New Report Shows Record Immigration Enforcement Spending

It should not be a surprise to readers of this blog that the Obama administration has made immigration its highest law enforcement priority, according to a report released today by the Migration Policy Institute. One of the authors of the report is Doris Meissner, former Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.  Other co-authors include Donald M. Kerwin, Muzaffar Chishti, and Claire Bergeron.

The federal government spent nearly $18 billion in immigration enforcement in fiscal year 2012, an amount approximately 24 percent higher than the combined spending on all other federal law enforcement agencies including the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Secret Service.

The fact is that our borders are much safer and better monitored that they have been in decades. Unprecedented manpower, infrastructure and technology deployed in the last ten years for border security efforts led to a drop in apprehensions at the Southwest border to a level not seen since the 1970s. The plunge in apprehension is widely viewed as an indication that fewer immigrants are crossing illegally into the U.S.

An "infographic" released today by the Center for American Progress researches similar conclusions.

• Net undocumented migration is now at or below zero.

• The number of people apprehended crossing the border has decreased, even as border agents now patrol every single mile of the border every day and in many places have 100 percent eyes on the border—meaning that they can view nearly all attempts to cross the border in real time.

• Annual deportations have reached historic levels.

• There are more “boots on the ground” at the border than there have ever been in history.

For more on the increase in immigration enforcement, click here.

KJ