Illegal immigration in the news

So a 13 year old girl was assaulted after she brought a sign to school which said "If you love our nation, stop illegal immigration".

Melanie Bowers, 13, brought the sign to Athens Middle School on Friday as part of a class project on political activism. Each child was assigned to pick an issue and prepare a poster supporting a position.

Hayes said she was showing the sign in the hallway when a group of students tried wresting it away.

J.R. Bowers, the girl's father, said Melanie suffered scratch marks along her neck, face and arms. He said she also had a swollen jaw.

Bowers said as many as 20 students surrounded his daughter in the hallway, and Hayes said others may have hurled verbal insults. The poster was ultimately destroyed by other students.

Which just goes to show how touchy a subject this is.

People who are against illegal immigration are sometimes lumped in with racists who want to prevent cultural changes they see as detrimental ( and thereby confuse the ideas of race and culture yet again ) while some who rail against illegals are, apparently, more concerned with keeping only people who look like them in the US. That's not even accounting for non-white racists.

The Wall Street Journal notes the number of illegal immigrants has dropped recently:

The number of illegal immigrants apprehended along the U.S.-Mexico border is falling steeply, an indication that the economic downturn and beefed-up security could be deterring unauthorized crossings.

The U.S. Border Patrol said Tuesday that the number of apprehensions dropped 17% to 347,372 between Oct. 1, 2007, and March 31, 2008, from the same period in late 2006 and early 2007.

They seem to think the declining US job market has something to do with that, but I can't count out enforcement efforts.

NPR has a story on illegal immigrants from El Salvador being deported back to their home country.

In 2004, there were 3,500 illegal immigrants in the US returned to El Salvador. In 2007, there were 20,000. Quite a step up. Per the same NPR story, 287,000 illegal immigrants were returned to their home country from all nationalities.