Close Menu
CCMECCME
  • Home
  • Who are we
    • CCME
    • The President
    • The General Secretary
    • Working groups
  • News
    • News of the council
    • News of Moroccan migration
    • News of migration in the world
  • Interviews
  • Archives of the council
    • Activities
    • Media and migration
    • News
  • Resources
  • Contact us
  • Share a contribution
  • Home
  • Who are we
    • CCME
    • The President
    • The General Secretary
    • Working groups
  • News
    • News of the council
    • News of Moroccan migration
    • News of migration in the world
  • Interviews
  • Archives of the council
    • Activities
    • Media and migration
    • News
  • Resources
  • Contact us
  • Share a contribution
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube LinkedIn
CCMECCME
  • English
    • العربية
    • Français
  • Home
  • Who we are
    • CCME
    • The President
    • The General Secretary
    • Working groups
  • News
    • News of the Council
    • News of migration in the world
    • News of Moroccan migration
  • Resources
Podcasts بودكاست Podcasts
  • Spécial SIEL 2025
  • Programmation
  • Axes
    • Voix des amériques
    • Maroc-Belgique: Histoire, Migrations et commémorations
    • Migrations et sciences sociales : où en est la recherche sur les migrations marocaines ?
    • Écritures féminines au maroc et dans l’immigration
  • Rencontres
    • Rencontres et débats
    • Rencontres philosophiques
    • Cinéma une rétrospective des films pionniers du cinéma marocain sur l’émigration/immigration
  • Vient de paraitre
  • Hommages
CCMECCME
  • English
    • العربية
    • Français
  • Spécial SIEL 2025
  • Programmation
  • Axes
  • Rencontres
  • Vient de paraitre
  • Hommages
Home»Archives of the council»Media and migration

Behind the surprising drop in illegal immigration

Media and migration 1 June 2015Equipe de rédaction
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email WhatsApp Copy Link
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email WhatsApp Copy Link

This might come as a shock, but far fewer people are sneaking into the country across our southern border now than at any time in recent memory.

At the height of the illegal-immigration crisis in 2000, 1.6 million illegal immigrants entered the United States. Since 2012, the numbers are down to about 400,000 — and they’ve gone down so far this fiscal year by another 28 percent over last year.

That’s good news, yet many conservatives still fret about an illegal invasion that threatens our very way of life.

Measuring the flow of illegal immigrants is difficult, which is why so many people argue about the numbers incessantly.

A few years ago, I’d often encounter people who claimed there were 30 million illegal immigrants in the country, when demographers estimated there were slightly more than 12 million.

So how do demographers come up with their numbers?

Most use data from a survey taken by the Census Bureau each March that asks individuals in a very large and statistically controlled sample to identify their country of birth, and compare the number born outside the United

States with the number of permanent resident aliens, authorized temporary workers, asylees and naturalized citizens known to be present.

When the latter is subtracted from the former, the residual number of persons are presumed to be illegally present after adjusting upward for an estimated undercount of individuals likely missed in the surveys.

But some researchers go even further by studying the populations in other countries, principally Mexico, because traditionally it has been the source of the largest number of our illegal immigrants.

Those studies show a remarkable decline not just in the number of Mexicans immigrating illegally, but also in the number who desire to come here.

Wayne Cornelius, who surveys Mexicans from the state of Yucatan, found a precipitous decline in the number who said they were planning to come to the United States, The Washington Post reports.

In 2006, 24 percent of those surveyed said they were planning to come in the next 12 months. By 2009, during the economic recession, the number had dropped to 8 percent. This year, it dropped all the way to 2.5 percent.

These numbers are supported by official statistics that show Chinese immigrants replaced Mexicans as the largest group of new foreign-born persons last year. The Mexican-born population in America has actually declined in the past few years, for the first time since the Great Depression.

So why aren’t conservatives applauding?

It’s clear that the economy has had some deterrent effect on illegal immigration. Immigrants come here to work, and when the job market is lousy, the risk and cost of immigrating makes less sense.

Demographic changes are another factor. Mexicans are having far fewer children than in the past. In 1960, the average fertility rate for Mexican women was 7.3 children; today it is 2.4, barely above the US rate of 2.

