Illegal immigration to the United States

Illegal immigration to the United States refers to the migration of people across the national borders of the United States that is in violation of U.S. nationality law. The terms illegal alien, illegal immigrant, undocumented alien, undocumented immigrant, and undocumented worker, are common terms used to refer to U.S. residents without either U.S. citizenship or a valid immigration status. Template:Fn.

Illegal Immigrants Info
Education Profile	Number	Percent
Less then 12 yr.	6,700,000	67.0%
High School	3,000,000	30.0%
College Graduate	300,000	3.0%
Total Illegal Pop.	12,000,000	Jan 2006
Total Working	7,500,000
Criminals Caught	202,842	2004
Criminals Deported	88,895	2004
Caught and Released	1,010,000+	2005
Illegal Immigrants/year	1,500,000+	Total
Voluntary returns/year	- 200,000+	2005
Change of Status/year	- 600,000+	2005
Net Increase/year	700,000+	Illegal Immigrants
Source: Pew Hispanic Data Estimates[1] A Description of the Immigrant Population [2]

Methods used to enter the U.S. illegally

Overview

Visa & BCC Overstayers
Country	Estimate [2004]
Mexico	2,300,000
Canada	100,000
India	25,000
Philippines	21,700
Poland	18,500
Colombia	18,100
South Korea	17,500
Guatemala	12,100
China	11,400
Honduras	11,300
El Salvador	10,700
Ecuador	10,400
Dominican Republic	10,300
Bahamas	9,600
Haiti	9,100
UnitedKingdom	8,600
Israel	8,000
Jamaica	7,500
China,PRC	7,100
Italy	6,100
Russia	5,800
France	5,400
Hong Kong	4,600
Trinidad and Tobago	3,900
Japan	3,700
Argentina	3,400
Peru	2,900
Ireland	2,800
Panama	2,200
Chile	2,100
Netherlands	2,100
SouthAfrica	2,100
Thailand	2,100
CostaRica	2,000
Singapore	1,900
Turkey	1,800
Venezuela	1,700
Portugal	1,500
Taiwan	1,500
Germany	1,300
Sweden	1,000
Brazil	900
Denmark	800
Switzerland	700
Australia	500
Belgium	400
Norway	400
New Zealand	300
Spain	300
NetherlandsAntilles	200
Austria	100
Finland	100
Total	683,500
Source: Pew Hispanic Data sheet[3] and [4] Office of Travel and Tourism Industries GAO estimates

Roughly 60% of the people classified as illegally immigrating are undocumented aliens and 40% are nonimmigrant overstayers. An "undocumented alien" is typically a foreign national that does not possess a valid passport with a valid U.S. visa. An "overstay" is typically a foreign national in possession of a valid visa, which only permits individuals to visit the United States for a limited period of time, and strictly prohibits the individual from working in the United States. Other "overstays" include individuals with once-valid U.S. work visas or permanent resident (green cards) which have expired.

Crossing the border without a valid passport and U.S. visa is a misdemeanor for the first offense and a felony for subsequent violations. The first offense is punishable only by deportation, and in practice future offenses are only punishable by deportation and a ban on entering the U.S. legally in the future. Immigrants who are caught illegally trespassing U.S. territory are usually fingerprinted and immediately returned, unless they are a repeat offender, in which case they may be criminally prosecuted. H.R. 4437 would have made the first offense of crossing the border illegally a felony.

UAccording to a report by the Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims, Committee on the Judiciary on 1997, "Through other violations of our immigration laws, Mexican drug cartels are able to extend their command and control into the United States. Drug smuggling fosters, subsidizes, and is dependent upon continued illegal immigration and alien smuggling." Another large scale multi-million dollar criminal operations connected to illegal immigration is identity theft. [5]

Illegal border crossing

During his 1996 presidential bid, for example, Patrick Buchanan claimed that the undocumented Mexican population was growing by a million or more a year. According to the 1997 report issued by the Binational Study on Migration and commissioned by the U.S. and Mexican governments, the annual average is closer to 105,000 Ð only one-tenth of Buchanan's figure. The total number of people from all countries who entered illegally or overstayed their visas in 1996 was estimated by the INS to be 275,000, again a fraction of Buchanan's claim, and less than one-tenth of one percent of the U.S. population.

