January 14, 2019
General Facts
-According to a recent Yale/MIT study there are 22 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S, not 12 million as is usually reported.
-More than half of the illegal immigrants living in the U.S. have come in through the southern border.
-There were close to 400,000 apprehensions at the southern border in 2018.
-In the last few months 2,000 migrants a day have been arrested for breaching our southern border.
-Every day 50 migrants reach our border with an illness requiring medical attention.
-Last month more than 20,000 children were smuggled into our country.
-Customs and Border Patrol arrested more than 17,000 adults with prior criminal convictions at our southern border last year.
-6,000 gang members were apprehended at the border last year.
-Due to the influx of those breaching our border there is a backlog of over 800,000 migrants living in our country pending their asylum hearing. Many never show for the hearing; and 90% do not even qualify for asylum.
-It is not just Central Americans and Mexicans crossing over our southern border. Border patrol has reported that migrants from 41 different countries have been recently apprehended at the border.
Crime
-Many thousands of Americans have been killed by an illegal immigrant. There’s no way of knowing an exact number because the federal government does not quantify this data.
-Almost all of the illicit drugs being supplied to our citizens come through our southern border. Weekly, 300 Americans die from a heroine overdose.
-In 2018, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents seized 2,400 lbs of fentanyl; enough to kill the entire population of the United States.
-There has been a “…122% increase in fentanyl being smuggled between ports of entry at the southern border over the last year (FY17-FY18) (Department of Homeland Security statistics).
-In total 1.7 million lbs of narcotics were seized at the border last year.
-Drug cartels control much of the land on the Mexican side of our border, therefore many migrants hire smugglers to make the journey, putting them at risk of being a victim of human trafficking, and abuse.
-Between 60% and 80% of all women making the journey up to our southern border are sexually assaulted.
-21% of all federal inmates are non-citizens. State and local prisons do not provide information about immigration status of their inmates, making alien criminality difficult to assess.
Financial Cost
-Cost is not easily determined. By many accounts illegal immigration costs American taxpayers over $150 billion dollars a year.
-Overwhelmingly, immigrants use welfare at a higher rate than native born Americans. Overall, 63% of non-citizen households are using a welfare program. That percentage increases to 70% for those in the country longer than 10 years.(The Center for Immigration. Studies
-73% of Central American immigrant households living in the United States receive at least one form of welfare. (The Center for Immigration Studies).
-The average immigrant household consumes 44% more Medicaid dollars than the average native household. (The Center for Immigration studies)
-The average immigrant household consumes 57% more food assistance than native Americans. (The Center for Immigration studies)
-American citizens finance $18.5 billion in health care annually for illegal immigrants living in the U.S. (Forbes)
-Most immigrants are uneducated and low-skilled therefore they compete with and bring down wages for low-skilled Americans
Why We Should Build a Wall
-The men and women on the front line believe that walls work. 89% of Border Patrol agents believe that a wall system is necessary to secure our border.
-Carla Provost- Chief of U.S Border Patrol has stated that a border wall is crucial to the efforts of preventing Mexican drug cartels from entering our country.
-Ronald Vitiello- the Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement “You always have a safer border where you have that barrier. ”
-According to Acting Chief of the Rio Grande Valley Sector, Raul Ortiz, 96% of the migrant traffic occurs where there is no physical barrier.
-Brandon Judd, a Border patrol agent for 21 years, recently stated that “anywhere you look where we have built walls they have worked.”
-Where walls have been constructed they have been proven to be effective, dropping illegal border crossings by :
92% in San Diego
95% in El Paso
90% in Tuscon
95% in Yuma
