In the big picture the caravan isn't even a drop in the bucket....
US Border Crisis: 100,000 Illegal Immigrants in 60 Days
"Smuggling groups exploit loopholes in US immigration laws amid congressional inaction
WASHINGTON—
A caravan’s worth of illegal immigrants cross the border every day—as has been the case for years. But the numbers are currently on a sharp upward trend.
The recent caravan of around 8,000 migrants mostly from Honduras—an anomaly because of its size and propensity for violence—created a media frenzy for a couple of weeks, but while the coverage has waned, the illegal border crossings haven’t.
In the past two months alone, more than 100,000 people have been apprehended for illegally crossing into the United States. That’s the highest number for October and November in four of the past five years (the end of 2016 spiked before President Donald Trump took office).
During fiscal 2017, almost 400,000 people were apprehended along the southwest border after crossing illegally—averaging out to almost 1,100 per day. A further 124,500 turned up at ports of entry without documentation.
Driving the increase are family units from Central America.
A snapshot of the border crossings on Dec. 3 highlights the trend, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Kevin McAleenan.
“The highest numbers of arrivals at our southwest border in years—3,029 illegal entries and inadmissible persons—arrived at our border last Monday. 85 percent of them crossed illegally,” McAleenan said during a Senate oversight hearing on Dec. 11.
He said the numbers included 1,731 members of family groups and 350 unaccompanied children.
“We will more than double last year’s record number of family units at this rate,” he said. A family unit consists of at least one child and one adult.
Less than a decade ago, most illegal border-crossers were single adult males from Mexico.
Now, it’s family units and unaccompanied minors seeking asylum, which presents a whole different set of challenges. These groups made up fewer than 10 percent of illegal border crossings up until the year 2012. Last month, they made up 59 percent, according to McAleenan.
Before 2013, fewer than one percent of illegal immigrants claimed asylum. Now, it’s more than one in 10, he said.
“These increases and demographic changes in crossings are direct responses to the vulnerabilities in our legal framework that have become well-known to smugglers and migrants,” he said.
While 89 percent of asylum-seekers from Central America pass an initial credible-fear screening at the border, only 9 percent are subsequently granted asylum by an immigration judge, according to the
U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
Of those who pass their initial screening, 40 percent then fail to lodge an official asylum application and 31 percent fail to show up for their immigration court hearing,
according to the DOJ. And, of those, most remain in the wind.
“Indeed, only 1.5 percent of family units from Central America apprehended [in fiscal] 2017 have been removed to their countries of origin, despite the fact that most will not end up having valid claims to remain in the United States when their court proceedings conclude,” McAleenan said.
“That perception—that our system will allow them to stay in the United States indefinitely—is clearly the driving pull factor for those making the journey to our border. Along with important push factors, which include challenging conditions in many parts of Central America.”...……"
