Illegal immigration is surging in New Mexico

The Albuquerque Journal ^ | October 13, 2016 | Lauren Villagran

[CedarDave]

This year, alone, apprehensions by Border Patrol in New Mexico have surged to 18,500 people in the 11 months through August, compared with 11,216 in all of fiscal 2015.

Many of the migrants are from Central America like Alex, a 30-year-old farmworker.

About 7,900 of the migrants apprehended this year in New Mexico are classified by Border Patrol as “other than Mexican,” mostly from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and, lately, Brazil – and they have accounted for much of the increase.

The strength of the U.S. dollar, which makes basic goods more expensive in Latin America; stagnant wages and few job opportunities; and endemic violence, murder and extortion by criminal organizations continue to drive families from Central America.

An improving U.S. economy and a perception that Central Americans seeking asylum may be allowed to remain in the country while their cases wind through the courts contribute as “pull” factors.

Alex said he was less worried about getting caught on the U.S. side of the border than the dangers he might face in Mexico, and this area seemed a safer bet compared with Mexico’s Tamaulipas state, bordering South Texas, where the brutal Zetas criminal organization dominates.

Migration patterns across the Southwestern border ebb and flow. Overall illegal immigration has plummeted over the past 15 years, if apprehensions are an indicator, dropping to about 331,000 apprehensions last fiscal year from more than 1.6 million in 2000.

Many Central Americans claim asylum and are “paroled” into the United States, meaning they can stay with a family member while awaiting a court hearing. Due to a backlog, it could be years before hearings are held.

[CedarDave]

Overall illegal immigration has plummeted over the past 15 years, if apprehensions are an indicator, dropping to about 331,000 apprehensions last fiscal year from more than 1.6 million in 2000.

The other reason may be that border apprehensions have declined due to deliberate reductions in enforcement efforts on orders from the Obama administration.

[CedarDave]

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[WKUHilltopper]

Jokes on them! ObaMao intends to have a nuclear war with Russia. They’ll enjoy that. Welcome to New Mexico, Senor Melted Blob.

[DIRTYSECRET]

Well after all it’s NEW Mexico.

[Tammy8]

Yes it is surging, that I can verify with my own eyes. Funny thing is the article assumes they are all looking for work...they never ask for jobs like they did years ago...

Smugglers have been rather busy here too. It has been pretty busy on the border.

The border is all but open, has been more and more so the longer this Administration is there.

[MUDDOG]

Gadsden didn’t purchase it for this.

[CedarDave]

What fraction of illegals are estimated to be apprehended? 1 in 4, 1 in 8, 1 in 10 or a lessor fraction? Any one have an idea?

[Tammy8]

They used to say 1 in 10, I have no idea but seems to me they don’t go out of their way to even pick up illegals now. Border Patrol is chasing drugs only as far as I can tell. If we call about illegals they ask me if I feel threatened by them. That is new, they used to just respond and gather them up. The other new thing I have noticed is BP used to give out business cards with contact numbers to those of us that live here to report illegals. Now good luck getting BP to even answer their phones and some of the numbers we have now go to fax lines. They have made it harder for us to even contact them. If we can’t report I guess they don’t have to gather or count them.

[Tammy8]

I want to add to that we have complained about not being able to contact them, they say their phones are always manned- if that is true they are sitting there letting them ring.

[fishtank]

“Overall illegal immigration has plummeted over the past 15 years, if apprehensions are an indicator, dropping to about 331,000 apprehensions last fiscal year from more than 1.6 million in 2000.”

This is an “interesting” statistic, as in:

LIES,

DAMN LIES

and STATISTICS.

[Carthego delenda est]

“The other reason may be that border apprehensions have declined due to deliberate reductions in enforcement efforts on orders from the Obama administration.”

Exactly. As well as there’s no reason the border patrol will even waste the time and resources going after the illegals since they will just have to let them go.

[Carthego delenda est]

Which office do you call? I’m closest to the Lordsburg one.

[Oatka]

Yes it is surging, that I can verify with my own eyes. Funny thing is the article assumes they are all looking for work...they never ask for jobs like they did years ago.

Had a friend who lived in Bisbee, AZ during that transition. Said these guys used to knock on their door and ask, hat in hand, "Aqua, por favor" (water please). They got it, along with a blind eye towards their presence since they were farm laborers for the most part.

He said he decided to bail when the guy(s) at the door started demanding, "DAME agua!" (GIVE me water!).

[ridesthemiles]

I have a girlfriend who lives in Albuquerque-—has for over 40 years.

She no longer goes out at night—is VERY careful when she does go out in the daytime. She says the crime has ballooned in the past 8 years under Obama & she no longer feels safe in her own home.

[CedarDave]

It's really, really bad in ABQ, especially car break-ins and stolen vehicles. Take a look at this article also from this morning's ABQ Journal. The title is a statement from the mayor:

‘Sometimes you just have to keep the bad guys in jail’

Property crimes, specifically auto theft cases, have been on an uptick in Albuquerque in recent years. In 2015, the Duke City had the ninth highest auto-theft rate of any city in the country with more than 100,000 residents, according to FBI crime statistics. Violent crimes have also increased during the past several years after seeing some of the lowest rates in the city’s recent in history, according to the data.

Berry said the city-commissioned study found a strong correlation between the rise in auto thefts and a declining jail population.

Many of those crimes are committed by illegals.

[Tammy8]

That’s about right. Years ago they would ask for a job and if you said no then they would offer to work for food, always very polite. Now they never ask about work and demand to use your phone, or give them a ride somewhere.

Those I see are not working people, I can tell you that. I should say some are working; smuggling drugs, other things...not honest work.

I lived on the border as a kid; no one feared illegals, whether or not people thought they should be here fear was not a part of it. Now if there are illegals anywhere around I make my grandchildren stay inside and I take all precautions myself. I do not mind admitting I am scared of the type of people I see crossing illegally. I guess I have become a racist according to supporters of open borders.

[Tammy8]

I call both Lordsburg and Deming being close to where both overlap. If it is a weekday during working hours they answer unless I get a fax line- at some point they changed some of there lines I guess without letting people know. The real issues I have is during the night or holidays often no one will answer the phone though the agents assure me someone is there.

We had some excitement a while back and couldn’t get an answer at all Lordsburg or Deming...I looked up and called their operations number in El Paso and I had an agent here in less than 10 minutes and several apologies that I couldn’t reach anyone but it has happened a lot. I have numbers that are working for now at least, but it took some doing.

[Carthego delenda est]

There’s no excuse for them to not be answering the phone, especially since so many of the illegals are carrying high value loads and could become violent to protect such.

I’m out in the sticks along the Gila, so if a border patrol agent, state trooper, or deputy had to come from Silver, it would take quite some time, however, the small community I’m in seems to have attracted quite a few law enforcement officers of various flavors in recent years. It’s a fairly tight knit community and great place to raise a family. Because I know most of them, I could call them at home if I really needed to. The closest BP agent is less than a mile away from me.

As you stated in a previous post, it has changed quite a bit with the type of illegal that comes through. Used to be one or two guys would indeed come looking for some work, but now they’re coming specifically looking for handouts or they’re packing shipments of drugs for the cartels. Fortunately, I think my community now has a reputation as a place to be avoided for those with bad intent. They know that the people around here will not tolerate a drug operation moving in or those who think they can help themselves to other people’s belongings, and if caught, the best they can hope for is to go to jail.