AZMEX I3 5-12-17

AZMEX I3 5 DEC 2017


How Trump turned tide of illegal immigration in first year: Border crossing hits 45-year low
By S.A. Miller - The Washington Times - Tuesday, December 5, 2017
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/dec/5/border-crossings-hit-45-year-low-under-trump/

Illegal border crossing plunged to a 45-year low and arrests of illegal immigrants inside the U.S. surged in the first year of the Trump administration, according to year-end enforcement numbers that the Department of Homeland Security released Tuesday.

The figures reflected a stunning turnaround in immigration enforcement under President Trump, who made combating illegal immigration a cornerstone of his campaign for the White House.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported 310,531 apprehensions nationwide in fiscal 2017 that ended Sept. 30, a decline of 25 percent from a year earlier and the lowest level since 1971.
A total of 303,916 of Border Patrol arrests were along the Southwest border, which the agency said underscored the need for a border wall that Mr. Trump wants to build.

At the same time, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested 143,470 illegal immigrants living in America, a 25 percent increase from the previous year.
Acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke credits Mr. Trump with reversing the policies of the Obama administration to unleash enforcement of immigration laws.

"We have clearly seen the successful results of the President's commitment to supporting the front line officers and agents of DHS as they enforce the law and secure our borders," she said. "We have an obligation to uphold the integrity of our immigration system, but we must do more to step up and close loopholes to protect the American worker, our economy and our communities."

Jessica M. Vaughan, the director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington think tank, agreed. "It is that simple," she said. "The Obama administration had a deliberate policies to restrict immigration enforcement to only the most egregious cases. We saw a decades-long low particularly in interior enforcement."

The lack of enforcement enticed more people to illegally cross the border, but the Trump administration early on changed that calculation, Ms. Vaughn said.

"I'm very encouraged by these statistics," she said. "They really picked up the pace of criminal removals and they are going after gang members, because that is such a big problem in certain communities, because of the lack of border security. They also are going after fugitives, people who have had their day in court, ignored removal orders and have stayed here. That was a big group of people that the Obama administration ignored. And the same is true of people who have been deported multiple times before."

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Note: From AP

Border arrests drop, deportations soar in Trump's first year
Elliott Spagat , Jill Colvin , Associated Press
11:08 AM, Dec 5, 2017

http://www.kgun9.com/news/local-news/border-arrests-drop-deportations-soar-in-trump-s-first-year?page=2

Reasons for the precipitous drop in border arrests are unclear, but Trump's election may have deterred people from trying. Trump has yet to get funding for the first installment of his proposed border wall with Mexico, and the number of Border Patrol agents has declined as the government struggle to fill vacancies continues during his presidency.

The numbers released Tuesday provide a complete statistical snapshot of immigration enforcement under Trump. And they show that deportation officers are taking his call for an immigration crackdown to heart, even without the funding increase that the president has sought from Congress for more hiring.

Trump campaigned as an immigration hard-liner, accusing Mexico of sending rapists and other criminals to the U.S. and promising to build "a great wall on our southern border." As president, he has signed a series of travel bans aimed at curtailing who can enter the country, pushed to overhaul the legal immigration system and tried to crack down on so-called sanctuary cities that refuse to share information about illegal immigrants with federal authorities.

"We have clearly seen the successful results of the president's commitment to supporting the front-line officers and agents of (the Department of Homeland Security) as they enforce the law and secure our borders," acting secretary Elaine Duke said in a statement. "We have an obligation to uphold the integrity of our immigration system, but we must do more to step up and close loopholes to protect the American worker, our economy, and our communities."

Officials stressed they believe a border wall is still necessary.
Homan said that, every time a wall barrier has been built, illegal crossings had decreased significantly.
"Why would we not want to build a wall?" he asked. "What is the cost of national security and public safety?"

Despite the overall decline in border arrests, the numbers have increased every month since May - largely families and unaccompanied children.

About 58 percent of Border Patrol arrests were people from countries other than Mexico - up from 54 percent from a year earlier - largely from Central America. Starting around 2011, large numbers from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras began entering the country in South Texas, which replaced Arizona as the busiest corridor for illegal crossings.

Ronald Vitiello, Customs, and Border Protection's acting deputy commissioner, said he was "very concerned" about increases in families and children crossing in recent months. During the fiscal year, which included the Obama administration's final months, border authorities stopped people traveling as families 104,997 times on the Mexican border and unaccompanied children 48,681 times.

CBP also said inspectors at land crossings, airports and seaports denied entry 216,370 times during the fiscal year, a decline of 24 percent from 2016. Border Patrol arrests occur outside of those official points of entry.

CBP, which has faced allegations of excessive use of force, said its employees used firearms 17 times during the fiscal year, down from 27 the previous year and 58 in 2012. It said its employees were assaulted 847 times, compared to less than 600 each year going back to 2012.

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Note: See also: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-42234585