U.S. Border Security, Immigration, and Terrorist Crossings

Introduction

Immigration has been a major topic of political debate in the United States for many decades. Policymakers have weighed the security, economic, and humanitarian concerns surrounding immigration, yet Congress has been unable to reach agreement on comprehensive immigration reform. This stalemate has pushed significant policy decisions into the judicial and executive branches of government while triggering debate in municipal and state legislatures. President Donald J. Trump won the 2016 election partly on pledges to take aggressive action against immigration, including deporting millions of undocumented immigrants, building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, and temporarily banning nationals from several Muslim-majority countries. Although he scaled back some initial proposals, Trump moved forcefully on others, often drawing public protest and legal challenges.

The Population of Immigrants in the U.S.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, immigrants constitute almost 14% of the total U.S. population — more than 43 million people out of approximately 323 million. Together with their U.S.-born children, immigrants comprise nearly 27% of all inhabitants in the United States. This represents a significant increase from the 1970 figure of fewer than 10 million immigrants; however, it remains below the 1890 peak, when foreign-born nationals accounted for 15% of the population. The largest country of origin for U.S. immigrants is Mexico, accounting for roughly 25% of the total immigrant population. Immigrants from South and East Asia are, however, an increasingly large share, now representing approximately 27% of the immigrant population (Waters et al., 2015).

Undocumented and Legal Immigration

Undocumented Immigration

The undocumented immigrant population in the U.S. stands at approximately 11 million, though it has declined since the economic crisis of 2008, which prompted many immigrants to return to their home countries and discouraged new arrivals. During the first half of 2019, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recorded more than twice the number of border crossings and apprehensions at the southern border compared to the same period the previous year. Nevertheless, crossings and apprehensions at the southern border have declined significantly relative to the previous two decades. According to the Pew Research Center, over half of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. have lived there for more than ten years, and nearly a third are parents of U.S.-born children.

Immigrants from Central America seeking asylum under U.S. law constitute a growing share of U.S.-Mexico border crossings. Unlike Mexican nationals, these immigrants do not have the same legal standing; however, minors from non-contiguous countries have the right to a hearing before deportation under the anti-human trafficking law of 2008. With over 900,000 cases pending in immigration courts, the surge of Central American arrivals has severely strained the U.S. immigration system (Vargas, 2019).

Although existing policies aimed at reducing illegal immigration focus primarily on border enforcement, legal immigrants who overstay their visas constitute a substantial portion of the undocumented population. According to a Center for Migration Studies report, individuals who overstayed their visas between 2010 and 2017 outnumbered illegal border crossers by a wide margin (Vargas, 2019).

Legal Immigration

In 2017, the United States granted legal permanent residency to 1.1 million individuals, with over two-thirds admitted on family reunification grounds. Other admission categories included employment-based preferences (12%), refugees (11%), and asylum seekers (2%). By the end of 2018, nearly 4 million applicants were on the State Department's waiting list for immigrant visas (Hofstetter, 1984).

Hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals also work in the U.S. legally on various nonimmigrant visas. Despite a statutory cap of 85,000 H-1B visas per year — with exceptions for certain fields — the United States issued nearly 180,000 H-1B visas to high-skilled workers in 2017. It also issued over 280,000 visas for temporary workers across industries including agriculture. According to the Pew Research Center, immigrants comprised almost 17% of the nation's entire workforce in 2014, with two-thirds of those workers being legal immigrants. Immigrant domestic workers totaled 45% of the domestic workforce, while immigrants made up 36% of the textile manufacturing workforce, 33% of the agricultural workforce, and 32% of the accommodation sector workforce. A separate Pew study projected that the U.S. workforce would shrink from 173.2 million in 2015 to 165.6 million in 2035 without immigration, but would grow to 183.2 million with consistent immigration levels (Hofstetter, 1984).

Conclusion

In FY2019, approximately 850,000 illegal immigrants were apprehended at the southwest border — an increase over prior years. Nevertheless, the data indicate that the terrorist border-crossing problem has not worsened since the September 11, 2001 attacks. The overall number of illegal immigrants apprehended at U.S. borders has declined substantially over the past two decades, including those affiliated with terrorist organizations. This decline is largely attributed to the stringent security measures implemented after 9/11 to secure U.S. borders and entry points.

Physical infrastructure has also expanded: wall construction along the southern U.S.-Mexico border has continued, and the number of Border Patrol agents has grown considerably, which helps explain the reduction in illegal crossings, including those by individuals with terrorist affiliations. The increase in apprehensions of terrorist border crossers, where it has occurred, is likewise attributable to the enhanced detection and enforcement capabilities that DHS has developed to protect the United States and its citizens.

References

Hofstetter, R. R. (1984). U.S. immigration policy. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Panel on Survey Options for Estimating the Flow of Unauthorized Crossings at the U.S.-Mexican Border, In Carriquiry, A., In Majmundar, M., & National Research Council (U.S.). (2013). Options for estimating illegal entries at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Vargas, J. A. (2019). Dear America: Notes of an undocumented citizen.

Warner, J. A. (2010). U.S. border security: A reference handbook. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.

Waters, M. C., Pineau, M. G., National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, & National Academies Press. (2015). The integration of immigrants into American society. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.