Three Trends to Put Trump ’s Anti-Immigration Executive Orders in Context

President Donald Trump has issued two executive orders on immigration so far —both of them undermine immigrants’ ability to live and work peacefully in the United States. The first focuses on the border crisis, mandating the construction of a virtually pointless border wall and cracking down on asylum seekers, and the second ramps up enforcement against immigrants residing illegally inside the United States. Here are three trends that put these orders in context.1. The administration will target asylum seekers during the largest U.S. asylum crisis in decades. More people came to the border last year to claim asylum than at any time since the Mariel Boatlift brought 125,000 Cubans to Miami in 1980. Figure 1 provides those numbers back to the 1990s when asylum law was last changed. In addition, it shows the huge number of unaccompanied children who are entering —all of whom are automatically considered asylum seekers and are referred for a formal hearing. The influx reflects the tremendous violence in Central America—specifically, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. These asylum seekers are not “illegal immigrants.”They are not attempting to sneak into the United States. They voluntarily  turn themselves into Border Patrol at the border. These numbers are somewhat lower than those in a Homeland Security report obtained by the  Associated Press that found 170,000 in 2014 and 140,000 in 2015, compared to 120,000 and 90,000 UACs and asylum seekers who made credibl...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs