How Many Illegal Immigrants Are Too Many?

The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday concerns the invasion of illegal aliens at America’s southern border. According to federal records, 240,988 migrants were encountered at the southern border in October 2023. The number of encounters along the southern border in September totaled 269,735 (the highest month on record). The total for August was 232,963, and the total for July was 183,479. Jennie Taer wrote about the problem for The Daily Signal.

By my calculations, there were 927,165 illegal immigrants cross the southern border in a period of just four months. Three times that for a year, and it is approximately three million! Four times that number for Biden’s administration, and it is twelve million, and that is only the migrants that we know about!

“In conjunction with our resumption of removal flights to Venezuela consistent with delivering consequences for those who cross the border unlawfully, CBP saw a 65 percent decrease in southwest border encounters of Venezuelans in the second half of October, compared to the second half of September,” Troy A. Miller, senior official performing the duties of the commissioner, said in a statement regarding the new data.

“In October, CBP also saw an overall decrease of 14 percent between ports of entry, as well as an overall decrease of family units. [We had fewer families seeking a better life but plenty of military-age young men. Why should this concern us?] We continue to enhance our border security posture and remain vigilant,” Miller added. [Why not just close the border?]

The number of encounters of illegal migrants exceeded 188,000 at the southern border in October, while the number of migrants encountered at ports of entry surpassed 52,000, according to CBP data. Of those processed at ports of entry, 44,000 used CBP One, a phone application the Biden administration allows migrants to use to book appointments to enter the U.S.

“CBP’s narcotics seizures in October highlight our work on the frontline in the fight against fentanyl and other dangerous substances entering the United States – but we need more resources to sustain and increase these efforts. [Just close the border!] The President’s supplemental budget request is critical to funding the frontline, and would provide much-needed personnel, resources, and technology to go after transnational criminal organizations, enhance border security – including the enforcement of consequences for those who break the law – and support state and local partners, all to keep Americans safe,” Miller added.

The people running the Biden administration are either idiots, or they are deliberating bringing in millions of military-age young men to use in the destruction of the government of the United States. I do not think that they are idiots. I believe that they know what they are doing. Therefore, they are traitors to our nation. I hope that they can be stopped before they destroy America!

What Do the Numbers at the Southern Border Say?

The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday is the House Judiciary Committee hearing held Thursday at the southern border. The second hearing of the committee focused on the effects that the border crisis has on a local Arizona community. The site of the hearing was Yuma County, Arizona, about 150 miles southwest of Phoenix. Rep. Jefferson Van Drew (R-N.J.) gave the following explanation. 

It’s about time we told the truth. It’s about time we fix this problem.

And here’s the bottom line, it is fixable. We don’t have to have this happen. This was self-created by President [Joe] Biden, by Secretary [of Homeland Security] Alejandro Mayorkas, and this administration.

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) opened the hearing. “It’s a shame that not one Democrat member of Congress would join us on this trip despite having weeks of advance notice.” The reason given by Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) for no Democrats attending the hearing at the border was that they considered the hearing to be a “stunt.” He also claimed that Republicans had not consulted with the Democrats on the committee.

The Republicans on the committee listened, took notes, and asked questions as the three witnesses discussed the surge of illegal aliens crossing the border and how they affect their community. The witnesses were Jonathan Lines (a Yuma County district supervisor), Yuma County Sheriff Leon Wilmot, and Dr. Robert Trenschel (president and CEO of the Yuma Regional Medical Center). The following numbers were discussed in the hearing.

·         “The numbers of encounters this January last month was more than a third higher than the last two Januaries of the Trump administration combined.” (Jordan)

·         There were 156,274 encounters of illegal migrants at the border in January. That number was 35,905 in January 2018 and 58,317 in January 2019. (CBP)

·         There were 2.3 million land encounters with migrants at the southern border in fiscal year 2022 (ending September 30). (CBP)

·         There were 870,000 total encounters between Oct. 1 and Jan. 31 (the first four months of fiscal year 2023). (CBP)

·         There were 14,000 pounds of fentanyl that were seized by CBP in fiscal year 2022, and more than 12,000 pounds seized between October and the end of January. (CBP)

·         Yuma Regional Medical Center is owed $26 million by the federal government for medical services provided to illegal immigrants. (Trenschel)

·         Migrant maternity patients are the most common type of patient at the Medical Center causing planned deliveries for members of the community to be rescheduled. (Trenschel)

There is a growing crisis at the southern border that was caused by Joe Biden when he ended successful border policies put in place by Donald Trump. There are somewhere between five million and seven million illegal immigrants who have entered the United States in the past two years.

