Potentially half a million illegal aliens are projected to successfully cross the United States-Mexico border this year, should illegal immigration levels continue at their current rate.

President Trump signed a spending bill that devotes $1.3 billion to a border wall — while also declaring a national emergency — but expanded Catch and Release and gave an amnesty pathway to illegal aliens who have ties to Unaccompanied Alien Children (UACs), experts are continuing to predict that illegal immigration will surge to record levels this year.

Princeton Policy Advisors researcher Steven Kopits projects that in 2019, there will be anywhere between 260,000 to 500,000 illegal aliens at the southern border who successfully cross into the U.S. undetected by Border Patrol agents.

Kopits’ research also indicates that possibly close to 400,000 illegal aliens crossed into the country undetected by Border Patrol last year, assuming about 55 percent to 60 percent of illegal aliens are apprehended when they attempt to cross the border.

Last month, Kopits called the number of border crossings “stunning,” noting that there were nearly 48,000 border crossing apprehensions — an increase of about 22,000 crossings compared to this same month in 2017.

At this rate, Kopits projects there will be more than 600,000 border crossing apprehensions this year, a level of illegal immigration at the southern border that the country has not seen since President George W. Bush.

In Fiscal Year 2008, under Bush, there were more than 705,000 crossings at the southern border. The year before, there were close to 860,000 border crossings. Since Fiscal Year 2009, there have been more than 540,000 border crossing apprehensions at the southern border.

Illegal Immigration Expected to Hit Highest Level Since George W. Bushhttps://t.co/pTvcJXqvIM — John Binder 👽 (@JxhnBinder) February 9, 2019

Mass illegal and legal immigration adversely diminishes wages and job prospects for American workers, especially black Americans who are more likely to compete for U.S. jobs against cheaper, foreign workers.

Every one percent increase in the immigrant composition of an American workers’ occupation reduces their weekly wages by about 0.5 percent, researcher Steven Camarotta concludes. This means the average native-born American worker today has their wage reduced by perhaps 8.5 percent because of current legal immigration levels.

Likewise, every one percent increase in the immigrant composition of low-skilled U.S. occupations reduces wages by about 0.8 percent. Should 15 percent of low-skilled jobs be held by foreign-born workers, it would reduce the wages of native-born American workers by perhaps 12 percent.

The Washington, DC-imposed mass legal immigration policy is a boon to corporate executives, Wall Street, big business, and multinational conglomerates, as America’s working and middle class have their wealth redistributed to the country’s top earners through wage stagnation.

Currently, the U.S. admits more than a million legal immigrants annually, with the vast majority deriving from chain migration, whereby newly naturalized citizens can bring an unlimited number of foreign relatives to the country. In 2017, the foreign-born population reached a record high of 44.5 million.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.