Report: Illegal Immigrant Population Soars to New Record
A new report says that the country’s illegal immigrant population has swelled to the point where it is larger than the individual populations of 46 states.
According to the Federation for American Immigration Reform, there are 14.5 million illegal immigrants in the United States.
That’s higher than the populations of every state but California, Texas, Florida and New York, according to Infoplease.
The report notes that America’s four most populous states owe their standing in part to large populations of illegal immigrants within their borders. Overall, about 7 million illegal immigrants live in the states of California (3 million), Texas (2 million), Florida (1.1 million) and New York (1 million), according to the report.
The report noted that the rise in illegal immigration was affected in 2020 by COIVD-19.
“Thanks to a timely travel freeze implemented by the Trump administration to stop the spread of the virus, far fewer people entered the United States in recent months, so far fewer people had the opportunity to overstay their visas. Additionally, with fewer available jobs in the United States, especially in industries that attract illegal aliens, traffic at the southern border slowed significantly for several months during a time of year when apprehensions typically increase significantly,” the report said.
FAIR noted that despite those restrictions, illegal immigration rose last year, and is likely to do so in the future, citing the “promise of a wide-sweeping amnesty from the incoming administration” among other factors.
“Even amidst a global pandemic, where a number of immigration and border restrictions have been put in place, illegal immigration has continued to unacceptably climb,” said Dan Stein, president of FAIR, said in a news release.
“It is clear that the Biden administration’s immigration proposals — including a mass amnesty for the nation’s illegal alien population, deportation freezes for at least 100 days, and construction halts of the southern border wall — are motivating aliens to enter into the country illegally. These figures are only likely to surge in the next few years,” Stein said.
Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida on Saturday pledged to introduce legislation to “stem the tide of the rampant and unyielding illegal immigration we’ve seen for decades at the Southern border,” according to WCTV-TV.
“President Biden’s plan of open borders and amnesty isn’t about practical reforms – it’s a radical and dangerous subversion of law and order. We can and must do better,” he said.
Biden has said he will end the flow of migrants from Central America to the U.S. by pumping $4 billion into nations such as Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
Leave it to President Biden to waste more of our tax dollars on foreign nations…https://t.co/hrjaskrmHt
— Anthony Laurie (@AnthonyALaurie) January 24, 2021
“Pouring aid into corrupt, predatory governments and abusive security forces is not the answer,” said Lisa Haugaard, co-director of the Latin America Working Group, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Biden has also called for a path to citizenship for all illegal immigrants currently in the country. Republicans and conservatives have rejected rubber-stamping his proposal.
Joe Biden is wasting no time trying to enact his radical immigration agenda.
He’s unveiling his draft immigration bill this week, and it’s what you’d expect from the party of open borders: Total amnesty, no regard for the health or security of Americans, and zero enforcement.
— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) January 18, 2021
“There are many issues I think we can work cooperatively with President-elect Biden, but a blanket amnesty for people who are here unlawfully isn’t going to be one of them,” said Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, according to The Associated Press.
“Past proposals at least accepted the concept of turning off the faucet and mopping up the overflow. This is nothing but mopping up and letting the faucet continue to run,” said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies.
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