Let me tell you how this really went down as I would be one to be in the know on this.
2000-2005:
Apprehensions across the United States for a Fiscal year ranged from as low as 931,000 to as high as 1,676,438.
Starting in 2004-2005, Bush authorized the a mass hiring of Border Patrol Agents that would bring numbers way way up to around 21,000 agents. During that time, Border Patrol Stations were fielding about 10 agents per shift in a lot of areas. After the mass hiring, the number of agents per shift were tripled and some quadrupled in numbers.
2006-2007:
These years are where numbers can be deceiving. In 2006, 1,089,092 apprehensions were made. If you look at it in reality, the number of illegal crossings went down because of the added man power. The only reason that apprehensions stayed around the same is because with the added manpower, the Border Patrol was apprehending more of the ones that crossed instead of them getting away which was happening ALOT when the Boder Patrol manpower was way down prior to 2005.
2008-present:
Obama takes office and the economy takes a big dump. Again here, numbers can be deceiving. During these years, numbers of apprehensions start to significantly go down as does the manpower of the Border Patrol. One would think that since the manpower is going down that more people would try to cross illegally as it would be easier for them to get away but it hasn't happened. In 2008, when the economy took a dump, the numbers of apprehensions went way way down but we still had double the manpower so the Boder Patrol was still catching a lot of the illegals that crossed. Why the low numbers of people crossing with the same amount of manpower? Because the economy was crap and no one was hiring illegals to work in the U.S. or hiring anyone for that matter. So if they can't come and work to get money to send back home then why come at all. So that's what they did, most didn't cross. Think of smuggling as a business. If there are no customers to smuggle, then you are going to go out of business. So smugglers packed up and did something else.
The numbers are just now starting to creep back up as the economy is improving slowly and businesses are starting to hire again. So you see, it's not Obama who did all of this. It was the economy affecting the flow of illegal immigration. Obama has actually been releasing illegals into this country that the Border Patrol has been apprehending for sometime now.
Just thought I would explain all of this so there was no misinformation.
Stats you say?
https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/f...ly Apps by Sector and Area, FY2000-FY2016.pdf
https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/assets/documents/2016-Oct/BP Staffing FY1992-FY2016.pdf
Oh and count me in for wanting a AR and a Shotgun for the fan stuff.