An October report produced by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), an organization that advocates for reduced immigration quotas and greater border enforcement, noted that the number of illegal aliens seeking asylum in order to live in the United States legally has jumped 900 percent since 2009. The reported cited statistics from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) as its source.
Most aliens seek asylum under the grounds that they have a “credible fear” of persecution or torture were they to be returned to their homeland. A graph included in the CIS report depicted the number of “credible fear” cases filed at the U.S. border with both the Border Patrol and at the port of entry from 2004 to the present. Other graphs illustrated the number of “credible fear” cases by asylum office and by national origin.
Once receiving asylum, these aliens become eligible for receiving green cards and a number of taxpayer-funded services, including Social Security, school loans, welfare, Medicaid, cash, and housing assistance, noted a report in the Washington Examiner.
The report indicated that about 8,000 aliens mostly from Latin America, sought asylum in 2009, but the number is expected to reach 80,000 or more this year.
Another graph depicting the number of “credible fear” applications by office from October 2014 through April 2016 showed that (in the report’s words):
The vast majority of new asylum cases filed since 2014 (64 percent) are being handled by the Houston asylum office, which covers the Texas and New Mexico border area. Another 16 percent are handled by the Los Angeles asylum office, which covers the California and Arizona border area. Only 20 percent of the asylum claims come from aliens arriving at the northern border and all other ports of entry outside the Southwest border states.
And a third graph illustrating the “credible fear” applicants by national origin showed that most of these applicants are from Central America. Aliens from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras account for 80 percent of all new applications from border arrivals since 2014.
CIS noted that starting early in 2015, “The number of applicants from El Salvador in particular began to increase dramatically.”
After those countries in Central America, the next largest source of illegal aliens seeking asylum is Mexico. Since 2014, more than 11,000 applicants, making up another 15 percent of the total number, have come from our immediate southern neighbor.
One nation outside of Latin American has joined the ranks of those sending the most aliens seeking asylum — India. This is somewhat surprising, given the long distance overseas from which such aliens must travel. CIS observed of this phenomenon:
The influx of Indians appears to have heated up in 2013 along the Arizona border, and shows signs of being organized or facilitated by smuggling organizations, with some paying as much as $35,000 to be guided to the Nogales area. As shown in Figure 3, in 2015 the number of Indian asylum seekers began to exceed the number arriving from Ecuador, long a source of illegal migration through Mexico.
This makes one wonder under what grounds a resident of India who can afford to spend $35,000, making them a member of one of the nation’s upper castes, can claim to have “credible fear” of persecution or torture back home. The latest report from Freedom House, entitled “Freedom in the World: 2016,” gave India a score of 77 percent (with 100 percent being the best) so the nation is obviously not a tyrannical totalitarian state from which people must flee and seek asylum elsewhere.
The report also noted reports that large numbers of Haitians have been arriving to seek asylum at the port of entry south of San Diego and could surpass many of the other nationalities. A report uncovered by CIS’s Kausha Luna cited a statement from the Mexican government stating that more than 11,000 non-Mexicans, of which the majority were Haitians, have arrived in the state of Baja California in recent months on their way to seek asylum in the United States. More than half of these, noted the report, have already gone to the United States. Four to five thousand others are in Mexico waiting for their turn to apply for asylum.
A study of a map shows that there are other ports of entry much closer to Haiti than San Diego, so why would these admittedly poor people travel the extra distance? The answer to that question is found in our article posted last month, which cited a report in the Washington Times explaining these migrants’ travel agenda. That report noted that it is difficult for Haitians to get visas to enter the United States, but much easier for them to get visas to enter Central American nations, such as Guatemala. Once there, they enlist the help of smugglers who bring them through Mexico and to the U.S. border.
In response to this large-scale migration, Homeland Secretary Jeh Johnson announced that his agents would scrutinize Haitian illegal aliens picked up at the border to assess their eligibility for asylum and deport those who do not qualify through a process known as expedited removal. However, given Johnson’s track record of advocating amnesty for illegal aliens, it remains to be seen if his department will follow through on this pledge.
Related articles:
Apprehensions of Illegal Border Crossers Up for 2016 Over Last Year
Obama Admin Delays Deportation of More Than 56,000 Illegals
Border Patrol Agent: 80 Percent of Those Caught at Border Set Free in U.S.
Surge in Unaccompanied Children from Central America Now Starting
Judicial Watch Report: DHS Transporting Illegal Aliens Away From Border
Numbers Climb for Apprehension of Illegals During Fiscal 2016
CBP Report Reveals That Illegal Migrant Apprehensions Are Up
Haitian Migrants Cross Border From Mexico to Gain Asylum
Obama Administration Weakens Illegal Immigration Enforcement
Obama Administration Releases 68,000 Illegal Immigrant Criminals
Estimated Cost of Educating New Illegal Children at $760 Million
Illegal Immigrant Children Fail to Show at Immigration Hearings
Feds Sending Illegal Immigrant Minors to States Without Notice
DHS: Flow of Illegal Immigrants Encouraged by U.S. Failure to Deport
