It appears that despite only a have hearted security crackdown on the Mexican boarder. Illegal immigration is down sharply compared to last year, U.S. border agents detained 55,545 illegal migrants between October and June. That's down 38 percent for the entire border compared to the same period a year before.
In fact, Mexican shelters, instead of being filled with northbound migrants, are filling with southbound deportees for the first time.
U.S. and Mexican officials say increased border security have thwarted smugglers who had succeeded for years at beating the system. The biggest drop in Border Patrol detentions is a 68 percent decrease in the remote, heat-seared desert surrounding Yuma, Ariz., once popular with smugglers.
Border Patrol spokesman Jeremy Chappell credits the additional troops and tougher security. "Where an alien before was able to sneak across, now he has the National Guard watching him," Chappell said.
Migrants also say that the public debate on immigration has made them feel Americans are increasingly hostile toward them."It's the discrimination, It's making people step back. It's just too much of a risk. It's better to be out here." says 28-year-old George Guevara, who was deported to Tijuana last month after living in the U.S. for 18 years.
New measures announced Friday will force employers to fire anyone who cannot prove their Social Security numbers are legitimate. U.S. agriculture employers are complaining where most workers are believed to be working with false documents, that they will not be able to find workers to harvest their crops.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon said on Thursday, "The U.S. Congress, which today turns its back on reality, knows full well that the American economy could not move forward without the labor of Mexicans."
I suspect that the truth is when U.S. employers start to pay competitive wages for their less desirable jobs then our capitalistic economy will supply the workers to do them. Prices will be higher but those prices will reflect the true cost of producing them, and labor to harvest them will be a larger percentage.
And perhaps we will get to the second part of the equation, reforming the immigration system to supply a truly realistic number of legal immigrants to support our economy. And not make some sort of second class citizens i.e. Guest Workers or H1B visas.
For more on the Border Crackdown working take a look at these ABC News:Border Crackdown Working, Numbers Show, USA News and World Reports:Immigration Crackdown May Work--by Accident, Freedom Folks: Enforcement Works?? and Red State:Addressing Immigration Without Comprehensive Reform.
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