The American media doesn’t seem to learn from experience. They are hurtling toward total irrelevance as they continue to lead the resistance to Donald Trump. Apparently oblivious to his national mandate to address our country’s illegal immigration crisis, they have taken up staunch opposition to his promise to undertake “the largest deportation program in American history to get the criminals out” of the country. They are blanketing their “reporting” with deportation stories, doing all they can to stoke fear and hysteria about what is to come and create a citizen backlash.
The media showed little interest in reporting on the actions of the Biden/Harris administration that led to our current illegal immigration crisis. On day one of his administration Biden paused border wall construction, rolled back immigration enforcement, and suspended Trump’s remain in Mexico policy which required asylum seekers to remain in Mexico until their claim was processed through the judicial system. The Biden administration chose instead to release illegal immigrants into the country in a practice known as catch and release.
The liberal playbook relies on manipulating people through emotion. As Trump is about to return to the Presidency, the media is speculating about his plans to deal with illegal immigrants: Trump is going to deport every person who is in the country illegally. He will use the military to pluck “law abiding” people from their homes and separate parents from their children. He will create an economic crisis by sweeping the migrant laborers out of the country who are a vital part of the American workforce. The cost of deporting illegal immigrants will be unbearable to American taxpayers.
The Facts
During the Biden presidency, an estimated 10 million “removable noncitizens” (a term used to describe those who are not eligible to enter the country) were encountered at the border. There were another 1.5 million “got aways.” The number of illegal immigrants living in the country today is estimated to be between 12 and 17 million. As word of our open border spread around the world, migration quickly expanded from Mexico and countries in Central and South America to countries from all around the world. More than 1,850 individuals on the terrorist watch list have been detained since 2021 and there is no way to know how many on that list made it into the country.
According to a New York Times report, approximately 1.3 million individuals in the United States have deportation orders, including those who had their asylum claims denied. They have been told to leave but remain in the country.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as of July 2024, there were 425,431 non-citizens with criminal convictions on ICE’s “non-detained docket” – a database of people facing deportation proceedings but who are not held in ICE custody.
Of these:
- 13,099 were convicted of homicide
- 15,811 were convicted of sexual assault
- 62,231 were convicted of assault
Last August, ICE issued a “management alert” that said, “ICE cannot always monitor the location and status of unaccompanied migrant children who are released from DHS and HHS custody.” There are an estimated 300,000 migrant children under the age of 18 in this category. These unaccounted-for children are vulnerable to sex trafficking, slave labor, drug trafficking and other criminal abuses.
Migrant Labor, Legal and Illegal, Is Integral to the U.S. Workforce
There are approximately 22 million noncitizen immigrants lawfully working in the United States. According to estimates from the Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS) and other groups, as many as 8.3 million undocumented immigrants also work in the US economy, or 5.2 percent of the workforce. Illegal immigrants generally are not highly educated and often work in construction, restaurants, agriculture, landscaping, and food processing among other occupations.
The Cost of Illegal Immigration to American Taxpayers
The millions of illegal immigrants that have entered the country as a result of the Biden/Harris policies have added crippling cost to cities and towns across the country. Illegal immigrants receive welfare benefits including public education, health care, food, and housing. Rough estimates of cost provided by the Center for Immigration Studies in testimony to a committee of the House Judiciary Committee in January of this year included:
- $42 billion for welfare benefits for one year
- $68 billion a year for public education before the immigration surge of the Biden years with an additional $1.7 billion a year for every additional 100,000 children
- $7 billion a year for uninsured emergency care
The Return to Common Sense
Illegal immigration is a longstanding problem in the United States. For decades, presidents and members of Congress have ignored their responsibility to effectively address it. The Biden administration’s willful negligence has forced the issue into public view and created the mandate for meaningful reform. The immediate challenge will be deporting and/or determining the plan for millions of illegal immigrants who arrived during Biden’s term. The immediate priority for deportation is the nearly 2 million who have criminal convictions or orders to leave the country. This monumental undertaking alone qualifies as the “mass deportation” Trump promised the country while campaigning.
The return to common sense demands much more than mass deportation. A secure border is the top priority. No less important are the need to manage legal immigration in a way that meets our needs and determining how the workers who are in the country illegally but essential to our economy can participate legally. The time for turning a blind eye to those who are here illegally has passed.
Tom Homan has been named Trump’s “Border Czar.” He has called Biden’s open border policy the greatest national security threat since 9/11. He is a tough cop with a big heart who is fully prepared to carry out the responsibilities of the largest deportation program in American history. He has clearly stated threats to public safety and national security are the priorities for deportation. He is committed to finding the 300,000 unaccompanied minors the system lost track of.
The United States of America has a great legacy as a nation of immigrants. Our ancestors were diverse people who came here legally, drawn to the promise of freedom in pursuit of the American dream. We are a great melting pot of those who became one people out of love of country and commitment to shared ideals. Our ancestors learned English, worked hard, and contributed to making the United States the greatest country in the world.
We have allowed ourselves to drift from this legacy in recent years, tolerating illegal entry, accommodating dependence and failure to assimilate. A future that welcomes and requires legal immigration, embracing American ideals, self-sufficiency and mastering English, the language of our country, will make America great again. Now is the time to make our expectations clear.
On election night a triumphant Donald Trump spoke to a group of supporters declaring his victory a time of “historic realignment” that will unite Americans with a “common core of common sense.” Something to look forward to.
