11 Million

How many illegal migrants are there currently in the country?

Chuck Schumer said in 2022 there were 11 million. Harris supporters argue today that there are still 11 million. There’s been 11 million – not nine, not ten, not twelve but very specifically 11 – since at least the beginning of this century. I arrived in this country 21 years ago (legally), and the narrative was that there are 11 million illegals. There were officially 11 million at every point since then. Today, there are still 11 million according to a widely accepted narrative.

People have accepted the number “11 million” as an article of faith. The normal human rigidity helps promote a wide acceptance of this clearly fictitious number. Once you memorize something, you’ll feel great resistance to relinquishing the memorized data point. The number of people who are intellectually nimble to do that is not large. Whoever invented the “11 million” talking point was very bright. This kind of brightness is absent on the Trump side where a decade of immigration talk has produced no similar rhetorical device. Even “build the wall” has been quietly retired once it became obvious there won’t be any wall.

In the war between competent, well-organized liars and disorganized incompetents who vaguely intuit the truth but can’t be bothered to articulate it clearly, the former win. When I say “competent and well-organized”, I don’t, of course, mean they are good at doing things that don’t interest them. Like organizing flood relief, for instance. These are people who are deadly competent at carrying out their own plans.