Those numbers do not include the “got-aways” – illegal migrants who were seen by border agents but not processed. The numbers also do not include the numbers of unseen illegal immigrants who have crossed into the United States. The problem will continue to grow until the federal government decides to do its job to protect the sovereignty of the United States.

What Is Wrong with Martha’s Vineyard?

            Arizona Governor Doug Ducey and Texas Governor Greg Abbott tried to get the attention of President Joe Biden and his administration with words and pictures. When Biden continued to ignore them, they began busing illegal immigrants to New York City and Washington, D.C. The Democrat mayors of the two cities howled in protest and begged for help from the federal government.

Yet, many Americans did not hear about the crisis at the southern border until Florida Governor Ron DeSantis flew roughly 50 asylum-seeking immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard last month. The media compared flying the migrants to Martha’s Vineyard to the killing of six thousand Jews in World War II. The rich people in Martha Vineyard – a small, liberal island off the coast of Massachusetts – could not manage having the migrants on their island and arranged to bus them to a military base in Cape Cod the day after their arrival.

Jarrett Stepman compared the plight of the 15,000 residents of Martha’s Vineyard dealing with about 50 illegal immigrants to the numbers of migrants crossing into the border towns. Martha’s Vineyard had just as many or more facilities to care for fifty migrants as the border towns have to deal with the hundreds or thousands of illegal immigrants that come to their towns every single day. Here is Stepman’s “profile of the crisis of illegal immigration for six cities in Texas and Arizona – mostly as small or even smaller than Martha’s Vineyard.” 

Uvalde, Texas

The horrific mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, exposed some of the indirect effects of President Joe Biden’s border crisis. The city of just over 15,000 has been inundated with illegal immigrants and asylum-seekers since that crisis exploded.

The Center Square reported on the surge in April:

Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin said [U.S. Customs and Border Protection] agents told him to expect up to 150 people to be released daily into his community, Fox 29 News reported. A minimum of 150 people released a day, 365 days a year, translates to 54,750 people being released into a town with a population of roughly 17,000….

Del Rio, Texas

It was in Del Rio that photos of Border Patrol agents attempting to stop incoming Haitian migrants went viral. Even though they were doing their job and were cleared of the charge of “whipping” the illegal aliens, the Biden administration still threw the agents under the bus.

Del Rio has dealt with the enormous challenge not only of a general increase in illegal immigration, but, in 2021, tens of thousands of Haitian migrants showing up all at once. Many of these asylum-seekers eventually were expelled from the country, but the flood of illegal immigration remained a huge problem for the local community.

Del Rio has a population of 34,673. In January, nearly that many illegal immigrants crossed into the Del Rio sector along the border. This from a February report by the Washington Examiner:

Last month, 30,773 people were encountered illegally crossing the border in Border Patrol’s Del Rio sector, which spans 240 miles of the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico boundary. For each of the tow of Del Rio’s 34,673 residents, one noncitizen was taken into custody….

El Paso, Texas

The West Texas city of El Paso, also located on the southwest border, has been inundated with illegal immigrants. This past year, the problem became extreme.

“Unauthorized border crossings climbed 71% in Border Patrol’s El Paso Sector in the first quarter of fiscal 2022, compared to the same three-month period a year ago,” the El Paso Times reported in January. “U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported 49,012 encounters [in] October through December in the sector that includes West Texas and New Mexico, up from 28,553 in the first quarter of fiscal 2021.”

It’s now even worse.

Since the beginning of September, over 1,000 migrants arrive every day in the city of just under 700,000.

El Paso may be larger than other border towns, but that doesn’t mean it’s able to handle the sheer quantity of people it’s been expected to process….

Eagle Pass, Texas

The 50 asylum-seekers flown to Martha’s Vineyard by DeSantis started their journey in Eagle Pass, Texas.

While Martha’s Vineyard struggled to deal with 50 migrants, Eagle’s Pass concurrently was hit with 500 illegal immigrants crossing the border in a two-hour period, according to Fox News. 

It’s an increasingly common occurrence in the besieged border town of 28,000, which is almost entirely Hispanic and where per capita income is $18,832 a year.

Fox News national correspondent Bill Melugin reported that more than 450,000 illegal crossings occurred this year in the Eagle Pass sector….

Yuma, Arizona

Texas isn’t the only state with besieged border towns. Yuma, Arizona – a city of 97,000 – has been swamped with illegal immigrants.

