Anti-Immigration "Think Tank": Eliminating the Border Patrol Will Halt Illegal Entries

The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) — the “non-partisan research” arm of John Tanton’s formidable anti-immigration empire — would be a source of endless laughs if not for the fact that some take their “research” seriously.

(My favorite CIS release was a “study” that supposedly revealed that there wasn’t a shortage of native-born farm-workers — it was just another liberal media hoax all along. The central argument: “Production of fruits and vegetables has been increasing. In particular, plantings of very-labor intensive crops such as cherries and strawberries have grown by more than 20 percent in just five years.” So, there are enough farmworkers to pick those crops after all! Never mind that the Dept. of Agriculture estimates that 50 percent of our current farmworkers are undocumented migrants and unofficial estimates range as high as 70 percent.)

Anyway, they have a new one focusing on recent Census data suggesting that the undocumented population is declining, and they try to walk a fine line with it. While explicitly noting that the economic downturn is likely a contributing factor, they strongly imply that the surge in harsh and basically ineffective immigration crackdowns has played a large role.

The Immigration Policy Center put out a release that made quick work of CIS’ claims: