State Department statistics show that the number of legal immigrants into the U.S. is on the rise, David Bier, immigration policy analyst at the Cato Institute wrote Wednesday in The Dallas Morning News.
On average, each Border Patrol agent apprehended 16 people all year, which is tied for the lowest amount since World War II. In 1996, agents apprehended an average of 261 per agent, Bier noted.
Legal entries are becoming the norm instead of illegal crossings, Bier said.
Many apprehensions listed in the statistics are actually asylum seekers, families, and unaccompanied children who turn themselves in to Border Patrol agents, Bier said in the report.
Seasonal worker programs have expanded, Bier said, pointing out that from 1996 to 2017, the number of temporary visas issued to seasonal workers ramped up from 23,204 to 236,695.
Increasing security is not the main reason for the reduction in illegal immigration, Bier said. Increased security measures such as tripling manpower and constructing 600 miles of fences has only decreased the success rate of an illegal crossing to 75 percent, Bier noted.
"Potential undocumented border crossers have found their way into the legal system," Bier wrote.
America's two guest worker programs for seasonal laborers are the H-2A, for agriculture workers, and the H-2B for other industries. H-2B has a quota, but H-2A does not. H-2A has expanded steadily, and now makes up almost two-thirds of the people in the program.
Moderate Democrats and Republicans have defended the guest worker programs, Bier wrote. Limiting the flow of immigrants would result in "a lot more illegal immigration," Bier wrote.
President Donald Trump's administration is suing to block California laws that extend protections to people living illegally in the U.S. "I say, bring it on," said California Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.