According to the [Pew Hispanic Center] the number of migrants coming to the United States each year, legally and illegally, grew very rapidly starting in the mid-1990s, hit a peak at the end of the decade, and then declined substantially after 2001. By 2004, the annual inflow of foreign-born persons was down 24% from its all-time high in 2000. [6]

Approximately 40-60% {fact}of people entering illegally into the United States crossed a border without passing possible criminal or health inspection or having a valid passport and visa inspected by an immigration officer at a Port of Entry (POE). It is estimated that over a million people cross the border illegally each year, most of whom are of Mexican origin. The rest are labeled "Other Than Mexicans" (OTM), of whom a majority are Central Americans.

The higher crime rates associated with all this traffic has led to extensive efforts on the part of individual sheriffs and communities trying to prevent further damage to their property and communities. [7], [8], [9], [[10]] [11]

In 2006 the number of apprehensions on the border is almost the same as last year through 16 July 2006 at 936,000 [12]. Some of the traffic has spread away from the dangerous Tucson districts deserts where over a hundred illegal immigrants have died so far this year compared to 153 in 2005. [13]

In an article published by Renew America, a website which defines itself as a "grassroots organization that supports the Declarationist ideals of Alan Keyes", former US Border Patrol Supervisor David Stoddard asserts that the whole U.S.-Mexico border could be sealed with as few as 100 helicopters equipped with FLIR (forward looking infrared) scopes, and a few hundred men equipped with state of the art sensors, scopes and other electronics. [14]

File:ElPaso-Juarez-EO.JPG

El Paso (top) and Ciudad Juárez (bottom) seen from earth orbit; the Rio Grande is the thin line separating the two cities through the middle of the photograph.

Beach at Border Field State Park near San Ysidro, California. (Tire tracks from Border Patrol jeeps are visible on the beach.)

Border Patrol activity is concentrated around big border cities such as San Diego and El Paso which already have separation barriers and extensive Border Agent coverage. Each state in the United States has a National Guard organization that could, in principal, be placed on the border at a state governor's discretion to assist with border security; many states also have a backup to the National Gurard called the State Defense Force that could, in an emergency, also be activated for this purpose. Arizona and New Mexico have currently declared the counties that border Mexico to be under serious duress caused by uncontrolled illegal immigrant traffic, thereby enabling governors to deploy National Guardsmen to the international border. Arizona has exercised this option but New Mexico has not.

The borders

United States–Mexico border

United States-Canada border

From countries with no visa agreements

Immigrants from nations that do not have automatic visa agreements, or who would not otherwise qualify for a visa, sometimes cross the borders illegally. Individuals from North Korea, Libya, Cuba, Syria, Sudan, and Iran are required to submit to strict questioning from U.S. officials before their applications are processed. Their applications take longer to process than those for visitors and immigrants from other countries. [15]

Often, these individuals enter from a land border using falsified documentation from a third country. For instance, Ahmed Ressam, a member of Al Qaeda, originally from Algeria, entered Canada with a falsified French passport. Once in Canada, he procured a false Canadian passport to enter the United States. In the case of Cuba, the U.S. offers political asylum to many Cubans, but they first must reach U.S. soil. [16]

Visa or Border Crossing Card Overstayers

A visa overstayer is someone who has entered the United States legally and then illegally overstayed his or her visa or violated the restrictions on Border Crossing Card (BCC) or laser visa. Fraudulent and forged visa and BCC passes are included in this category. An estimated average 40-60% of all illegal immigrants to the U.S. entered this way. The number of overstayers varies considerably from country to country depending on the location of the country, the cultural, political, social and economic conditions in a given country in a given time. The PEW Hispanic institute reported [17] that the INS had developed statistics that showed 3.2% of all Central and South America visas are overstayed. A U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) study gives estimates for all countries showing that China, India, Korea, and the Philippines had violation rates as high as 8%.[18] In general the poorer the country they came from the more likely the foreign visitor was to violate their visa.

