As has been widely reported, the number of apprehensions of migrants at the border is dramatically down. Viewed in isolation you could say we got a handle on the problem.
But then you have what DHS terms “gotaways,” migrants detected crossing the border illegally, but who were able to evade capture. The official number of these elusive folks varies, but it is several hundred a day,
The phenomenon gets under the skin of many border nuts. The situation is even worse because there is no way to count the migrants smuggled in who are even detected.
Similarly, these xenophobes have convinced themselves that unlawful entry into the United States is a huge problem. Exactly how?
Many millions of undocumented immigrants have been slipping across the border. They find a place to live in bad neighborhoods and take on the grinding, grimy and poorly paid jobs Americans would never consider taking.
If you view undocumented immigration abstractly, one could become apoplectic at the very idea of the law being broken massively.
But in on-the-ground terms the migrants don’t touch the lives of white Americans.
Illicit immigration is a victimless crime unless you count the migrants who are cruelly under paid.
Dangerous criminals prefer to break the law in Mexico because it’s easier to avoid arrest there. Stats show that migrants do not commit more crimes than legal residents.
As long as there are employers happy to hire migrants they will come.
Ricardo Chavira Chicano 