State of Immigration

Earlier today I delivered the fourth of a series of regular updates regarding the state of immigration in our country. Rather than bombard you with a laundry list of metrics that indicate our progress, let me share just a few concrete examples.

This year, apprehensions of illegal immigrants along our southern border decreased 17 percent; last year, apprehensions decreased 20 percent – a clear indication of reduced crossing attempts. Remittances to Mexico and Latin America are also down for the year, another indicator of successful enforcement. Perhaps even more telling, a recent report from the Pew Hispanic Center found that for the first time in a decade, the flow of illegal immigrants into the United States dropped below the number of those legally entering the country. Pew also estimated that last year, for the first time since WW II, there was no increase in the number of illegal migrants in the U.S. Among the factors credited for this turnaround was "a heightened focus on enforcement of immigration laws."

By all indications – decreased apprehensions, remittances, and statistical data showing more legal than illegal immigrants – we are slowly but surely turning the tide of unchecked illegal immigration that has occurred for decades in our country. We’ve done this by adding more than 370 miles of fence to the border, nearly doubling the size of the Border Patrol, and deploying new technology. Through targeted interior enforcement actions, we've also identified and removed dangerous illegal alien gang members and fugitives in record numbers while sending an unambiguous message to employers who violate the law that we will not turn a blind eye toward illegality.

As part of this, we finalized our no-match regulation, which will give businesses clear guidance to respond to letters they may receive from the Social Security Administration notifying them that an employee's name and Social Security number doesn't match government records. This of course, could be the result of a simple clerical error; or it could indicate that the employee is working illegally – either way, this rule will give employers the guidance they need to respond appropriately and avoid legal ramifications.

My hope is that by re-establishing the government's credibility through these actions, we will not only begin to address one of our nation's greatest challenges, but we will leave a strong enforcement operation in place for the next Homeland Security Secretary to use as leverage to push Congress to comprehensively reform our nation's immigration laws. Until this happens, our country will never fully solve this problem.

Michael Chertoff