GAO estimated that 40-60% of all Mexican illegal immigrants got here by violating their border crossing document's conditions. [19] In operation Tarmac where ICE and DHS checked airport employees for legal employment they found 27% of the over 4900 violators found were visa or BCC violators. In one of the rare ICE check ups on a grocery chain they found that over 57% of the several hundred violators were visa overstayers or BCC violators (Overstay Tracking Is a Key Component of a Layered Defense) patrol officials believe Visa violator numbers would increase if it became more difficult to illegally sneak across the border as illegal border crossers switched techniques. About 33% of all Central American illegal immigrants came by overstaying their visa with the rest traveling through Mexico to reach the border and then crossing illegally. At lest 95+% of all illegal South American, European, and Asians got here by overstaying their visa. (The other ~5% represent illegal immigrants smuggled by ship or plane) An increasing number of illegal immigrants are now flying to Mexico or Canada and then crossing the border illegally by foot or car. The ICE agents on the border report a 52% increase in border violators caught that are Other Than Mexican (OTM). The two main sources of illegal visa violators are Mexico and Canada which the U.S. has a large amount of cross border traffic with. Other estimates done by the GAO show that the overstayers and BCC violators from Mexico alone in the year 2001 may exceed 2,000,000 /year. [20] The Bureau of Transportation Statistics [21] reported that in 2003 (the last year of available statistics) there were 79,000,000 and 245,000,000 border crossings between Canada and Mexico respectively and the US. The tourist bureau shows that there were less Mexicans (as reported by their government) doing all this traffic than their were Canadians (as reported by their government).[22] Mexico has roughly three times the population of Canada. The latest ICE statistics show that they captured 30,000 Brazilians after they crossed the U.S. Mexican border illegally for the first time in 2004. Two of the terrorists behind the September 11, 2001 attacks were visa overstayers. The federal government historically has not extensibly checked up on visa holders once they are in the country; but visa checks has been used extensively after 9 September 2001 to check up on illegal immigrants from countries with large populations sympathic to terrorists. Several hundred visa violators were deported and several thousand more left voluntarily rather than face deportation hearings.

To help improve the lack of good information on visa overstayers the new US-VISIT program collects and retains biographic, travel, and biometric information, such as photographs and fingerprints, of foreign nationals seeking entry into the United States as well as requiring electronic readable passports containing this information. Information collected is checked against lookout databases to ensure that known or suspected terrorists, criminals, and previous U.S. immigration law violators are not admitted. [23] and then checked against their eventual departure. US-VISIT entry procedures have been operational in the secondary inspection areas of the 50 busiest land border ports of entry since December 29, 2004, and are also in place at 115 airports and 15 seaports.[24] Early in 2007 the DHS is hoping to replace the laser visa or boundary crossing cards with People Access Security Service (PASS) card, as a secure identity document for people traveling to or from Canada or Mexico. [25] These would include Radio Frequency Identification Data (RFID) for ease of transit and security.

Visa overstayers violators tend to be somewhat more educated and be better off financially than those who walked crossed the border illegally. [26] The financial and education status of the thousands of BCC or laser visa violators is unknown; but is probably very similar to the illegal border crossers who walked across since they both come from the same population base.

One common means of visa overstaying is coming to the U.S. on a student visa and not going to school or not leaving the country after finishing school. [27] The number of foreign students in the United States is over 600,000.

Profile Summaries of Illegal Immigrants

Profile Summaries of Illegal Immigrants January 2006
Job Category	% of Illegal Immigrant	% of Native -1 w/8+ yr sch.	% of Average Native	# Illegal Immigrant	# Native 8+ yr sch.	# Average Native
Managerial / Self Employed	1.50%	5.9%	32.2%	108,000	758,000	33,810,000
Retail / Business	4.90%	15.2%	29.2%	352,800	1,952,700	30,660,000
Service Private	1.20%	1.0%	0.3%	86,400	128,500	315,000
Farm Mgr	1.60%	1.6%	1.1%	115,200	205,600	1,155,000
Service Retail	18.20%	20.3%	10.3%	1,310,400	2,607,900	10,815,000
Farming -2	17.50%	2.9%	1.0%	1,260,000	372,600	1,050,000
Production	22.0%	20.1%	11.9%	1,584,000	2,582,200	12,495,000
Construction	33.0%	33.1%	14.0%	2,376,000	4,252,400	14,700,000
Total # Working	7,500,000	12,847,000	108,000,000
Labor rate of Participation -3	82%	46.3%	66.30%
Unemployment Rate	7.0%	7.0%	4.10%
Country Profile			Sex / age Profile			Worker profile
Mexican	6,840,000	57%	men 18-39	5,300,000	43.7%	4,500,000	80%
Latin & Central Amer.	3,000,000	25%	women 18-39	3,500,000	29.1%	2,000,000	60%
Asia	1,080,000	9%	more than 40	1,300,000	10.7%	1,000,000	80%
Europe + Canada	720,000	6%	less than 18	2,040,000	17.0%	200,000	10%
Rest of World	480,000	4%	Born / yr.	300,000
Totals Jan 2006	12,100,000		Total Pop.	12,400,000	Total Working	7,500,000
Net Rate of Increase / year	700,000+	Illegal	Immigrants	See Note 7
Net Rate of Increase / Month	60,000+	Illegal	Immigrants