“You have mayors from Washington, D.C. and New York City that are complaining about a couple of thousand people over three or four months – we’re seeing those numbers monthly or even weekly,” Yuma Mayor Doug Nicholls, a Republican, told reporters, according to Conn Carroll at the Washington Examiner. “If those few thousand people are having an impact, imagine the impact of over 200,000 people.”

In December, Nicholls declared a state of emergency after 6,000 people were encountered coming across the border in just four days. The Border Patrol was unable to respond to the number of people crossing, prompting migrants to walk into town looking for help, Nicholls said. He left the state of emergency in place for the past five months because he has ‘not seen anything from the administration or the [homeland security] secretary that looks like it’s going to change this flow.’ …

Gila Bend, Arizona

An even more extreme example of an even smaller Arizona town dealing with a gargantuan illegal immigration mess is Gila Bend.

Gila Bend has just 1,900 residents but has been a dumping ground for illegal immigrants picked up elsewhere by the Border Patrol. The rural community is about 80 miles north of the border and essentially has no infrastructure to accommodate the waves of migrants dropped off there.

It’s hardly the kind of place that is equipped to handle more than a handful of arrivals….

            Martha’s Vineyard should be ashamed of itself. Its liberal friends leave the border open and allow five million migrants to cross into the United States illegally. The rich enclave should do its share in caring for their invited guests!

From a Trickle to a River

            One of the fact of life is that humans generally ignore problems until they become bigger or too big to ignore any longer. A slow drip from the kitchen faucet may be ignored for days or weeks before it gets fixed. A few rabbits hopping around the neighborhood are cute until they start digging holes under your home or eating all the plants in your garden. This weakness in humans tends to be worse in governments.

            The situation with North Korea is one such problem. Previous Presidents of the United States did their best to ignore the threats coming out of North Korea or to appease the leader of the rogue state. The threats kept getting worse until Donald Trump became the President. He labeled the dictator – Rocket Man – and isolated him using tactics straight out of Sal Alinsky’s book. When the Rocket Man threatened to hit the United States with rockets, Trump simply said, “My red button is bigger than yours!” Rocket Man did not back down until he came face to face with a leader that would not put up with his tactics any longer.

            Another such situation is the southern border of the United States. Illegal aliens have been entering the United States for dozens of years, and several Presidents from Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama talked about securing the border but took little action. The illegal immigrants kept coming, and the numbers have swollen. Finally, we elect a President who is willing to build a barrier to protect the southern border, but Congress fights against it.

            We need a strong barrier to stop the hordes of people pouring over our border and to protect our nation and people. There are thousands of people entering our nation every single day who should not be here, and they are committing all kinds of crimes including murder. Democrats do not want to fund a barrier because it would give Trump a win as well as stop potential future Democrat voters.

            Things are so bad on the border mow that even Jeh Johnson, former chief of the Department of Homeland Security under Barack Obama, says there is a crisis. In an appearance on MSNBC, Johnson said that the situation now is worse than anything he saw. 

My staff would tell you, if [there] were under 1,000 apprehensions the day before, that was a relatively good number. And if it was over 1,000, it was a relatively bad number and I was going to be in a bad mood the whole day.

On Tuesday, there were 4,000 apprehensions. I know that a thousand overwhelms a system; I can’t imagine what 4,000 a day looks like. So, we are truly in a crisis.

            Johnson was interviewed by Fox News and said about the same thing. “By anyone’s definition, by any measure, right now we have a crisis at our southern border.” Most Democrats still do not care and consider it a win-win situation for them either way. They can either show that Trump is not capable of keeping Americans safe, or they get thousands or millions more potential voters. They are so drunk on power that they do not care about America or Americans.

            Our nation is being invaded, and our President has been trying to get a barrier to stop the hordes. Democrats have fought him every step of the way because a border wall would be bad for the Democrat Party. They need as many illegal aliens here as possible even though there are already upwards of 22 million illegal aliens in the United States. If this river of immigrants continues, it is estimated that 1.5 million more will enter our nation this year.

            Illegal immigration is now at the crisis level, and Democrats never allow a good crisis to go to waste! We should have taken care of the immigration problem when it was just a trickle and never allowed it to become this raging river of illegal immigration. The do-nothing Democrats have caused this crisis, and it is time to vote all of them out of office in 2020!

Border Crisis

            The U.S. Senate is set to vote on a joint resolution of disapproval of President Donald Trump’s claim of a national emergency on the southern border. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the resolution last week, and the Senate seems to be ready to do the same.

            It seems that Senator DavidPerdue (R-Georgia) decided to see the situation in person, so he traveled to the southern border and to speak with the Border Patrol. He says that he was not prepared for what he saw. 

I saw something that I was not expecting….

