Booting Earth Optimization System
Thank you for your patience. Your civilization is very important to us.
Thank you for your patience. Your civilization is very important to us.
Agency Report Card
Protect national security and public safety through immigration enforcement
Protect national security and public safety through immigration enforcement
2003 DHS created — largest government reorganization since 1947. 22 agencies merged. ↗
2006 Secure Fence Act — $2.3B for 700 miles of border fencing ↗
2017 Family separation policy ('zero tolerance') — 5,500+ children separated from parents ↗
2019 Remain in Mexico policy — asylum seekers forced to wait in dangerous border cities ↗
Budget more than tripled, from $9.1B (FY2003) to $30.1B (FY2023), while Border Patrol encounters rose 122%. More money, more encounters.
| Year | CBP + ICE total budget authority, enacted (nominal USD, fiscal year) | U.S. Border Patrol nationwide encounters, fiscal year (Title 8 apprehensions; from March 2020 also Title 42 expulsions) |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | $9.15B | 931,557 |
| 2005 | $10B | 1,189,075 |
| 2007 | $14.2B | 876,704 |
| 2009 | $18B | 556,041 |
| 2011 | $17.1B | 340,252 |
| 2013 | $17.4B | 420,789 |
| 2015 | $19B | 337,117 |
| 2017 | $21.2B | 310,531 |
| 2019 | $25.2B | 859,501 |
| 2021 | $24.7B | 1,662,167 |
| 2023 | $30.1B | 2,063,692 |
“Fast legal entry, bonded sponsorship, and asylum in days, not years”
Combined ICE and CBP budget in the dataset
Increase since 2003 while encounters ultimately rose
Border encounters after two decades of escalation
Known family separations under zero-tolerance policy
Did creating DHS/ICE/CBP reduce unauthorized border crossings?
Did creating DHS/ICE/CBP reduce unauthorized border crossings?
Border apprehensions peaked at 1.6M in 2000 and were already declining before DHS existed. They dropped to 340K by 2011, then surged to 2.5M by 2023 — despite the budget tripling.
Border apprehensions peaked at 1.6M in 2000 and were already declining before DHS existed. They dropped to 340K by 2011, then surged to 2.5M by 2023 — despite the budget tripling.
“You tripled the immigration enforcement budget and Border Patrol encounters more than doubled. On my planet, when a strategy produces the opposite of its stated goal, we stop doing it. Here you triple down.”
The people you're spending $29B/yr to keep out
$14.5T
Immigrants reduced federal deficits by $14.5 trillion
46%
Immigrants founded 46% of Fortune 500 companies
$96.7B/yr
Undocumented immigrants pay $96.7B/yr in taxes
80% higher
Immigrants are nearly 2x more likely to start businesses
$8.9T projected
Immigration drives a major share of US GDP growth
5.5% lower
More immigration correlates with lower unemployment
67-147% of world GDP
Migration restrictions cost the world $57-78 trillion/yr
~0%
Immigration has near-zero effect on native wages
$6.3T
Even noncitizens (incl. undocumented) are net fiscal contributors
205% vs 120%
Without immigrants, US debt-to-GDP would be 205%
17.3% vs 14.3%
Immigrants pay 17.3% of taxes but are 14.3% of the population
The hidden costs of trade wars
Farm foreclosures doubled 1930-1933. 1 in 4 farmers lost their land.
Consumer goods prices spiked despite deflation. Sugar, textiles, shoes all more expensive.
25+ countries retaliated. US agricultural exports fell 66%. Canada imposed tariffs specifically targeting US goods that competed with Canadian production.
Source: Douglas Irwin 'Peddling Protectionism' / USDA Historical Data ↗
N/A
Washing machine prices up 12% ($86/unit). Steel-dependent manufacturers lost 75,000 jobs — 5x the jobs 'saved' in steel production.
EU imposed tariffs on bourbon, Harley-Davidson motorcycles, blue jeans — targeted at politically sensitive districts.
Source: Federal Reserve Bank of New York / Peterson Institute ↗
Chapter 12 farm bankruptcy filings up 20% (2018-2019). Soybean exports to China dropped 75%. $28B in taxpayer-funded farm bailouts — more than the 2009 auto bailout.
Consumer electronics, clothing, furniture all more expensive. Total cost: $1,277/household/yr. Tariffs paid by US importers and consumers, not China.
China targeted US soybeans (dropped from $12B to $3B/yr), pork, and aircraft. Farm income dropped $12B. Rural communities devastated.
Projected farm income decline of $10-15B from retaliatory tariffs on US agriculture.
Estimated $3,800/household/yr. Disproportionately hits low-income families who spend higher % of income on goods.
Canada, EU, China, Japan, South Korea all announced retaliatory tariffs. 1,400+ economists signed letter warning against, echoing the 1,028 who warned against Smoot-Hawley.
Source: Tax Foundation / Yale Budget Lab / Peterson Institute ↗
On a well-run planet, this agency would have been deprecated centuries ago. Here is what replaces it.
Human Mobility Network — Immigration & Customs Enforcement + Customs and Border Protection