I would like to ask the left to give me their position on illegal immigration.

[GMDino]

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-02-21/the-myth-of-the-u-s-immigration-crisis

Quote:I’m in favor of improving the U.S. immigration system -- my proposal is to implement a skills-based system like Canada’s. Yes, the current system is suboptimal in a number of ways. But by treating immigration as an urgent problem in need of dramatic policy action, centrists are conceding way too much. The current situation is not an emergency at all.


Illegal immigration to the U.S. ended a decade ago and, according to the Pew Research Center, has been zero or negative since its peak in 2007:

Here Yesterday, Gone Today
Annual change in unauthorized immigrant population.

Source: Pew Research Center

About a million undocumented immigrants left the country in the Great Recession. But even after the end of the recession, illegal immigration didn’t resume.

Why? One reason might be economic -- even after growth resumed, there was no return to the mania of the bubble years. Another reason is that Mexicans -- both undocumented and otherwise -- are flocking back to Mexico. Despite the country’s drug-related violence, it’s starting to look more attractive as a place to live. The economy has improved, and the fertility rate has fallen a lot, meaning that young Mexicans are needed back in Mexico to take over family businesses and take care of aging parents:

Family Planning
Births per woman in Mexico.


Source: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

A third reason is increased border enforcement. For years, many Americans demanded that the border with Mexico be secured in order to stem illegal immigration. Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama did exactly that. Obama, especially, stepped up the pace of deportation:



Round Trip
Annual deportations of unauthorized immigrants.

More at the link.