Immigration Law

REPORT FINDS ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION SLOWING

By Greg Siskind

The Pew Hispanic Center estimates the number of illegally present immigrants entering the US each year has dropped from 800,000 to 500,000 just in the last few years. They don't specify why this is happening except to acknowledge the two reasons being touted by advocacy groups:

The estimates are not designed to explain why the net growth rate has declined.
There could be a number of possible causes, including a slowdown in U.S.
economic growth that has had a disproportionate impact on foreign-born Latino
workers, at the same time that economic growth in Mexico and other Latin
American countries has been stable. Another factor could be a heightened focus
on enforcement of immigration laws, which a recent Pew Hispanic Center survey
indicates has generated worry among many Hispanics.

This bodes well for immigration reform in a likely friendlier 111th Congress that will be swor
94 - Free Legal Formsn in next year. Many moderates on the restrictionist side have stated that once there was clear evidence that the borders are secure, then we can look at the illegally present population and longer term solutions. Studies like this one will make it easier to argue that this benchmark has been achieved.

Full post as published by Greg Siskind's Blog on October 02, 2008 (boomark / email).