After six years of steady decline, illegal border crossings have been on a slight uptick over the past two years. To date, U.S. Border Patrol agents have apprehended just over 388,000 people through the first 11 months of its fiscal year which ends this September. That number was already up 6.5 percent, ahead of last year's total 12-month pace. Some economists point to this as a sign that the nation's economic recovery is gathering momentum as people cross the border seeking employment.
Despite new trends, border apprehensions remain far below the 1980 to 2005 peak when U.S. agents apprehended over 1 million people each year. As previously eluded to, from 2005 to 2011, attempted crossings dropped steadily each year thereafter as the recession dried up job opportunities stateside.
Among the people apprehended at the border, Mexican nationals remain the largest category. However, in the past few years OTMs - people from places other than Mexico - have grown to represent a third of seizures. Most of the OTMs are people from Central America.
Meanwhile, another U.S. agency, ICE or Immigration and Customs Enforcement, began a new wave of crackdowns on employers suspected of hiring illegal immigrants. Last month it notified 1,000 businesses that they must submit documents for audits, noted Mike Oscar in the Northeast Dairy Farmer Cooperatives newsletter. The so-called silent raids are the largest since July 2009. When asked about the audits, ICE responded that the agency inspects hiring records "when necessary . . . to ensure compliance with U.S. employment laws," noted Oscar.
As this all takes place, elected House officials continue to take little action on immigration reform. Earlier this year, the Senate passed a comprehensive immigration reform package. However, the House is pursuing an approach that favors a series of bills on specific immigration reform issues like border security, agriculture workers and how to address children who were brought to the U.S. illegally by their parents, noted John Hollay with the National Milk Producers Federation.
While that may be the case, the House still hasn't passed any immigration reform legislation and the window is quickly closing, as 2014 is an election year. As we all know, very little will likely take place then as representatives seek re-election.