Mexicans are better educated today than ever before, making more opportunities available to them in their home country, whose economy grew at a faster pace than the US economy following the recession.

But the major reason for less illegal immigration is better border security. Even as the economy has improved, illegal immigration continues to go down.

We’ve more than doubled our number of border agents to more than 18,000 now.

We spend more on Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection and the Office of Biometric Identity Management — some $16.2 billion last year — than we do on all other federal criminal law-enforcement combined, including the FBI, Drug Enforcement, Secret Service, Federal Marshal Service and Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

But don’t expect to hear these facts from the fearmongers. It’s hard to motivate people with good news, and it’s far easier to try to scare them into giving or going to the polls.

Linda Chavez for the New York Post

Related Posts

Paris Attacks: the intellectuals’ forecasts that we did not heed

30 November 2015

United States: Moroccan Taxi driver shot in the back on Thanksgiving Day

30 November 2015

Refugees welcome? How UK and Germany compare on migration

3 September 2015

Migration crisis: pressure mounts on Cameron over refugees

3 September 2015

Hundreds of migrants protest at Budapest station, want to go to Germany

3 September 2015

EU refugee crisis: World mourns Syrian toddler as Andy Burnham calls for emergency Parliament debate

3 September 2015

Our latest news

Rachid Guerraoui élu membre de l'Academia Europaea

Award: Rachid Guerraoui  elected to the Academia Europaea 

19 May 2025
الرئيس الفرنسي يعين رشيد بنزين عضوا في اللجنة الوطنية للأخلاقيات

France: Rachid Benzine appointed to the national Ethics Comitee for Life Sciences and Health

16 May 2025
مشروع قانون فرنسي يخرج الجمعيات من مراكز الاعتقال الإداري

France: A Senate bill to remove NGO’s from detention centers

13 May 2025
L'Espagne et le Maroc prévoient une augmentation du nombre d'utilisateurs de l'opération « Traversée du détroit 2025 »

 Spain and Morocco hold  the 36th Spanish-Moroccan Joint Commission meeting 

8 May 2025

النشرة الإخبارية

اشترك لتلقي آخر الأخبار

قم بتنزيل تطبيق المجلس

ولا تنس تفعيل الإشعارات للحصول على آخر الأخبار!

Download CCME books for Android
Download CCME books for IOS
Logo CCME
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube LinkedIn

المجلس

  • Who we are
  • The President
  • The General Secretary
  • Working groups

الأخبار

  • News
  • News of Moroccan migration
  • News of migration in the world
موارد
اتصل بنا
  • محج الرياض. ش 10 ص.ب 21481 - حي الرياض - الرباط 10000 - المغرب
  • contact@ccme.org.ma
  • +212 5 37 56 71 71 اتصل بنا​

2025 - © المجلس

  • Right of access to information
  • Terms of use
  • Contact us

Newsletter

Subscribe to receive the latest news

Download the CCME app

And don’t forget to activate notifications to receive the latest news!

Download CCME books for IOS
Download CCME books for Android
Logo CCME
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube LinkedIn
CCME
  • Who we are
  • The President
  • The General Secretary
  • Working groups
News
  • News
  • News of Moroccan migration
  • News of migration in the world
Resources
Contact
  • Mahaj Ryad. Imm 10. B.P 21481 - Hay Ryad - Rabat 10 000 - Morocco
  • contact@ccme.org.ma
  • +212 5 37 56 71 71
© 2025 - CCME
  • Right of access to information
  • Terms of use
  • Contact us

Revue de presse

Abonnez-vous pour recevoir notre revue de presse

    Téléchargez l’application CCME

    Et n’oubliez pas d’activer les notifications pour recevoir les dernières actualités!

    Download CCME books for IOS
    Download CCME books for Android
    Logo CCME
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube LinkedIn

    CCME

    • Who we are
    • The President
    • The General Secretary
    • Working groups

    Actualités

    • News
    • News of Moroccan migration
    • News of migration in the world

    Ressources

    Contact

    • Mahaj Ryad. Imm 10. B.P 21481 - Hay Ryad - Rabat 10 000 - Maroc
    • contact@ccme.org.ma
    • +212 5 37 56 71 71

    © 2025 - CCME

    • Right of access to information
    • Terms of use
    • Contact us

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.