How many undocumented immigrants are here in the US, actually?
No one knows.
They are..................... "
undocumented."
So, let's first take a look at how the politics have already influenced the conversation because the problem is not whether a person immigrating to the US is "
documented" or not. The problem is that they have crossed the border and entered the country illegally, or outside of the specified laws of this country that govern how, when, and where a person can do so. We have documentation of one kind or another on most of them.
The first year more than a million people immigrated into America outside the tenets of our laws was.....
1956! This problem has been going on for a long time. In the 1060s immigration laws were overhauled but the changes didn't address all of the problem. By the time Reagan left 3-4 million immigrants known to be illegally residing in the country were granted amnesty. About twice that many were granted amnesty before Clinton left office. Each time modest changes in immigration laws were made but none were significant, or sufficient enough to stop the problem. Obama, not Trump, was the first to build a wall, incarcerate border crossers, and separate families (under the auspices of caring for the children). Amnesty was again granted. Trump cut illegal border crossings about in half; some months illegals crossings were very low, comparatively, but the overall number of crossings during his entire presidency were about half of his predecessor. When Biden took office the numbers nearly tripled! A marked decrease occurred during the early summer due to new executive orders but those decreases never went below pre-Biden numbers. The number of crossings, removals, and cumulative total for 2021 is meaningless because it is what has happened since then that needs to be addressed. It is estimates 8 million people have entered the US with some form of governmental record since Biden took office, and another 2 million for which there is no documentation. Those are the documented undocumented.
No one has a clue how many people have entered the country unnoticed.
That is a very real problem.
Much of this "
X number entered this month/year" is propaganda. So too is the fearmongering of criminals, terrorists, and diseased. Those are legitimate concerns, but they constitute a small portion of all immigrants (at least as far as we know) and focusing on that portion serves as a red herring, a distraction from the reality:
The cumulative total of people entering the country illegally is in the tens of millions of people. Appeals to humane concerns, hospitality, and asylum are, likewise propaganda. Perhaps there is a legitimate need to leave one's country of origin and yes, we should treat everyone, including criminals, humanely but this too obfuscates the current reality and the problem it presents:
As much as 15% of the country's current population could be here illegally, but no one knows the exact number.* The same holds true for appeals to "immigration reform." Immigration reform is not border security. It is not bad immigration policy and law that has prompted as many as 45 million people to come our way and cross our border since the turn of this century. For a law-abiding country the number is immaterial. It is not okay that 1000, 100, or 10 people cross the border illegally. No border can be controlled 100% but that has nothing to do with the fact people become criminals the instant they violate our laws (one of which requires any asylum seeker to apply for asylum in the first country they enter).
* A Google search shows several sources reporting only 3-4% of the population is here illegally, but the current total US population is 345 million, the 2000 population was 280 million, and 45 million are estimated to have entered the country since 2000. That constitutes 13% of the current population, and 16% of the Y2K population. Lest anyone think I've been too legalistic or otherwise rigid... I've sponsored four people to come to this country. Three of the four have become citizens and upstanding members of their community. The other one became an alcoholic (or was so before he arrived) and will not hold a job, support his family, or enter rehab.
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www.politifact.com
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