WCA November 2010

The US steps up border security even as illegal immigration falls off dramatically A curiosity of the employment-centred national debate over illegal immigrants in the United States is the drop in their numbers by almost two-thirds over the past decade, a dramatic shift after years of growth. According to a report released 1 st September by the Pew Hispanic Center, a Washington-based “fact tank,” between 2000 and 2005 an average of 850,000 people a year entered the country without authorisation. As the economy went into recession between 2007 and 2009, that number fell to 300,000. The sharp drop-off has contributed to an 8% decrease in the estimated number of illegal immigrants living in the US, from a peak of 12 million in 2007 to 11.1 million in 2009, the report said. Of the 11.1 million, 8.9 million came from Mexico and elsewhere of Latin America. The unemployment rate for unauthorised immigrants is 10.4% higher than that of either US-born residents or legal immigrants, the Pew report said. Douglas Massey, a Princeton University sociologist who studies migration, told the Washington Post that the recession and lack of jobs are major factors in the decline of illegal immigration. Other likely reasons for the decline cited by Dr Massey include an increase in law enforcement and deportations, and enactment of stricter legislation against illegal immigrants. He also pointed out the growth in guest-worker spots for legal arrivals – from 104,000 in 2000 to 302,000 in 2009. “Life’s gotten pretty miserable for immigrants in the United States,” Dr Massey told the Post ’s Tara Bahrampour, noting that, even for legal immigrants, many of whom have relatives who are unauthorised, the heightened scrutiny has been stressful. (“Illegal Immigration to US Down Almost 67% Since 2000, Report Says,” 1 st September) Taken together, the trends in both legal and illegal immigration have reduced the percentage of unauthorised US residents from 31% of all immigrants in 2007 to 29% in 2009. According to Jeffrey S Passel, the senior demographer at Pew and an author of the new report, this represents the first statistically significant reversal in the growth of the US population in 20 years. As to a possible future reversal of this movement, Mr Passel commented, “In the past the flows have moved in line with the state of the US economy. But we have stepped up enforcement [of the laws governing immigration]. Right now, both are working in the same direction. If the economy turns around and enforcement is increased, we don’t know.” The number of illegal immigrants arrested by the US ❖ ❖ Border Patrol has plummeted by almost two-thirds in just five years: a result, authorities say, of the double deterrent of a weak US economy and tighter security at the crossings from Mexico. But the cost of the effort is bracing. The statistics that follow were supplied by Dennis Wagner of the Arizona Republic (20 th June). Today, there are 22,800 US Border Patrol agents, five times the number in 1993. About 17,000 agents work along the Southwest corridor, double the number from

35

Wire & Cable ASIA – November/December 2010