1. Native Population that most closely matches Illegal immigrant population is workers that never graduated from high school.
2. Farm work is the only job category that illegal immigrants uniquely fill; but it does have a 30,000 H2-A visa program for it!
3. Rate of Participation is fraction of total population seeking work
4. Average Education of illegal immigrants may be less if the ~30% Central American's are included.
5. How many criminals turn around after deportation and return is unknown; but it is significant that ICE catchs more than they deport.
6. Estimated number may be low by several hundred thousand
7. Other estimates of net increase are over 850,000 illegal immigrants / year.

Information Sources:

• [28] Estimates of the Size and Characteristics of the Undocumented Population
• [29]A Description of the Immigrant Population
• [30] Labor Participation less than High School
• [31] Economy Slowed, But Immigration Didn't
• [32] Immigration Enforcement Actions: 2004
• [33] The Labor Force Status of Short-Term Unauthorized Workers
• [34] Labor Statistics

Illegal Immigration Economics

The economics of illegal immigration are a highly contentious issue with much conflicting information presented. In 1990 the Congress appointed a bipartisan Commission on Immigration Reform to review the nation's policies and laws and to recommend changes. In turn, the commission in 1995 asked the National Research Council of the National Science Foundation to convene a panel of experts to assess the demographic, economic, and fiscal consequences of immigration. The panel was asked to lay a scientific

Education, Income and Taxes
Source of Immigrant	Europe/ Canada	Asia	Latin America	Other	U.S. / CA
Years of Education *	14.2	14.7	9.2	12+	14.4
Household Income *	$42k	$57k	$32k	$42k	42k
Effective Federal tax rate **	18.7%	22%	5%	18.7%	18.7%
Effective State tax rate ***	10%	12%	9%	10%	10.9%
Average Federal taxes	$7.9k	$12.5k	$1.6k	$7.9k	$7.9k
Average State taxes	$4.2k	$6.8k	$2.9	$4.2k	$4.5k
Source: * Census data [35] **Average federal tax data from CBO estimates of effective Federal tax rates [36] ***State taxes are from California Statistical Abstract [37] Note: Most of the Federal and state taxes are paid by households earning significantly more than average.

foundation for policymaking on some specific Immigration issues. [38] The panel consisted of over 15 well respected professors from highly ranked universities [39]. The National Science Foundation panels charge was to address three key questions:

1. What is the effect of immigration on the future size and composition of the U.S. population?
2. What is the influence of immigration on the overall economy?
3. What is the fiscal impact of immigration on federal, state, and local governments?

The report by 15+ researchers was issued after 3 years study was called “The New Americans: Economic, Demographic, and Fiscal Effects of Immigration” (1997) Edited by James P. Smith and Barry Edmonston, ISBN 0-309-06356-6. The book is available on line at [40]. The enclosed table summarizes some of the National Academy of Sciences main conclusions.

Previous studies (and many subsequent} of the fiscal impacts of immigration were found to have serious deficiencies. Indeed in 1995, only a handful of existing empirical studies were available. Many of these represented not science but advocacy from both sides of the immigration debate. These studies often offered an incomplete accounting of either the full list of taxpayer costs and benefits by ignoring some programs and taxes while including others. More important, the conceptual foundation of this research was rarely explicitly stated, offering opportunities to tilt the research toward the desired result. [41]

"As long as there is a virtually unlimited supply of potential immigrants, the nation must make choices on how many to admit and who they should be." National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences, 1997.

