On the 5th of December 2017, Forbes published an article – “Where’s the Immigration Crisis? U.S. Border Patrol Reports Illegal Border Crossings At Record Low.” The article cites a report by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) that reveals relatively lower number of cases of illegal immigration to the USA in financial year 2017.
On December 15, 2017, another popular American publication, Washington Times published a story titled – “Illegal immigration on border surges back to Obama levels.” This news story claimed the opposite of what was published at Forbes sparking a heated debate amongst intellectuals and liberals in the country, online sources revealed.
The story published at Forbes, by Stuart Anderson – executive director of the National Foundation for American Policy – revealed that CBP reported 310,531 apprehensions and 216,370 inadmissible cases in FY17 marking a decline of 23.7% as compared to the previous year. On the other hand, Washington Times Staff writer – Stephen Dinan revealed in his story that around 40K illegal immigrants were arrested by CBP in November 2017 for trying to jump the border. The numbers are reportedly 12% higher than October 2017.
Since the publishing of both these stories, people reported being confused about the state of Homeland Security. However, sources in online media cited an industry insider revealing that both articles are correct in terms of facts and data.
Experts say the article published at Forbes is based on data from FY 2017 that ended in the month of September 2017. However, the yearly data was impacted soon after President Trump resumed office; thereby, bringing the yearly average down.
Industry insiders say the Washington Times article refers to the data of FY 2018. According to Ronen Kurzfeld, a Toronto immigration lawyer, illegal immigration has been on the rise since April 2017. In fact, the number of cases of illegal immigration at the southwest border is back to what it was during the time of President Obama.
Online media sources further cite insiders as supporting the claims of the Washington Times’ article as the present state of affairs concerning illegal immigration. Many people expect that the steep rise in the number of illegal immigrants will spike the crime rate. However, others believe the rise in the number of illegal immigrants will boost the US economy in 2018 (and beyond) since most illegal immigrants turn to the country for work. These people also believe the rise in the number of illegal immigrants will come in handy for reconstruction work and residue cleaning after California fires and fall hurricanes.
Insiders have also said that 2018 may see the highest number of cases of illegal immigration for the entire decade. They also believe 2018 will see the highest death figures for illegal immigrants trying to cross the border.
Immigration experts will be keeping a close eye on how U.S. Customs and Border Protection handle illegal immigration into the USA in 2018, and beyond.
