In South Texas, Some Blame Senate For Rush Across the Border
Amnesty opponents say the Senate bill is partly to blame for a recent increase in illegal border crossings.
If you ask almost anyone in south Texas whether the immigration debate in Washington is having an effect on their daily life, you'd be hard pressed to find anyone to tell you 'no.'
In the last few years, the number of immigrants [criminal illegal aliens] who are being caught crossing into the country illegally has spiked in Texas.
In the Rio Grande sector, the number of apprehensions from January to May 2012 was 60,585. By May of this year, U.S. Border Patrol has apprehended 93,922 immigrants [illegal aliens].
From ranchers to police, most will say the mere discussion of a "path to citizenship" for the country's 11 million [to 40 million illegal alien] immigrants who entered the country illegally has sparked a rapid influx of immigrants hoping to cross the border before the U.S. cracks down.
"It opens the flood gates, but you have now that people feel like there is a timeline, they have something to lose. We see more pursuits, more agent assaults more things that are going to cause and concern the safety of our units," says Chris Cabrera, a U.S. Border Patrol officer and the vice-president of the National Border Patrol Council.
Citizens who have longed work to curb illegal immigration say they are seeing more action on the ground that they've seen in years.
"We are attracting even more people to come illegally," says Jean Swan, a volunteer with a citizen patrol group Texas Border Volunteers. "They are talking about a 'pathway to citizenship,' so now people are flooding in for that."...
CAIRCO Research