National Science Foundation Immigrant Economics Federal State Local Net Annual Fiscal Impact per Household [1997]
Source of Immigrant	Europe/ Canada	%	Asia	%	Latin America	%	Other	%	All	%	Total Cost *
California	$1,631	26%	$1,081	25%	($7,206)	43%	$3,313	6%	($2.206)	100%	($20.0) billion
New Jersey	$449	26%	$2,022	25%	($5,625)	43%	$3,052	6%	($1,613)	100%	($15.0) billion
Illegal Immigrant Economics **
California	$1,631	6%	$1,081	9%	($7,206)	81%	$3,313	4%	($5,509)	100%	($22.0) billion
New Jersey	$449	6%	$2,022	9%	($5,625)	81%	$3,052	4%	($4,225)	100%	($17.0) billion
Source: The New Americans, National Science Foundation Table 6.4, pg 284[42] * Total costs calculated for all U.S. immigrants, legal and illegal, 9.166 million households 1995 ** No adjustments for changes since 1995, assumes 4 million illegal households, percent distribution from Pew

One study put the cost to the federal government at $2,700/household [43] On average, the costs that illegal households impose on federal government are less than half that of other households, but their tax payments are only one-fourth that of other households. Still another study put the net costs to California residents at $433/household for European/Canadian immigrants, $1,240/household for Asian immigrants and $8,182/household for Latin American workers TABLE 4-7a Net Fiscal Impacts by Nativity of Householder pg 160-1. These are the costs calculated for all immigrants legal and illegal. The costs for illegal immigrants are significantly higher since they have even less education, earn even less income and often avoid paying even the small taxes they are elgible for.

The results are not surprising given that nearly all modern developed societies like Sweden, Canada and the United States heavily subsidize the cost of all government services for low income people by heavily taxing the higher income people. In the United states the effective federal tax rate considering all federal taxes as calculated by the Congressional Budget office runs from 4.8% for the bottom quintile [0-20%](avg. income = $34k) to 25% for the last quintile [80-100%] of income households. The bottom two income quintiles, with exemptions, are nearly exempt from all income tax and social security taxes are heavily subsidized. Many illegal workers claim they have income tax witheld not bothering to mention it is nearly always negligibly small.[44] The state's tax systems vary more but nearly always tax the higher income people much more than the lower income people. In today's society, unlike the societies of 100 years ago when immigration previously peaked, you will never get net gains for society by importing a bunch of subsidized high school drop outs into it. [45]

A 1994 study by Ohio University researchers, for example, found "no statistically meaningful relationship between immigration and unemployment....[I]f there is any correlation, it would appear to be negative: higher immigration is associated with lower unemployment." Studies by the Rand Corporation, the Council of Economic Advisors, the National Research Council and the Urban Institute all came to the conclusion that immigrants do not have a negative effect on the earnings and the employment opportunities of native-born Americans."

The Urban Institute has concluded that "immigrants actually generate significantly more in taxes paid than they cost in services." This is because undocumented workers, despite their ineligibility for most federal benefits, frequently have Social Security and income taxes withheld from their paychecks. In fact, immigrants pay substantially more in taxes every year than they receive in welfare benefits.

2004 illegal immigration debate

Main article: United States immigration debate

In 2004, United States President George W. Bush proposed a guest worker program to absorb migrant laborers who would otherwise come to the U.S. as illegal aliens. However, the details were left to legislators. In 2005, the Congress began creating legislation to change the current illegal immigration policies. The legislation approved by the U.S. House of Representatives led to massive protests.

See also 2006 United States immigration reform protests.

Legal issues

Legal and political status

Madeleine Cosman contends that the requirement of hospitals to offer service to illegal aliens regardless of the alien's ability to pay has led to many hospitals running a deficit and being forced to close.[46] Also, free public education is extended to all children in the U.S. regardless of their citizen status. The matricula consular and passports are usually considered legal identification by many police agencies and governments.

