I’ve tried to tell people immigration is dropping, and when I show them information, they say they don’t care about Mexicans; they only care about Muslims. Oy.
As some Republican presidential hopefuls, namely Donald Trump, aim their efforts at promising to control what they say is a huge influx of immigrants, the number of illegal immigrants in the US has actually declined, according to a study done by the Center for Migration Studies of New York.
As Trump pushes for a wall on the border with Mexico, the study’s findings show that the decline in the number of illegal immigrants is due, in part, to Mexican immigrants returning home.
“Since 2010, the number of Mexicans living in the US illegally declined by about 612,000, or 9 percent,” says a January Baltimore Sun article, citing the study.
Looking specifically at Maryland, the study found that about 5000 fewer immigrants are living illegally in the state now than in 2010. Maryland saw a 2 percent decline in illegal immigration from 2010 to 2014, which amounts to about 4 percent of the state’s population.
Maryland is one of a number of so-called “immigrant friendly” states that provides its undocumented or illegal residents with assistance as they settle into their new lives in the US. In 2012, Maryland passed the Dream Act, which lets public college and university students pay in-state tuition if they were brought to the US illegally as children. In 2014, Maryland began issuing “second-tier” licenses that do not count as federal identification but allow immigrants to drive, register cars, and get insurance.
Some Maryland schools, like High Point High School in Prince George’s county, have taken it upon themselves to welcome immigrant students and are actively devoting time to helping them ease into their new lives as students in the US.
Additionally, Maryland lawmakers are considering extending the state’s extortion laws to include undocumented immigrants, who are often taken advantage of by employers.
According to April Cockerham, an immigration attorney who helps clients in Maryland, “Although they are extremely limited, the few state-funded resources available to immigrants and refugees are crucial in helping them ease into and thrive in their new lives. Such assistance is vital, and it’s nice to see states like Maryland taking steps to make life easier – not more difficult – for this already-vulnerable community.”
With various resources available legally to immigrants, it is interesting to see the overall number of illegal immigrants remain at a general downward trend at the state and national level.
We can thank the racist warmongers in both the Republican and the Democratic Party for the fear about Muslims that they have instilled in the American public.
Both parties have played a part in this criminal stupidity.
And some players are more culpable then others.
But they all share the blame for the mass hysteria rampant in the land.
Endless war is favored by idiots.
It does make sense. Rethugs and DCC Dems on behalf of their 1% owners have turned the US into a third world economy. Why go to the hassle of entering the US, when the opportunities for working people are no better than where you came from.