July 25, 2023

It appears that Governors Abbott and DeSantis, by shipping illegal aliens to sanctuary blue cities, broke the back of that camel called “illegal immigration.” However, they couldn’t have done it if Democrat policies in the COVID era hadn’t already destabilized that poor camel.

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Before Biden was elected president, it was estimated that there were around 11 million illegal aliens in the United States. That was more than 3% of the population. Two-thirds of them had arrived legally with temporary (visitor) visas and failed to leave at the end of their authorized stay. The rest snuck across the border. Two-thirds were from Mexico and Central America, 15% from Asia, 10% from South America and The Caribbean, and the rest from Europe, Canada, Africa, and Oceania. Most of those who entered without authorization came across the southern border and were from Mexico and Central America.

Most of the illegals were adults, had been here more than 10 years by 2020, and were employed. Half were female, and 20% were married to Americans or permanent residents and had not yet adjusted their status. They arrived, found their way to a community, and made lives for themselves. There were still problems, some of which I wrote about earlier here. More than 90% of the illegals arrested on federal charges were already criminals. Many of them resided in sanctuary states or communities. Among them were serious, violent criminals who had been released by local authorities rather than held for pick-up by the feds in accordance with their sanctuary rules.

Most illegals lived under the radar, using false identities to get by and get jobs. That carries its own set of issues for America that I touched on here. But, by and large, they made themselves at home and took care of themselves. Given the great diversity of legal immigration over the decades, anyone coming to America can find a community that feels like home.

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In fact, 60% of illegal aliens chose to live in just 20 metropolitan areas—all of them blue, almost all of them sanctuary cities. The New York metro area was #1 with about 20%, 1.1 million. Greater LA had 15%, 925,000. Then Houston, Dallas, Miami, DC, and Chicago with 500k, 475k, 425k, 425k, and 400k, respectively. After that, it trickles off. But for each of these communities, it is a significant percentage of the population, happily welcomed by local lawmakers and their constituents.

Image: Illegal aliens in New York City. YouTube screen grab.

After Joe Biden’s advice to “surge” the border, and after all the Democrat candidates for president in 2019 raised their hand and promised free health care to illegals, almost everything changed. Most estimates are that 7 million have arrived since the 2021 inauguration. I would guess that the number of illegals in this country has doubled. No matter where they arrive or where they are transported in the dead of night by the federal government or federally funded NGOs, they eventually still make their way to communities that feel like home. New York, California, Texas, and Florida are their primary chosen destinations, and many will have connections there already.

However, blue state governors and other local officials, with the encouragement of the federal government, brought us lockdowns and destroyed small business America over the past couple of years. That’s where many illegals routinely found employment. Even the ones admitted as potential asylees with work permits still must find a job. Inflation brought to you by Bidenomics has increased the price of everything—food, housing, transportation, clothing, entertainment, etc. Many illegals are entering with the intent to make a career of “program shopping”; that is, searching for government and charity programs that will provide what they need without having to work.

Sanctuary cities changed from being simply a place where the local authorities won’t report an illegal to ICE and began to provide comprehensive life-support services to these criminals. Why, I do not know. However, none of us are unaware that we have veterans and disabled Americans living in abject poverty. Our own population of substance-addicted, mentally ill homeless has less available to them than these new arrivals do. This galls many Americans, even Democrats.

Besides unemployment, the high cost of living in these urban areas has caused an exodus of taxpayers from these very cities to redder areas of the country. Many conservatives who were hanging on in places they called home let go and are making new lives for themselves and paying taxes elsewhere. A tidal wave of illegal aliens—straining city resources (as was predicted before this all happened) and increasing demands on public health, law enforcement, and overall infrastructure—has arrived. And these same cities now have fewer workers paying taxes to cover all this, as well as the typically bloated and overpaid Dem-area administrations.

Governor Abbot and Governor DeSantis were genius in paying the way for illegal aliens to the places they would rather be—New York, Chicago, Washington DC… It’s been a very public statement that those who invited and encouraged this mass movement of humanity should certainly stand behind their stand and pay for it. After several thousand illegal… But wait! How many did the feds and their NGO partners transport to those cities before the two governors acted? Those figures are nowhere to be found. This was on top of the ones already there, plus the ones from the recent influx who made their own way to preferred destinations.