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There is little doubt that illegal immigration has reached epidemic proportions — amounting to an invasion. As bad as it has been in the past, it has escalated exponentially as the political winds have shifted leftward. As more and more liberals become more and more militant in making illegal immigrants the poster children of their political campaigns, the illegal immigration invasion has nearly doubled in flow over the last year and is, in fact almost equal to that of the past two years combined.
Recent numbers from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) show that by the end of the fiscal year (September 30), Border Patrol agents will encounter 1.1 million people attempting to illegally cross into the United States. That projection is based on the fact that as of June 30, Border Patrol agents had already encountered 905,926 migrants who were not legally able to enter the United States. Of 905,926, 694,229 had already entered illegally and were apprehended. The numbers do not include those who managed to enter without being detected.
To put those numbers into perspective, a statistics page on CBP’s website shows that in fiscal year 2017, the total of enforcement actions (those turned away plus those apprehended) was 526,901 and in fiscal year 2018, it was 683,178.
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Of the 683,178 attempted or successful illegal crossings, 404,142 were apprehensions of those who had entered illegally, but were caught doing so. Of those, 369,579 were along the Mexico/U.S. border — leaving only 34,563 coming in from any other direction. That means that the number of attempted or successful illegal border crossings along our southwest border grew substantially from FY2017 to FY2018, but has taken off like a rocket in FY2019 — with an increase of nearly 100 percent.
Any honest effort to describe the inflow of illegal immigrants across the southwest border almost dictates the use of the word “invasion,” though some erroneously see that description as racist. And — to put in the for-what-it’s-worth column — the use of that word takes into account the salient fact that those who enter into the United States illegally do so because, despite the existence of a process for legal immigration, they do not qualify to do so legally. They are already breaking the law by breaking into this country; to expect them to then act as law-abiding visitors is unrealistic. In fact, statistics show that illegal immigrants are responsible for a disproportionate amount of crime — including violent crime — committed each year. If the crisis of illegal immigrants pouring into the United States is not an invasion, the word is without definition.
And while whiners and complainers on the Left use the “plight of immigrants” detained in Border Patrol detention facilities to decry the inhumanity of America — likening those facilities to Nazi concentration camps — the reality is that their shrieks and cries appeal only to those who have already decided to agree that America is evil and illegal immigration should be legal. Ignoring facts will never make a wrong position right. And as Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Ron Johnson stated, “Given this flow, no one should be surprised that Border Patrol stations are well beyond their capacity,” adding, “Rather than point fingers at the brave men and women of DHS, who have done their best with the limited resources we have provided them, members of Congress should be acting on legislation to solve the underlying problems.”
Along that same line is a statement in March by Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan that CBP facilities were designed to be capable of comfortably holding 4,000 detainees, with “crisis level” reached at 6,000. As of his statement, an “unprecedented” 13,400 were in custody and occupying those facilities. As of this writing, that number is more than 19,000.
In short, those who would illegally cross the border, but instead find themselves apprehended and detained in overcrowded facilities have themselves and their “friends” on the Left to thank for their plight. Themselves, because they are knowingly breaking the law in attempting their illegal entry; their “friends” on the Left, because those “friends” are lying to them and using them as fodder in their political revolution against the basic principles of America.
The next time you hear leftist revolutionaries whining about those “poor migrants” suffering in “concentration camps,” remember that they are part of a criminal invasion — the likes of which America has never seen — who have been lied to by those very leftist revolutionaries who are lying to America. And remember that an invasion of this nature is much, much more than America is prepared to deal with.
Blaming the victim of an unprecedented invasion for not being prepared to deal with the unexpected magnitude of that invasion in the humane manner in which it has always dealt with more manageable numbers of invaders in the past is beyond ridiculous. It can only be understood by the realization that the Left has deliberately manufactured the crisis as something to use as a revolutionary tool and that those illegal immigrants are not victims of America, but of the Left.
Photo: nito100 / iStock / Getty Images Plus
