The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) has a new report out yesterday that indicates that illegal immigrant numbers in the US are down this year most likely due to enhanced enforcement of immigration laws and the declining economy. Yet, they note that legal immigration numbers continue to rise.
Here is the opening paragraph of the report (A Shifting Tide: Recent Trends in the Illegal Immigrant Population):
Monthly Census Bureau data show that the number of less-educated young Hispanic immigrants in the country has declined significantly. The evidence indicates that the illegal population declined after July 2007 and then rebounded somewhat in the summer of 2008 before resuming its decline in the fall of 2008 and into the first quarter of 2009. Both increased immigration enforcement and the recession seem to explain this decline. There is evidence that the decline was caused by both fewer illegal immigrants coming and an increase in the number returning home. However, this pattern does not apply to the legal immigrant population, which has not fallen significantly.
And here is what they say about the increasing number of legal immigrants. I can tell you from the standpoint of refugee numbers coming into the US, that there has been no let-up due to the lack of jobs for refugees—-the State Department is keeping the spigot wide open and I guess they assume the refugees will just need more welfare.
In contrast to the likely illegal immigrant population, the top line in Figure 1 for the likely legal immigrant population does not show a decline. It shows a continual and relatively steady increase in size until the last few months, when the population fell slightly. Between the first quarter of 2007 and the first quarter of 2008 the population of likely legal adult immigrants grew 2.9 percent and over the same period in 2008 and 2009 it grew almost 1 percent. Whatever factors affect the likely illegal population, they do not seem to be impacting legal immigrants in the same way. While the economic downturn must have some impact on legal immigrants, there is no indication that their numbers have fallen in the way that that those for illegal immigrants have declined. Since only illegal immigrants face enforcement, this tends to support the idea that enforcement accounts for some share of the decline in illegal immigration.
As I have said before this idea of flooding the welfare system with angry poor people is the strategy first outlined by Saul Alinsky and then Cloward and Piven at Columbia University and carried on by Obama and his friends like Wade Rathke at the SEIU. One must create chaos to bring about change in our form of government. They must have the immigrants to do that! I predict as illegal immigration declines, legal immigration will be stepped up. And, I also predict, the Obama Administration will lighten up on enforcement (they already are!).
So for all of you having anxiety attacks over why they don’t follow common sense and slow all immigration until there are an adequate number of jobs for the newcomers, they don’t want to! The agitators must agitate!
There is an extra added bonus! The big business supporters of the Obama Administration get to keep labor costs low—-a win-win for Obama!
To new readers: We have 66 previous posts in our “community destabilization” category if you would like to better understand community organizers!