away from the U.S.-Mexico border. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s mostly about Mexico\u2019s interdiction efforts, especially the ongoing efforts to stop migrants from getting to the U.S.-Mexico border,\u201d explained Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, policy director at the American Immigration Council. According to this reasoning, the Biden administration should claim a diplomatic victory for reducing a crisis\u2026 to what are still crisis-level numbers. And should we really be entrusting our nation\u2019s fate to a country whose politicians are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/2024\/05\/11\/mexico-election-candidates-killed-violence\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">chosen by the cartels?<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-bcea22f18a326c1a2f823fa51adda6d4 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-bcea22f18a326c1a2f823fa51adda6d4\"><\/div>\n<p>Alternatively, as Todd Bensman noted in a <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/06\/26\/bidens-border-crisis-is-as-bad-as-ever-his-admin-is-just-better-at-hiding-it\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Federalist article last June<\/a>, the Biden administration has been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bidens-border-crisis-is-as-bad-as-ever-his-admin-is-just-better-at-hiding-it\/\" title=\"Biden's border crisis persists, but his administration excels at concealing it.\">granting humanitarian fast-pass entrance slips<\/a> to would-be illegal border crossers through a cell phone app called \u201cCBP-One.\u201d This program has allowed those who intended to cross illegally between land ports of entry not to be counted in the \u201cillegal crossings\u201d category. In other words, a decline in \u201cillegal crossings\u201d is highly deceptive, given this spurious naming game.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u2026 Nor an Economic Victory<\/h2>\n<p>Much the same can be said for arguments claiming that America\u2019s lax immigration enforcement on our southern border is supposedly an economic success story. Yes, the nation\u2019s gross domestic product is slated to grow by trillions of dollars because of immigration, much of it illegal, though much of that wealth will go not to American citizens <a href=\"https:\/\/judiciary.house.gov\/sites\/evo-subsites\/republicans-judiciary.house.gov\/files\/evo-media-document\/camarota-testimony.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">but to those immigrants themselves<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/judiciary.house.gov\/sites\/evo-subsites\/republicans-judiciary.house.gov\/files\/evo-media-document\/camarota-testimony.pdf\">Almost 60 percent<\/a> of illegal immigrant households rely on welfare, and those immigrants cost local and state governments <a href=\"https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2024\/03\/20\/economy\/economy-immigration-surge\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">billions of dollars<\/a> in education services. Immigration expert George Borjas <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/magazine\/story\/2016\/09\/trump-clinton-immigration-economy-unemployment-jobs-214216\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">has noted<\/a> that immigrants receive government assistance at higher rates than natives while competing with American laborers and driving down wages among the working class.<\/p>\n<p>This points to a broader point about American economic growth due to immigration: There are clear winners (e.g. employers, the elite class) and clear losers (e.g. the working class) when it comes to the redistribution of wealth caused by immigration. There are also winners and losers among non-Americans. Along with illegal immigrants who increase their earnings in the American economy are <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2023\/12\/04\/news\/surge-in-mexican-cartel-violence-driving-us-migrant-crisis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the cartels<\/a> who facilitate much of the human trafficking, as Todd Bensman relates in his book <a href=\"https:\/\/posthillpress.com\/book\/overrun-how-joe-biden-unleashed-the-greatest-border-crisis-in-u-s-history\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Overrun: How Joe Biden Unleashed The Greatest Border Crisis in U.S. History<\/em><\/a>. As the federal government <a href=\"https:\/\/homeland.house.gov\/2023\/12\/14\/now-nobody-crosses-without-paying-senior-border-patrol-agents-describe-unprecedented-cartel-control-at-southwest-border\/#:~:text=As%20noted%20in%20the%20Committee's,border%20has%20only%20increased%20since.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">is well aware<\/a>, the cartels are making <em>billions of dollars<\/em> off smuggling networks that move people from across the world to the Rio Grande.<\/p>\n<p>Many of the smuggled are in turn losers \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/nation\/interactive\/2024\/texas-border-eagle-pass-migrant-deaths\/#:~:text=Border%20Patrol%20agents%20documented%20281,for%20which%20data%20is%20available.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">almost a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/cbp-reports-illegal-immigrants-hitching-trains-to-enter-u-s\/\" title=\"CBP reports illegal immigrants hitching trains to enter U.S.\">thousand illegal immigrants<\/a><\/a> now die annually on our southwest border, and <a href=\"https:\/\/revistas.uam.es\/revIUEM\/article\/download\/7283\/7655#:~:text=Currently%2C%20the%20U.S.%20Department%20of,border%20from%20Mexico%20each%20year.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">thousands of young women and children<\/a> are smuggled across the border each year, many of them sexually exploited before and after entering the United States. \u201cThe most dangerous border in the world,\u201d was what the United Nations called it in a July 2022 special report.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-064c6c1786414fb24a9b53ca73d15a4a fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-10\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-064c6c1786414fb24a9b53ca73d15a4a\"><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Who Is Really to Blame for the Border Disaster?