I expected to see the human trafficking, and we saw that with (Border) Patrol overnight…. What I was not prepared for was the size and scope and how dramatically the drug trafficking has grown….

This is a drug crisis of gargantuan proportion.

            The Senator explained that Border Patrol agents are “distracted” by human trafficking, and the Mexican cartels slip drug traffickers through the border. It seems that the drugs are the money makers with $30 billion compared with $2 in human trafficking. He said that there is “no doubt in his mind” that there is a crisis at the border and reminded us that walls work. “We know that where you build walls, illegal activity drops by 95 percent.”

            Maybe it is time for Mitch McConnell to take all the Senators on a field trip to the border. If the liberals in Congress – including Republican Senators Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Susan Collins (Maine), Thom Tillis (North Carolina), and Rand Paul (Kentucky) -- saw the same things that Perdue saw, they might not be so willing to jump on the Democrat-sponsored resolution of disapproval of President Donald Trump’s claim of a national emergency taking place on the border.

            President Trump does not seem too concerned that the resolution was passed by the House of Representatives or the possibility of one being passed by the Senate. “We have too many smart people that want border security so I can’t imagine it (the resolution) will survive a veto.” It seems that he will take his chances in his efforts to secure the border and protect the American people with or without help from Congress.

Build a Border Barrier

            President Donald Trump is adamant about building a barrier along the southern border of the United States. His “big, beautiful wall” of cement has changed to a barrier of slatted steel, but his intent is the same. The President is listening to the Border Patrol agents who say that they want a barrier that they see what is happening on both sides. It seems like a reasonable request, and the President agrees with it.

            It is difficult for me to understand how the Democrats could approve funding a barrier in 2006 and refuse to fund one in 2019. Besides the question of what happened to the funds approved by President George W. Bush in 2006, Americans are demanding an answer to the Democrat opposition. So far, we have been told that a wall is “immoral” and “ineffective” by politicians that have walls around their personal properties.

            James Carafano posted an article at The Daily Signal claiming that things have changed at the border since the Secure Fence Act of 2006 was passed by Congress. He says that the focus has changed from an attempt to “catch illegal border crossers” and deport them to so-called “families” and refugees seeking asylum. 

            Carafano says that building fences in areas that had a lot of traffic helped to “deter or slow crossings” and assisted Border Patrol agents to “catch the illegal immigrants within 100 miles of the border.” “The fencing was both an effective deterrent and a helpful enforcement tool, increasing the likelihood of expedited removal. As a result, illegal crossings declined.”

But the threat to the border has evolved. Those crossing the border with children and claim to be related as well as those who claim refugee status are not put in expedited removal. Both have become popular tactics to “beat” the system.

The only way to prevent abuse of the asylum process is to keep would-be immigrants on the other side of the border until 1) they submit formal asylum claims at official points of entry and 2) those claims have been evaluated.

Making that happen requires more and improved walls. Indeed, Trump’s wall policy reflects the advice of government’s border security professionals.

            I appreciate Carafano’s explanation about the change in threats at the border. His explanation clearly shows why Trump is so insistent about building a barrier. The fact that illegal aliens are bringing diseases, crime, and drugs with them should be enough to convince liberals to build the wall, but they still oppose a barrier.

            Carafano states the obvious in that any “similar request from any other president would be considered unremarkable.” The liberals are more against Trump than they are against a barrier, but the effect on the nation is the same. Carafano’s article has some good arguments against all reasons given for the barrier being unneeded and ineffective.

            There are people who claim that there is no problem at the border because more immigrants enter the country legally and never leave. Carafano agrees that there are many people who overstay their visas. However, the people who came on visas were “screened for security, public safety, health, criminal, and public charge risks,” while those who cross the border “illegally haven’t been screened at all – making them a potentially higher-risk population.” Carafano says that both of them are problems, and “good policy must address both.”

            Carafano says that another “weak argument” is that “drugs and other bad stuff are mostly smuggled through the ports of entry.” He admits that the argument has truth in it, but “smuggling also occurs elsewhere along the border. Again, good policy must address both dangers.” He also says that better border security would “channel more smuggling attempts to ports of entry” which are better “equipped to screen for bad things.”

            Carafano claims that “the weakest argument against border walls is that they create a humanitarian crisis.” He explains that the current situation means that legitimate refugee claims are delayed because the system is overwhelmed. The loophole allowing “families” to enter is bringing more children to the border and not always by a family member. He calls this “an epidemic of child endangerment.”

