Fox's Monica Crowley Ignores Facts To Attack U.S. Border Enforcement Policy

Fox News contributor Monica Crowley attacked an immigration reform proposal by claiming the federal government has failed to protect the U.S.-Mexico border. However, recent reports show that undocumented migration from Mexico has come to a halt, and border security is at an all-time high. 

After a bipartisan group of senators announced a proposal to overhaul the U.S. immigration system that will focus on -- among other initiatives -- border security and opening a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants currently in the country, Crowley blasted the federal government for failing to secure the U.S.-Mexico border, causing states like Arizona to take matters of border security into their own hands. Crowley said drastic measures are needed because “the federal government either has not or will not enforce [the U.S.-Mexico] border.”

However, Crowley's suggestion that current border security is not capable of enforcing our laws is wrong. An April 2012 report by the Pew Hispanic Center explained that net migration flow from Mexico to the U.S. has been reduced to zero and may be headed in the other direction:

After four decades that brought 12 million current immigrants--most of whom came illegally--the net migration flow from Mexico to the United States has stopped and may have reversed, according to a new analysis of government data from both countries by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center.

Among the causes for lower undocumented immigration, the report points to heightened border enforcement, increased amount of deportations, and the growing danger of illegal border crossings. 

Indeed, the United States spends more money on immigration enforcement than all other law enforcement agencies combined, according to a recent study by the Migration Policy Institute. The Huffington Post explained that the U.S. spent nearly $18 billion in 2012 on immigration enforcement, compared to $14.4 billion on all other major law enforcement agencies.

Additionally, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reported a record number of deportations in 2012. ICE removed 409,849 individuals in FY 2012, with 55% of those removals being convicted criminals. A graph on ICE's website reflects their relatively new approach to deportation that aims to prioritize their resources to focus on “identification and removal of those that have broken criminal laws, recently crossed our border, repeatedly violated immigration law or are fugitives from immigration court.”