CIS sees reduction in number of illegal aliens; others disagree (Dave Marcus, Paul Krawzak)

The CIS has released a study called "Homeward Bound: Recent Immigration Enforcement and the Decline in the Illegal Alien Population" (link) which says that due to enforcement "the illegal immigrant population has declined by 11 percent through May 2008 after hitting a peak in August 2007... [t]he implied decline in the illegal population is 1.3 million since last summer, from 12.5 million to 11.2 million today."

Not surprisingly, others disagree. Paul Krawzak of the San Diego Union-Tribune quotes Wayne Cornelius of the University of California San Diego as saying that there may have been a decline but "the most likely cause is the poor state of the U.S. economy". Krawzak also says that CIS is "an anti-illegal group", falsely implying an animus against illegal aliens themselves (link).

Dave Marcus of Newsday gets even worse when quoting a few others who dispute the report (link). While he refers to "illegal immigration" a few times, he also uses the terms "undocumented workers" and "undocumented residents". And, he refers to "[o]rganizations that support immigrants' rights". While that may be true of some groups in some cases, for most groups and in most cases they actually support giving rights to illegal aliens to which they aren't currently entitled. The report is also labeled as "controversial" and:

While the Center for Immigration Studies defines itself as nonpartisan, some liberal groups say it is a thinly-veiled Republican group started 20 years ago as a spinoff of the conservative Federation for American Immigration Reform.

I don't know whether that's true or not, but I strongly suspect that it's more a case of correlation rather than causation: those who support our laws tend to be some Republican leaders. And, I don't think the CIS would refuse support from Democratic leaders if they also supported our laws. But, at least that description is not as bad as it could have been.

Marcus also quotes the New York Immigration Coalition, saying that they "advocate[] for undocumented workers", which at least is more accurate than they'd probably describe themselves.

Comments

CSI Is fll of BS So whats new, buy guns.