If a market-based solution is not passed now the system as weve known it for the last 35 years is likely to persist for decades
WASHINGTON D.C. (Texas Insider Report) The illegal population of the U.S. if we include asylum seekers will have increased by 550000 in Fiscal Year 2019" says Immigration Analyst Steven Kopits president of Princeton Policy Advisors in the groups new report. The numbers are the result of a combination of those who crossed the U.S.-Mexico Border undetected and those released into the country after being apprehended at key border crossings.
The estimated 550000 represent more than half of the 850000 apprehended at the U.S. Border during fiscal 2019.
In his analysis Kopits used the historical averages for illegal immigrants let into the country while their claims for asylum and other freedoms work through the legal system.
The numbers break down this way:
- Approximately 350000 children traveling alone and adults with children were likely released into the U.S.
- Approximately 200000 crossed the border undetected.
For those migrants who are already present in the US status issues are a primary concern said the report.
These reflect the inability to function properly owing to a lack of legal status including difficulties in obtaining a drivers license legal work renting a dwelling obtaining a phone and other similar constraints.
This category also includes the risk of deportation (which represents) about 2 per year from the interior of the US and the stress of being unable to be with relatives and friends who have stayed behind in Mexico or Central America the report noted.
President Trump has promised to cut illegal immigration but has been thwarted from implementing his get-tough policies in part by his Democrat critics in Congress the slow construction of a new border wall and judicial challenges mounted in the courts.
However Kopits noted in the Princeton Policy Advisors Report that the administrations diplomatic agreement to get Mexico to hold immigrants seeking to cross the border is working.
He noted that some 50000 immigrants were deported to holding areas in Mexico.
Approximately 852000 persons were apprehended entering the U.S. southwest border illegally in FY 2019. Of these roughly 550000 were children traveling alone or children and adults in family groups said the report.
News reports indicate that approximately 50000 of this group were deported to holding camps in Mexico under the Migrant Protection Protocol.
Of those remaining in the U.S. we estimate that 70 were released into the U.S. interior pending status hearings for example the adjudication of asylum claims.
In this said Kopits President Trump represents a unique and perhaps non-recurring opportunity. While the President has often been criticized for his unrelenting pursuit of the illegal immigration issue his focus has forced the nation to try and address the subject.
This creates an opportunity a limited window in which to propose an alternative policy.
If a market-based system is not championed now said Kopits the system as we have known it for the last 35 years is likely to persist for decades at vast human cost.
Without active intervention the Princeton Policy Advisors Report notes at the current pace over the next 25 years:
- 25000 migrants will die or be killed in transit
- 500000 migrants will be kidnapped and held for ransom
- 2500000 migrant women will face rape or coerced sex
- 300000 migrants will be trafficked into forced prostitution or labor
- 500000 avoidable cases of drug smuggling across the southwest border will occur
- 1500000 migrants will be unnecessarily incarcerated
These losses would be almost entirely avoidable Kopits notes in the report.
The time to act is now.
