Our government is shut down because President Trump wants Congress to give him $5 billion to build a wall (that he claims) will keep undocumented migrants from entering the country.
The President is overlooking some simple, inconvenient facts while trying to stoke fear, particularly amongst his racist, gullible and uneducated followers.
Nearly twice the amount of undocumented people who entered the United States in 2017 came here legally on an airplane– almost DOUBLE the number who tried crossing the southern border where the President wants to build his wall.
According to statistics from the Department of Homeland Security, there were over 702,000 visa overstayers in 2017.
These individuals arrived with various legal visas, including student, employment and tourist and overstayed their legal welcome in the country.
The largest number of overstays were in the regular short-term visitor category (B-1/B-2). This number grew by about 5 percent from 2016 to 2017, posing a bigger threat to our nation’s security than any other form of attempted illegal entry.
But our fear-mongerer in chief isn’t mentioning these terrible people when addressing his flock of sheep.
Statistics tracked overall overstays from country to country, as well as percentage of overstays. Countries that reached a certain threshold of overstay were forced to launch public service campaigns in their countries.
The biggest offenders?
While other nations have more actual overstays counted, Portugal, Hungary, and Greece have the highest overstay percentages of all the Visa Waiver Program countries, and have been required to launch public information programs to remind their citizens to comply with our laws.
The real kicker which pokes the biggest hole in Trump’s argument about protecting the Southern Border?
The number of visa overstayers is almost double the number of individuals apprehended at the southern border trying to enter the country illegally during the same period.
Almost double. According to Customs and Border Patrol, that figure was 361,993.
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7 comments
Facts and logic hold no importance for this president, congress or core followers.
Lets start of with the fact that they are ILLEGAL ALIENS. Also I enjoyed reading your website up until today where you start to inject your political bias. So this is this last time I am visiting your website. Obviously you are allowed to say anything as this is your website, but enough with the political S——A and stick what effects the Greek Community including ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION that has made Greece a DUMP and will make this country a Third World COUTRY. One last word XAZOAMERIKANAKIA as you are an Amerikanaki that lives in the Amertikanaki BUBBLE
Ioannis Happy New Year… First of all, this is an opinion piece. Political bias is encouraged in a free society, not to mention the purpose of opinion pieces. Second of all, asylum seeking isn’t illegal. it is a human right. It is also within international law. As far as your negativity and nastiness goes… Kali Xronia and I hope you get rid of some of your anger and bitterness and don’t infect those family and friends around you with your toxicity. My very best wishes for 2019. Peace!
Typical response from a Leftist with an agenda. H ALITHIA EINAI PIKRI ALLA PREPI VA LEGETE.
While i understand your point of the overstays, which has become a serious problem, the point of the wall is to stop the immagrants who could not qualify for the legal paperwork and then overstay. A large portion of the immagrants trying to cross the southern border are people who have already committed crimes in their home nations. They wont qualify to come here on visas so they come anyway they can. I am in support of immagration becuase without it this country wouldnt exist but we have to institute some type of control, and in my opnion it makes sense to start with the potentialy dangerous people first. I do agree that the overatay situation needs to be addressed as well.
Keep up the good work, Gregory. This Idiot-in-Chief needs as much oversight as possible and intelligent people like you to state what is wrong and right. He is putting himself into a corner with his Wall Demands, with more and more Repubs recognizing the futility and his ignorance. He is the worst president we have ever had. God help us.