            Still other people argue that the illegal immigrant problem can be handled in different ways than building a barrier. Carafano agrees that they are right. The administration should take steps to “crack down on illegal immigration – from closing catch-and-release loopholes in the wall, to working with Latin American countries to stem the causes of illegal migration and combat criminal cartels.” He says that Trump’s proposed package “complements these efforts. It is not one or the other.”

            Trump believes that there is a national security problem on the border and fully intends to build a barrier there. He opened the border to give Democrats an opportunity to make good on their promise to work on border security, but he does not hold out much hope of them doing so. He said that there is a “good chance” that he will declare a State of Emergency. Breitbart News says, “Declaring a national emergency would allow the president to shift funding to secure the border without Congress, although it would likely be challenged in court.”

            Nancy Pelosi has proven that she is a liar and more interested in the possible votes of illegal immigrants than in security for Americans. Why Democrats continue to support a fake like her is more than I can understand. I fully support building a barrier on the southern border in order to control better who enters our nation.

Southern Border Crisis

                Something is happening on our southern border, something that is causing problems for some Americans and may soon affect all Americans.  It appears as though we no longer have a border between Mexico and the United States.  Thousands of young and unaccompanied children from Central America - most from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras - are illegally crossing our southern border at an increasing rate.

                Columnist Peggy Noonan compared the crisis on our southern border to a house with problems.  “It’s like you live in a house that’s falling apart.  The roof needs to be patched and there are squirrels in the attic, a hornet’s nest in the eaves.  The basement’s wet.  The walkway to the front door is cracked with grass growing through it.  The old boiler is making funny sounds.  On top of that it’s always on your mind that you could lose your job tomorrow and must live within strict confines so you can meet the mortgage and pay the electric bill.  You can’t keep the place up and you’re equal parts anxious, ashamed, and angry.  And then one morning you look outside and see … all these people standing on your property, looking at you, making some mute demand.  Little children looking lost – no one’s taking care of them.  Older ones settling in the garage, or working a window to the cellar.  You call the cops.  At first they don’t come. Then they come and shout through a bull horn and take some of the kids and put them in a shelter a few blocks away.  But more kids keep coming!  You call your alderman and he says there’s nothing he can do.  Then he says wait, we’re going to pass a bill and get more money to handle the crisis.  You ask, `Does that mean the kids will go home?’  He says no, but it may make things feel more orderly.  You call the local TV station and they come do a report on your stoop and then they’re gone, because really, what can they do, and after a few days it’s getting to be an old story.  No one’s in charge!  No one is taking responsibility.  No one who wants to help has authority, and no one with authority is helping.

                “America is the house that is both falling apart and under new stress.  Those living within it, those most upset by what they’re seeing, know America has big problems – unemployment, low workforce participation, a rickety physical infrastructure, an unsound culture, poor public education.  And of course discord of all sorts – a lot of made squirrels running around the attic.  They know America can’t pay its bills.  They fear we’re living on the fumes of greatness.  They want us to be strong again.  Watching our border collapse doesn’t look like a harbinger of progress.”

                The crisis at the border is not new; it has been going on for more than two years.  At the onset of the problem, Governor Rick Perry of Texas tried to alert the federal government of the increasing numbers of children.  Nothing was done to stop the flow.  Approximately 50,000 children have crossed the border into the United States with a projected number of 90,000 crossing by the end of 2014.

                It seems that anyone with common sense can see that we have a crisis, but our President considers fundraising for Democrats as being more important than solving the border problems.  He does, however, have time to request more money from Congress to use in caring for the illegals. Even Donald Trump can see that “This influx is killing the country.”

                Illegal immigrants – the word illegal now being equated with the N-word – are being treated better than other Americans.  We have children and teens in our own nations needing food, clothes, etc.  We have sick and injured military veterans needing medical care.  We have millions of people without jobs.  Unskilled immigrants are taking jobs formerly filled by black Americans.  Illegals are indeed killing our country.

                It appears that Barack Obama and other liberals are inviting the influx of illegals into our nation.  The word has gotten back to people in Central America that our nation does not deport people who come here illegally.  They apparently believe that they will be allowed to stay if they can just make it across the border.

                We have thousands of children coming into our nation without adult supervision.  No child should have to face the horrors of being so alone and so vulnerable.  What will these children handle this trauma and how will it affect their future lives?  What kind of problems will face these children next year – and many years from now?  Do we really want to invite them into our nation?  I think not.  I do however believe we should be compassionate and tender with them as we send them back to their countries of origin.  Our nation has a true crisis on our southern border.  We need leaders who can make tough choices; we need leaders who will do the jobs we elected them to do; we need leaders who will put Americans first!