The one about illegal immigration
Image: National Archives
US Border Patrol made 2.4 million migrant arrests on the southern border this fiscal year – a 37% increase from the previous year and the highest number ever recorded, per new federal data published late last month.
📝 A deeper dive… The increase was largely driven by an influx of Venezuelan, Cuban, and Nicaraguan migrants attempting to cross the border. Together, the three groups combined for 571,000+ arrests, more than 4x higher than the preceding year.
But that doesn’t tell the whole story. Border Patrol officials say the total arrest numbers overstate the amount of unique individuals trying to illegally cross the border, since many migrants are released into Mexico after being arrested and try to cross again (aka recidivism).
- Over the past two fiscal years, agents have reported recidivism rates of 27% and 26%, respectively – nearly double the 14% average from 2014 to 2019.
- Most experts attribute elevated recidivism rates to a Covid-era policy, called Title 42, that allows border agents to immediately expel migrants into Mexico without granting them asylum, with no other repercussions.
📸 Big picture: The US population is around 330 million people. 47 million of them were born elsewhere (~1 in 7), and an estimated 11.4 million are unauthorized immigrants (~1 in 30), per gov’t figures.
- On the legal side of things, the federal government admitted 262,000 of the 648,000 immigrants who applied for US residence – aka a green card – in the 2021 fiscal year.
📊 Flash poll: Do you personally consider illegal immigration to be: a crisis, a fairly significant problem, a minor problem, or not a problem for the US?
See a 360° view of what the media is saying →
Sprinkles from the Left
- Some commentators argue that our current immigration crisis is a direct result of the current hyper-partisan political climate, where working across the aisle is demonized rather than celebrated.
- Others contend that voters should demand politicians who have a real plan to solve our immigration system, rather than our current lawmakers who bring lots of fiery rhetoric, but no real action.
- “Immigration insanity“ –Albany Times-Union Editorial Board
- “Time to tackle immigration reform” –Anderson Herald Bulletin Editorial Board
- “Immigration’s Burden Doesn’t Fall on a ‘Handful of Red States’” –Eduardo Porter, Bloomberg
Sprinkles from the Right
- Some commentators argue that the recent surge in migrants at the southern border can be directly attributed to President Biden and his administration’s policies, which perversely incentivize migrants from Central America to make the arduous journey to the US.
- Others contend that the catch-and-release policies from the Biden administration have induced so many illegal migrants to attempt to cross our southern border that Border Patrol can’t process them fast enough.
- “Biden’s New Border Record” –WSJ Editorial Board
- “How Biden broke our immigration enforcement agencies” –Washington Examiner Editorial Board
- “What’s Wrong with Illegal Immigrants?” –Rich Lowry, National Review
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