Border crisis

[disgruntledemployee]

WRT to who is going to pick the veggies, I don't expect a hit to that ecosystem.  Migrant farm workers have been a thing for a long time.  A family I know that has a sizable farm operation in WI uses the same pool of workers every year and they have their paperwork in order.  Another example, I have family working in a shipyard and the co brought in some migrant workers for specific tasks.  This is a sizeable company where work can be dangerous, so you betcha they have their paperwork in order.  But then the visas were expiring and back they had to go.  But who makes sure they leave?  I think overstayed visas is an area that I think leads to large numbers of illegals.  Easiest kind of border crossing is one with good paperwork.

I'm still waiting for The Czar's report on the hugely number of MS13 gangers deported.

[streak]

The gray-tail deportation theater appears to have run its course. Do you suppose it got DOGE’d for its inefficiency?  Will Elon take credit for canceling it?  

https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/trump-deportation-flights-paused-cost-c37c577a?st=krQpMN&reflink=article_copyURL_share

[BashiChuni]

[M2]

Reference the above graph...

Amid Trump Crackdown, Illegal Border Crossings Plunge to Levels Not Seen in Decades

Washington — The number of migrants crossing the U.S. southern border illegally in President Trump's first full month in office plunged to a level not seen in at least 25 years, according to preliminary government data obtained by CBS News.

Last month, Border Patrol recorded about 8,450 apprehensions of migrants who crossed into the country unlawfully between official entry points along the U.S.-Mexico border, the statistics show.

On some days during a record spike in illegal crossings under the Biden administration, Border Patrol recorded more than 8,000 apprehensions in a single day.  

In January, Border Patrol agents at the Mexican border recorded 29,000 apprehensions, down 38% from 47,000 in December. The drop from January to February was even more pronounced, amounting to a roughly 70% decrease...

(Full story at title link)

[Day Man]

3 minutes ago, M2 said:

Last month, Border Patrol recorded about 8,450 apprehensions of migrants who crossed into the country unlawfully between official entry points along the U.S.-Mexico border, the statistics show.

On some days during a record spike in illegal crossings under the Biden administration, Border Patrol recorded more than 8,000 apprehensions in a single day.  

sounds like the BP was much better at apprehending people under Biden 💅

[Clark Griswold]

Tangent:

What a shock, paying for health care for people who are here illegally is a really bad financial idea

https://redstate.com/wardclark/2025/03/13/medi-cal-fail-providing-health-care-for-illegal-aliens-is-breaking-the-program-n2186631
 

[Lord Ratner]

1 hour ago, Clark Griswold said:

Tangent:

What a shock, paying for health care for people who are here illegally is a really bad financial idea

https://redstate.com/wardclark/2025/03/13/medi-cal-fail-providing-health-care-for-illegal-aliens-is-breaking-the-program-n2186631
 

San Francisco voters got what they voted for before finally realizing they wanted something a little different. Maybe this time the rest of California will have the same Revelation. Probably not though.

[Clark Griswold]

2 hours ago, Lord Ratner said:

San Francisco voters got what they voted for before finally realizing they wanted something a little different. Maybe this time the rest of California will have the same Revelation. Probably not though.

We might be there, taxes are high and wallets stretched thin, if I lived there I would tell them hell no to paying for this.  
Tell the wealthy bleeding hearts there is no law stopping them from self funding this other than the law of common sense, when I see Newsom et al write a check for 100k+ out of their pockets for these utopian ideas I’ll be surprised 

[17D_guy]

I know I'm one of the few liberals on here, but if you watch what Portland does to the rest of Oregon, it's the same thing. "We want a high speed rail line from the rich part of town to downtown Portland."

Rest of OR - "WTF, no."

Portland (and the leftists): "Too bad, it's green so here's a state tax on it."

I don't have time to read the article, plus I'd need to find something on the other side and/or more balanced, but paying for illegal adults who aren't enrolled in some kind of citizenship program and making progress on it...wtf? Doubly so if they're getting paid in cash so those taxes don't even get to come out.

I say all that and I was stationed at Vandenberg and had an apartment right across the street from the strawberry fields in Santa Maria. I'd wake up when those dudes had been out there for hours and watch them run to pick fruit. Hardest working people I've ever seen in my life. I was in little Mexico (west side of town) and never had any issues. Even the roughest looking punks were generally nice. Lots of families in my area. YMMV.

