International trade across the US-Mexico border is huge. $650 million in commerce a day, over $230 billion a year. The border crossing at Tijuana was closed for a week a few years ago and US manufacturing started shutting down.
Quick Facts about the U.S.-Mexico Border
The number of illegal immigrants in the US has not changed much since about 2005. The number of Mexicans in the mix has declined as job opportunities have opened up in Mexico. Mexicans who were once illegals are returning home. These people are being replaced by people from other countries. On the west coast there are a fair number of Chinese illegals who are coming in via container ships.
What we know about unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S.
A large percentage of illegals work as farm labor. The immigrants coming to the cities are not illegals, they are people seeking asylum in the US. Under the law, when someone is seeking asylum they have the right to stay here until their case can be heard. Because the courts are backed up (Congress has not allocated funding to hire more judges), it can take years for someone's case to be heard.
Over the last couple of years what the Border Patrol calls "encounters" at the border have skyrocketed because people are crossing the border then turning themselves in to the first authority they find. If someone makes it across the border before they are apprehended, their case must be heard.
The laws surrounding these things can change, but Congress hasn't done anything about it. Most Democrats have shown a willingness to address the problems in a rational manner, but any attempts to fix anything get the goal posts moved by the Republicans and nothing gets passed.
