Speech #820243695

In the hearings. we learned that the airlift began in June. 1951. In the Imperial Valley area. 15 days before the airlift began. the apprehension of wetbacks had averaged 878 a day. Simultaneously with the beginning of the airlift. the effective border patrol was increased 100 percent. which should have drastically increased apprehensions. Yet within 2 weeks apprehensions had dropped to between 200 and 300 a day. -and in 3 weeks to less than 100. This was within the same crop cycle. so there was no change in terms ofJob opportunities. The airlift was directly responsible for this marked improvement In the situation. Let me point out that the airlift system. under which the illegal entrants are picked up. screened. checked by Immigration authorities from Mexico as well as from the United States and deported to the heart of Mexico. has slowed down drastically the movement of illegal entrants across the Rio Grande into the United States. In other words. it has diminished the flow of wetbacks. To be sure. the program has cost money. but it has been effective. However. the complaint about the program is made because of its effectiveness. The figures are quite revealing as to how most of the illegal entrants get into the United States and where they go after they have entered. During the fiscal year 1951. the border patrol in the Imperial Valley of California apprehended 221.502 illegal aliens. This year the service has moved a sufficient number of illegally entered aliens from that area to the interior of Mexico. to have reduced during the first 6 months the number of apprehenslcns to 46.486. In other words. this operation has helped the Immigration Service regain very substantial control over the illegal entry of aliens in that area. When we consider the Texas situation. we find that most of the difficulty is concentrated in about six counties along the border of Texas. There is a great hue and cry rising from that area. the complaint being that the airlift is extravagant and ridiculous. that all it does is to give the aliens a nice ride.