 

[M2]

8 hours ago, 17D_guy said:

I say all that and I was stationed at Vandenberg and had an apartment right across the street from the strawberry fields in Santa Maria. I'd wake up when those dudes had been out there for hours and watch them run to pick fruit. Hardest working people I've ever seen in my life. I was in little Mexico (west side of town) and never had any issues. Even the roughest looking punks were generally nice. Lots of families in my area. YMMV.

I don't think anyone is against legal immigrants, as noted this country was built on their labor which continues to this day.

And I work on the south side of San Antonio, which for all intents and purposes is tantamount to being in Mexico.   Folks are relatively friendly here as well, but there's also a fair amount of crime, gangs, drugs, etc. as compared with other parts of the city.

I know we've discussed the impact of illegal immigrants ad nauseam, but here are some facts from a January 2024 Congressional report (cited below) that put it into true perspective...

The average fiscal impact of an illegal immigrant is estimated to be around $68,000 over their lifetime, and in 2023, the total cost of illegal immigration to U.S. taxpayers was estimated at $150.7 billion, with the average taxpayer contributing approximately $1,156.

More details...

The current surge of illegal immigration is unprecedented. Some 2.7 million inadmissible aliens have been released into the country by the administration since January 2021. There have also been 1.5 million “got-aways” — individuals observed entering illegally but not stopped. Visa overstays also seem to have hit a record in FY 2022.

We preliminarily estimate that the illegal immigrant population grew to 12.8 million by October of 2023, up 2.6 million since January 2021, when the president (Biden) took office. This is the net increase in the illegal population based on monthly Census Bureau data, not the number of new arrivals.

Illegal immigrants have a negative fiscal impact -- taxes paid minus benefits received -- primarily because a large share have modest levels of education, resulting in relatively low average incomes and tax payments, along with significant use of means-tested programs and other government services.

Illegal immigrants can receive welfare on behalf of U.S.-born children. Also, illegal immigrant children can receive school lunch/breakfast and WIC directly. A number of states provide Medicaid to some illegal immigrants, and a few provide SNAP. Several million illegal immigrants also have work authorization (e.g. DACA, TPS and some asylum applicants), allowing receipt of the EITC.

The high welfare use of illegal immigrant households is not explained by an unwillingness to work. In fact, 94 percent of illegal immigrant households have at least one worker, compared to only 73 percent of U.S.-born households. But the nation’s welfare system is designed to help low-wage workers with children, which describes a very large share of illegal immigrant households.

In addition to consuming welfare, illegal immigration makes significant use of public education. Based on average costs per student, the estimated 4 million children of illegal immigrants in public schools created $68.1 billion in costs in 2019. The vast majority of these children are U.S.-born.

Use of emergency medical services is another area in which illegal immigrants create significant fiscal costs. Prior research indicates that there are 5.8 million uninsured illegal immigrants in the country in 2019, accounting for a little over one-fifth of the total population without health insurance. The costs of providing care to them likely totals some $7 billion annually.

Illegal immigrants do pay some taxes. We estimate that illegal immigrants in 2019 paid roughly $5.9 billion in federal income tax, $16.2 billion in Social Security tax and $3.8 billion in Medicaid taxes. However, as the net fiscal drain of $68,000 per person cited above indicates, these taxes are not nearly enough to cover the cost of the services they receive.

Illegal immigrants do add perhaps $321 billion to the nation’s GDP, but this is not a measure of their tax contributions or the benefits they create for the U.S.-born. Almost all the increase in economic activity goes to the illegal immigrants themselves in the form of wages.

Source: HHRG-118-JU01-Wstate-CamarotaS-20240111.pdf

[Lord Ratner]

1 hour ago, M2 said:

I don't think anyone is against legal immigrants, as noted this country was built on their labor which continues to this day.

And I work on the south side of San Antonio, which for all intents and purposes is tantamount to being in Mexico.   Folks are relatively friendly here as well, but there's also a fair amount of crime, gangs, drugs, etc. as compared with other parts of the city.

I know we've discussed the impact of illegal immigrants ad nauseam, but here are some facts from a January 2024 Congressional report (cited below) that put it into true perspective...

The average fiscal impact of an illegal immigrant is estimated to be around $68,000 over their lifetime, and in 2023, the total cost of illegal immigration to U.S. taxpayers was estimated at $150.7 billion, with the average taxpayer contributing approximately $1,156.

More details...

