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Furthermore, the total number of apprehensions tells us very little about the aliens who aren't caught. Some people assume that, if 800,000 are being detected, an even larger number must be getting through... while others argue that—since so many aliens are being apprehended—the Border Patrol must be stopping most of those who try to enter the country.
Finally, of course, the number of apprehensions tells us nothing about the reverse flow. After all, if 800,000 Mexicans were entering the country illegally each year at the same time that 900,000 were returning home, then the total number of non-citizens would be declining.

The most careful study—at least at this time—of the number of illegal residents in the United States compares various groups of government census and labor statistics, some of which would be expected to include most illegals and some to exclude them. The resulting estimate is of an unregistered alien population of about four million... which is one-half to one-third of the numbers most frequently heard previously . At the moment, this seems to be about the best available figure, but it doesn't amount to much more than an informed guess.

TEMPORARY EMPLOYMENT

Another factor that's not often considered is the possibility that illegals are here only temporarily, expecting to make some money and then return to their homeland. However, studies that have been done in Mexico—and interviews with Mexicans who are in the U.S. illegally—indicate that the vast majority will return home after a period in the U.S.... perhaps to cross back again later, when the accumulated money has been used up. Furthermore, these studies and interviews generally reveal that most Mexican illegals living here would prefer to stay in Mexico if they could make anything resembling a decent wage there.

Propaganda to the contrary, it's also apparent that the Mexican illegals are an economic plus for the United States. The schizophrenic claims of bigots (on one hand, illegals are said to work so hard that they displace native labor, and—on the other—are referred to as welfare bums) are utterly unsupported. There're many reasons to believe that very few American citizens are unemployed because Mexican laborers have taken jobs that otherwise would be open. It's also clear that illegals pay (through taxes, social security deductions, and workman's compensation payments) for a wide variety of services of which they only rarely take advantage.

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