Illegal Immigration Declining, Report Shows

CBS/AP

The number of undocumented immigrants living in the United States has declined significantly for the first time in two decades, according to a report from the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center. The population of undocumented immigrants fell by 8 percent to 11.1 million in March 2009, compared with a peak of 12 million in March 2007.

The drop in the population can be attributed to the reduced flow of illegal immigrants coming into the United States. It fell by nearly two-thirds in the period between 2007 and 2009 when compared to the period between 2000 and 2005, according to Pew.

The number of undocumented immigrants fell in three states between 2008 and 2009, Pew found: Florida, Nevada and Virginia. Additionally, the combined population of illegal immigrants in Arizona, Colorado and Utah also decreased from 2008 to 2009.

The new figures add context to the renewed national debate over illegal immigration, which gained steam after Arizona enacted a new, controversial law that makes it a state crime to be in the country illegally.

While Arizona, Colorado and Utah combined may have hosted fewer undocumented immigrants in 2009 than in 2008, the report also shows that undocumented immigrants made up 5.8 percent of Arizona's total population in 2009. The only states in which undocumented immigrants make up a larger share of the population are California, Nevada and Texas.

The Pew report did not explore the reasons for the overall decline in the number of incoming illegal immigrants. However, a variety of factors could be at work, from the poor economy, to new policies enacted in the United States and elsewhere, as well as increased enforcement of immigration laws. The Obama administration has emphasized this year that it has placed "unprecedented" resources at the Southern border. Deportations of illegal immigrants are up under President Obama.

The Pew report's findings were praised by Mark Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates tighter immigration controls, the Washington Post reports.

The figures contradict "the idea that the only options before us are mass expulsions or mass amnesty," he said. "This finding points to the middle way, of a consistent decrease of the illegal population over time through enforcement."

[jgbennet]

could this be what is going on?

he Art of Propaganda: 7 Common Tactics Used to Influence Behavior

In 1939, the New York-based Institute for Propaganda Analysis published an article on the seven common propaganda devices with the aim of encouraging critical, rational thinking amongst citizens.

Here are the seven common propaganda devices:

1. Name-calling

This involves the use of words to connect a person or idea to a negative concept. The aim is to make a person reject something without examining the evidence because of the negative associations attached to it.

Examples of words include ?Terrorist?, ?Nazi? and ?Queer?.

Name Calling is used as a substitute for arguing the merits of an idea, belief, or proposal. It is often employed using sarcasm and ridicule in political cartoons and writing.

2. Glittering Generalities

The opposite of name-calling, this involves the use of highly valued concepts and beliefs which attract general approval and acclaim. These are vague, emotionally attractive words like ?freedom?, ?honor? and ?love?.

This method works because these concepts/words mean different things to different people, while still having a positive implication.

When someone talks to us about democracy, we immediately think of our own definite ideas about democracy, the ideas we learned at home, at school, and in church.

Our first and natural reaction is to assume that the speaker is using the word in our sense, that he believes as we do on this important subject. This lowers our ?sales resistance? and makes us far less suspicious..

the other 5 @ http://politheo.com/artofpropaganda.html

[Bisk1]

The drop in the population can be attributed to the reduced flow of illegal immigrants coming into the United States. It fell by nearly two-thirds in the period between 2007 and 2009 when compared to the period between 2000 and 2005, according to Pew.


********

You'd expect the TeaBaggers and most Repugs to be happy the border is being secured, better than at any other time in the last 10years - but for a dumb Repug, that would mean praising the efforts of the POTUS Obama to secure our border and they simply CANNOT do that. Dumb Dumb Repugs and Thx POTUS Obama.

[PatriotMike2]

How amazingly simplistic and silly. It is clearly the economy and Arizona's law that have led to this, not the half-baked and ineffectual "efforts" of that dope in the White House. Obama hasn't taken significant efforts to curtail illegals, he has encouraged them with his talk of Shake-n-Bake citizenship.

[stn_sage]

Pardon, me for 'rocking the boat'!
But, I really wonder, HOW the Pew Group could
actually determine that illegal immigration is declining?!
It would seem to me, due to the illegal nature of the activity,
that it would be nearly impossible, if not impossible, to come
to such a definitive conclusion!
But, it looks like great numbers of peoples are STILL illegally
crossing into America...so, I think this 'think tank', better
do a 're-think' on the matter!

[tsigili]

Maybe you need to do a re-count, in TX. Seems like we still have plenty of them here......tens of thousands.

[jbar116]

This is more propaganda from our leader. First of all why would they go back to a country in the throes of a drug war that has see so many of its innocents killed? If they get caught here we feed them and give them a place to stay until, if ever, they are deported. Don?t believe the ?ELECTION TIME? LIES the current government wants to make these people citizens so these same people feel obligated to them; ?LEGALIZED SERVANTS? the same way car dealers get you to buy a new car.

[ottumwaiowa1]

We have soldiers being killed fighting the war against terror in the Middle-East and this country allows this many people cross our borders illegally and we don't even know who they are, but we are made to believe they are all entering this country to find a job. We have millions of our own citizens who have served this country in many ways who cannot find a job. Our nation has become bilingual like Canada, who pays for that, the one's here illegal or the American taxpaper. I make a phone call and asked if I want to speak to my party in English to press one and I still get mad, but with fewer fewer and fewer people entering our country illegally maybe that will come to a stop, as well as all the voting ballots in ten languages. Doesn't immigrants have to speak English anymore when they become a citizen or at least say the oath in English? Why don't we hear from these thaink tanks funded by people born with gold spoons in their mouth tell us how many are arrested and deported, how many commit violent crimes while here, how many have been deported numerous times only to sneek in again and how many are getting taxpaper money for programs they never paid a penny into? How many uses the hospital emergency rooms a day, how many get free lunches along with their free education. How many American kids are falling behind because the teacher has to teach a bunch of kids who doesn't speak English, to spend one on one with them. It seems like this Hispanic PEW Center only lets us see figures they want us to believe and not tell us the rest of the story.

[ottumwaiowa1]

Biggest piece of propaganda I've read in years. A privately funded organization telling the American citizens how wonderful things are by telling us illegal entry into this country has dropped. I had to make a lot of stops today and noticed that Brinks no longer picks up and deliver money to businesses anymore, it is a company called GARDO ha, ha. I hope the trucks are not made out of tin foil.

[OIF_to_USC]

Is this an Administration and Justice Department shell game or what. If illegal aliens are not illegally breaching our borders at as fast a rate as a couple of years ago, you think that maybe the border wall and increased air and ground presence over the past "several years" has something to do with it? The biggest problem is the 16 to 20 million illegal aliens who already gotten in and have interwoven themselves into our system. They need to be identified, charged, entered into the DNA data bank and deported. The Obama/Holder/Napolitano Regime needs to get to work or get out of the way and quietly wait for the coming Regime Change in 2010 and 2012.

[mtrlgmtrlb]

Who in their right mind would risk their life to enter this county illegally in this economy? I know I sure as heck wouldn't!

[MurdochSucks]

Goes to show how bad they really have it in other places!

[DumbCommentGuy]

This is a totally useless study. In a 2yr period ending 18 months ago, there is supposedly a NET decline of 900,000 "undocumented immigrants". There's no explanation of how these 900,000 either evaporated, died, became legal citizens, or crossed the border back to Mexico. There must've been a real traffic jam at the border with about 1250 people returning to Mexico. Anybody believe this crap?