Illegal entry across Mexican border up 500 percent over a year ago

As the Obama administration claims the U.S. border with Mexico has never been more secure, high-ranking Border Patrol officials in Texas are seeing a surge of illegal immigrants in the Rio Grande Valley.

Between August and December of last year the number of people crossing illegally into the U.S. from Mexico was five times higher than a year earlier, according to the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies.  Border Patrol sources said many of those entering illegally are Central Americans and South Americans.

The huge increase in the number of illegals seems to be an unintended consequence of the Democrat-led push for so-called immigration "reform"--widely expected to be amnesty for those already here.  Apprehended illegals say that between the expected amnesty for those already here and the recent Obama policy of releasing illegals detained by the Border Patrol, entering the U.S. illegally has become a no-lose proposition.

Significantly, in the past those caught crossing illegally usually opted to be sent back to Mexico, but now an increasing number are invoking their right to a hearing, for two reasons:  First, budget cuts mean they are likely to simply be released in the U.S, as the Obama administration did with some 3000 illegals in the last two months.  Second, they believe establishing a record of their arrival in the U.S.--despite coming in illegally--will help when the president or congress gives amnesty to all illegal aliens, as expected.

Unintended consequences of a Democrat policy?  Who could have guessed?