The current surge of illegal immigration is unprecedented. Some 2.7 million inadmissible aliens have been released into the country by the administration since January 2021. There have also been 1.5 million “got-aways” — individuals observed entering illegally but not stopped. Visa overstays also seem to have hit a record in FY 2022.

We preliminarily estimate that the illegal immigrant population grew to 12.8 million by October of 2023, up 2.6 million since January 2021, when the president (Biden) took office. This is the net increase in the illegal population based on monthly Census Bureau data, not the number of new arrivals.

Illegal immigrants have a negative fiscal impact -- taxes paid minus benefits received -- primarily because a large share have modest levels of education, resulting in relatively low average incomes and tax payments, along with significant use of means-tested programs and other government services.

Illegal immigrants can receive welfare on behalf of U.S.-born children. Also, illegal immigrant children can receive school lunch/breakfast and WIC directly. A number of states provide Medicaid to some illegal immigrants, and a few provide SNAP. Several million illegal immigrants also have work authorization (e.g. DACA, TPS and some asylum applicants), allowing receipt of the EITC.

The high welfare use of illegal immigrant households is not explained by an unwillingness to work. In fact, 94 percent of illegal immigrant households have at least one worker, compared to only 73 percent of U.S.-born households. But the nation’s welfare system is designed to help low-wage workers with children, which describes a very large share of illegal immigrant households.

In addition to consuming welfare, illegal immigration makes significant use of public education. Based on average costs per student, the estimated 4 million children of illegal immigrants in public schools created $68.1 billion in costs in 2019. The vast majority of these children are U.S.-born.

Use of emergency medical services is another area in which illegal immigrants create significant fiscal costs. Prior research indicates that there are 5.8 million uninsured illegal immigrants in the country in 2019, accounting for a little over one-fifth of the total population without health insurance. The costs of providing care to them likely totals some $7 billion annually.

Illegal immigrants do pay some taxes. We estimate that illegal immigrants in 2019 paid roughly $5.9 billion in federal income tax, $16.2 billion in Social Security tax and $3.8 billion in Medicaid taxes. However, as the net fiscal drain of $68,000 per person cited above indicates, these taxes are not nearly enough to cover the cost of the services they receive.

Illegal immigrants do add perhaps $321 billion to the nation’s GDP, but this is not a measure of their tax contributions or the benefits they create for the U.S.-born. Almost all the increase in economic activity goes to the illegal immigrants themselves in the form of wages.

Source: HHRG-118-JU01-Wstate-CamarotaS-20240111.pdf

The problem is that the well-off white people who populate the chattering class of activists, literally have no idea what it means to be poor. They don't know what lives the poor lead, and more relevant, they have absolutely no idea just how much the government supports the poor. 

 

They like to imagine illegal immigrants from Mexico and South America as a modern version of the poor Irish building skyscrapers in New York or the abused Chinese building out the railroads. It's simply not the case.

[blueingreen]

4 hours ago, M2 said:

I don't think anyone is against legal immigrants, as noted this country was built on their labor which continues to this day.

Very good post and thank you for sharing that report. I can only speak for myself, but I'm actually in favor of pausing most forms of legal immigration for some time while we try to sort out our domestic affairs. US immigration policy has historically been about keeping our doors shut and only opening them to newcomers when we need them. The four major influxes of people into the US occurred during the Colonial Era, the Civil War, the Ellis Island era, and now the floodgates have basically been open since 1965. We used to have a robust national quota system which ensured the country wouldn't be inundated with people from nations whose culture and values are radically different from our own, but this was removed by the Hart-Celler Act in 1965. And of course, regardless of where people are coming from, the expectation used to be that immigrants would assimilate completely (e.g., learn English, change their names, refuse to teach their children their native language or speak it in public, etc.) I also want to push back a bit on the traditional narrative of America being "built by immigrants", maybe you can give me your thoughts on it. To me, America was built by settler-colonialists, pioneers, and frontiersmen; The kinds of people who turned a vast, empty, and dangerous swath of land into a prosperous and functioning modern civilization in record time, on par with anything found in the Old World. It always irks me a bit when today's immigrants, both legal and illegal, are compared to those founding settlers, as if hopping on a plane and going to your new H1B job at Microsoft or crossing the Rio Grande and receiving government handouts is comparable to what newcomers used to have to go through. Maybe it's just the modern connotations of the word "immigrant" that I find objectionable. Still, it's undeniable that many people contributed to the success of our country.

[Clark Griswold]

Winning

https://www.theblaze.com/news/trump-water-mexico-treaty-cruz