By Randall Poulton

It been a while, so, to recap, here was my last question:

President  Biden has finally decided to “Build the Wall”, or, at least, finish certain parts of it. The numbers of people illegally crossing our Southern border is hard to comprehend. According  to the US Census Bureau, how many “immigrates” enter the USA each day? 

A. 100

B. 229

C. 665

D. 1,001

The  answer, is “C”. According to the Census Bureau’s “World Clock” (it’s a cool page, Google it) one international immigrant enters the USA every 130 seconds. Based on my math, that is 665 a day, 20,000 a month, and about 240,000 per year. This is the lowest  government estimate for “immigration” that I have seen. The Border Patrol puts the number much higher. Here is an excerpt  from their report for March:

In total,  there were 221,303 encounters along the southwest land border in March, a 33 percent increase compared to February. Of those, 28 percent involved  individuals who had at least one prior encounter in the previous 12 months, compared to an average one-year re-encounter rate of 14 percent for FY2014-2019. (Translation: If the Border Patrol successfully stops a person who is trying to enter our country illegally, 33% of the time that person tries again.)

The Border Patrol estimates they stop about 2 out of 3 people illegally crossing the border. So, my math says, in March of 2022, the number who made it was about 70,000, not 20,000! But either number is ridiculous.

Here is my new question:

Last week, the Senate  passed another HUGE spending bill that will, among other things, double  the number of employees at the IRS. Which party holds the majority in the Senate?

A. Republicans

B. Democrats

C. Neither, the Senate is split with 50 Rs and 50 Ds.

D. I thought only the House of Representatives could spend money.