<\/h2>\n<p>In his book, Bensman relates interviewing cartel members on the U.S.-Mexico border. One such smuggler referred to what he termed \u201cla invitaci\u00f3n,\u201d the newly elected Biden administration\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2024\/03\/07\/politics\/kfile-biden-2-million-migrants-asylum-seekers-immigration-crisis\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">not-so-implicit welcome<\/a> to immigrants to cross the border and remain. Indeed, the hundreds of immigrants Bensman interviewed readily acknowledged that they had waited until Biden was elected to make the trek to the border because they viewed his administration as far more welcoming to illegal immigrants. \u201cMillions of foreign nationals saw it all as opportunity and joined Club America in the Biden administration\u2019s first two fiscal years alone,\u201d he writes.<\/p>\n<p>Bensman possesses the street cred to write authoritatively on this topic: He\u2019s written long-form investigative reports on Mexico\u2019s internal drug war, two of which won National Press Club awards, and then worked for the Texas Department of Public Safety and Center for Immigration Studies examining the migration crisis. Thus we should listen when he observes that until the current presidential administration, the highest number of Border Patrol apprehensions ever recorded was in fiscal year 2000 (1.6 million) and that such numbers did not occur again until fiscal year 2021, which saw a <em>400 percent increase<\/em> from fiscal year 2020. When Mayorkas was asked during a 2022 Fox News interview what Congress could do to help DHS deport more illegal immigrants, Mayorkas asserted that deportation was not a priority for his organization.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What Real Success Would Look Like<\/h2>\n<p>At the end of <em>Overrun<\/em>, Bensman urges politicians to carefully consider any legislation according to this litmus test: Will the proposal increase or decrease the odds of encouraging foreigners to enter the United States illegally? Yet he goes far beyond that, offering several explicit suggestions for how to begin to address our incredibly complicated border catastrophe. He recommends withdrawing from the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees treaty because it enables an asylum policy that \u201cnullifies most congressionally approved immigration statutes that should, if actually executed faithfully, staunch mass illegal immigration.\u201d Currently, America is bound by this treaty to consider even the most specious asylum claims by illegal immigrants, which they (and human smugglers) well know.<\/p>\n<p>Bensman also suggests reconstituting the Trump-era stop-gap measures that had stymied the attraction of the asylum system. He urges amending the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act to require the same treatment of non-Mexican children as Mexican children, which would allow for their expedited removal. He calls on the government to demand other countries end their controlled flow policies in favor of U.S.-funded infrastructure that would fly would-be immigrants to origin countries.<\/p>\n<p>As Bensman rightly notes, the current immigration crisis \u2014 which is still a crisis, despite the premature celebrations of liberal pundits \u2014 presents a rare opportunity, given bipartisan agreement to shore up our southern border and deter illegal immigration networks that threaten our economy, increase crime inside and outside the United States, and enable cartels. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2024\/02\/15\/biden-border-immigration-00141388#:~:text=Donald%20Trump's%20presidency.-,The%20numbers%20from%20the%20report%20released%20Thursday%20mark%20a%20grim,track%20immigration%20attitudes%20every%20year.\">Polling <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2024\/02\/15\/biden-border-immigration-00141388#:~:text=Donald%20Trump's%20presidency.-,The%20numbers%20from%20the%20report%20released%20Thursday%20mark%20a%20grim,track%20immigration%20attitudes%20every%20year.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">indicates<\/a> that even most Democrats disapprove of mass migration crises like the one we have experienced for years. Nor, ultimately, would it require a significant legislative lift \u2014 once our government scraps the asylum law that so kneecaps U.S. policy, Bensman believes the laws we already possess are \u201csufficient to end mass illegal immigration if merely enforced to the letter.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>The question then becomes: Who has the political will to do what is necessary to help both Americans and the millions of noncitizens encouraged and exploited to come here?<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-e3c0183c3d2e11a872dc35cd071c464c fdrlst__b89e9-after-post-content\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-e3c0183c3d2e11a872dc35cd071c464c\"><\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">    \t\t\t\t\t   \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border have decreased by over 40% since December, remaining stable this year. This marks a seven-year first where February to March crossings didn&#8217;t rise. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas stated on May 10 to NPR, &#8220;We have&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":658,"featured_media":2244814,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/immig2-e1715624354803.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2244813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/immig2-e1715624354803.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2244813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/658"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2244813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2244813\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2244814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2244813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2244813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2244813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}