The number of Mexican immigrants who crossed the border dropped sharply in the past year to the lowest level in a decade, even while undocumented workers already here are opting to stay.

A study, released recently by the Pew Hispanic Center, found that immigrants arriving from Mexico fell by 249,000 from March 2008 to March 2009, down nearly 60 percent from the previous year. But wait, how is this possible? How is it possible that the number of illegal immigrants entering the United States has fallen by the sharpest amounts in a decade during the Presidency of Barrack Obama? Wasn’t it George W. Bush who was supposed to be protecting our Southern Boarder with his wonderful fence?

The annual inflow of immigrants is now 175,000, having steadily decreased from a peak of 653,000 in 2005, during the beginning of the second term of Bush/Cheney.

The total population of Mexican-born immigrants in the U.S. also edged lower in the past year, from 11.6 million to 11.5 million, according to the study by Pew, an independent research group. Up to 85 percent of immigrants are believed to be in the country illegally. Another drop? How can illegal immigration be turning around under a Democratic President?

Among Pew’s other findings:

• In 2008, the number of Mexicans apprehended by the U.S. Border Patrol — 662,000 — was 40 percent below the peak of 1.1 million in 2004, reflecting in part the sharp decline in the number of new immigrants arriving into the U.S. Why are fewer people trying to come into the U.S. after Bush/Cheney left office? Perhaps the whole “tough on illegal immigration” talk was simply a smoke screen? Perhaps the administration dedicated to making America safer was in reality a sieve through which hundreds of thousands of illegals poured through?

• Mexico is by far the origin of most U.S. immigrants, accounting for one-third of foreign-born residents and two-thirds of Hispanic immigrants. About one in 10 people born in Mexico now live in the U.S.

• The total number of apprehensions by the Border Patrol in 2008 — 724,000 — was at the lowest level since 1973. More than 90 percent of people detained by Border Patrol are Mexican. So? Is it possible that President Obama’s Administration is tougher than Bush/Cheney’s?

The findings come as the Obama administration has pledged to take up immigration law this year. A key Democrat in the effort, Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer has said he hopes to have a bill ready by Labor Day and that the way to get it passed is to be tough on future waves of illegal immigration.

Steven Camarota, a demographer at the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington research group which calls for reduced immigration, said the findings demonstrate that tougher law enforcement can make a difference. Still, he said it will take a lot more than tighter border security to get comprehensive reform passed.

So, the Obama Administration is tougher on illegal immigration than Bush/Cheney? But we’ve heard virtually nothing about this from Limbaugh, Hannity, et al? Aren’t they supposedly dedicated to telling us what no one else wants us to know? Aren’t they the true protectors of America and our way of life? Or, are they simply never going to admit that President Obama could be doing anything right?