Editor’s Note – The Illegals Crime Report looks at crimes committed in the United States at the hands of those who shouldn’t be in the country.

Week of March 6-12

The Coronavirus is the talk of the world currently. President Donald Trump recently issued a ban on travel from Europe into the United States in an effort to prevent spreading the virus just as the Democrats were trying to pass the National Origin-Based Antidiscrimination for Nonimmigrants Act or the NO BAN Act, which was designed to prevent restricting travel and immigration from Islamic countries. Migration and especially illegal immigration remains one of the top debated issues in the country. The question is: how have the Trump administration’s immigration control efforts been standing up to the pressure?

Despite what the left argues, border apprehensions have not been as high as during the Obama administration, which saw more than 400,000 removals each year during 2012 and 2014. Although a Pew Research study on how ICE arrests and deportations have changed under Trump shows that U.S.-Mexico border apprehensions rose in 2019 to their “highest annual level in 12 years,” the numbers fell short of the levels in the 2000s. Fiscal year 2019 (October 2018 to September 2019) saw 851,508 apprehensions compared to 396,579 from the previous year.

What has Changed?

A growing number of migrants are seeking asylum and the demographics of those trying to cross over the border have changed, too. In the 2000s and early 2010s, the vast majority of border apprehensions were Mexicans; today, most are coming from what’s known as the Northern Triangle, which includes the countries El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. Families, not single adults, accounted for the biggest group apprehended in 2019 at 56%.

Of course, one of the biggest changes during the Trump administration is the plague of sanctuary cities that have sprouted up around the nation, prohibiting local and state law enforcement from cooperating with ICE in arresting and removing criminal illegal immigrants. A 2019 Pew report stated that 74% of Americans said it is “very or somewhat important to reduce the number of people coming to the U.S. to seek asylum.”

ICE released its annual operations report and said several factors were responsible for the decrease in interior arrests last year. Enforcement needs at the border due to so many more migrants trying to cross has forced them to divert about 350 officers to assist. However, the “lack of cooperation from an increasing number of jurisdictions nationwide” has further impeded its ability to protect our borders.

The left has criticized and demonized ICE so severely that people have demanded the federal organization be abolished. A September 2019 study showed that only 19% of Democrats or Democratic-leaning independents had a favorable view of the agency compared to 70% of Republicans. To make matters worse, ICE was among 16 federal departments or agencies to be rated by Americans in the study and the only one to be viewed more negatively than positively by the public (54% unfavorable views vs. 42% favorable).

Recently, the Supreme Court backed up the “Remain in Mexico” program the administration put into place, which requires asylum seekers to wait in Mexico until their claims are heard. As Liberty Nation’s Legal Affairs Editor Scott D. Cosenza said, “Wanting to live in the United States because of the standard of living, economic opportunities, and overall safety are not valid claims for asylum.”

Despite the numerous roadblocks and hurdles thrown at Trump and his staff, illegal immigration is still a top priority to the administration and the American people. A plethora of sickening reports of illegal aliens who were released from jail without local authorities notifying ICE only to commit another horrendous crime on society are becoming frequent splashes across front page news. Some of the demographics may have changed, but border control and protection is still a security need for this country and its people.

Tune in next week for more on the Illegals Crime Report.

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Read more from Kelli Ballard.