The Constitution does not give foreigners the right to enter the U.S.; but once here, it protects them from discrimination based on race and national origin and from arbitrary treatment by the government. Immigrants work and pay taxes; legal immigrants are subject to the military draft. Many immigrants have lived in this country for decades, married U.S. citizens, and raised their U.S.-citizen children. Laws that punish them violate their fundamental right to fair and equal treatment.

Amnesty acts

1. Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986
2. Amnesty of 1994
3. Extension Amnesty of 1997
4. NACARA Amnesty of 1997
5. HRIFA Amnesty of 1998
6. Late Amnesty of 2000
7. LIFE Act Amnesty of 2000

Citizenship and the children of immigrants

Before passage of the Fourteenth Amendment, in 1865 after the conclusion of the Civil War, the United States commonly granted citizenship on the basis of jus soli. The Fourteenth Amendment was originally passed to protect newly emancipated former slaves, and in keeping with the jus soli tradition of the Republic has been interpreted by the United States Supreme Court, in precedent set by United States v. Wong Kim Ark in 1898, to cover everyone born in the U.S. regardless of the citizenship of the parents, with the exception of the children of diplomats. The decision in Wong Kim Ark upheld the jus soli which had often been practiced before the adoption of the 14th Amendment. In short, the Court found that the 14th Amendment re-affirmed jus soli. Wong Kim Ark did not overturn or weaken Elk v. Wilkins; it simply defined jus soli. The Court found that Wong Kim Ark, having been born to Chinese citizens, who were lawfully residing within the United States, and with the intention of amicably obeying its laws, was a citizen of the United States. Under these two rulings, the following persons born in the United States are explicitly not citizens:

• Children born to foreign diplomats
• Children born to enemy forces in hostile occupation of the United States
• Children born to Native Americans who are members of tribes not taxed (these were later given full citizenship by the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924)

The following persons born in the United States are explicitly citizens:

• Children born to US citizens
• Children born to aliens who are lawfully inside the United States (resident or visitor), with the intention of amicably interacting with its people, and obeying its laws.

Under these rulings, the citizenship status of the U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants is in a gray area. Neither ruling explicitly denies or grants them citizenship. Various aspects of both Elk v. Wilkins and Wong Kim Ark lend reasoning that such children are not US citizens. Wong Kim Ark is often cited as granting the children of illegal aliens US citizenship, but the ruling is explicit in that it applies to the children of aliens who are legally within the United States. Some may even argue that it implicitly denies them citizenship by doing so. However, in terms of Supreme Court rulings, or the rulings of any court, implicit is meaningless. The status quo is that the children of illegal aliens are US citizens, and it will remain that way until government policy changes or is challenged, and the Supreme Court inevitably makes an explicit ruling.

Some legislators, reacting to illegal immigration, have proposed that this be changed, either through legislation or a constitutional amendment. The proposed changes are usually one of the following:

• The child should have at least one parent who is a U.S. citizen. (requires amendment)
• The child should have at least one parent who is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident (requires amendment)
• The child should have at least one parent who is lawfully present in the United States (requires an Act of Congress, probably challenged to the Supreme Court).

Representative Nathan Deal, Republican of Georgia, introduced legislation in 2005 to assert that U.S.-born children are only "subject to the jurisdiction of the United States" (and therefore eligible for citizenship under the Fourteenth Amendment) if at least one parent is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. [47]. Similarly, Representative Ron Paul of Texas has introduced a constitutional amendment that would explicitly deny automatic citizenship to U.S.-born children unless at least one parent is a citizen or permanent resident [48]. Neither of these measures has come to a vote. Even if Rep. Deal's legislation were passed by Congress, it would likely be struck down by the courts based on the precedent established in U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark, which allows for the US born children of lawful visitors to be citizens as well. The issue remains controversial, reflecting both tensions about immigration and disputes about the appropriate balance of power between the courts and the Congress.

Children of families where at least one parent is an illegal immigrant are sometimes referred to as anchor babies because once the illegal family's mother gives birth to the baby inside the U.S., the baby is said to "anchor" them to the U.S.. Legally the illegal parent or parents can still be deported so the anchor is more perceived than real. However, some illegal immigrant advocates and some of the children with parents of mixed legal immigration status feel the term "Anchor Baby" is pejorative. Some prefer the term "Permanently Residing Under Color Of Law," or "PRUCOL." PRUCOL is a broadly-defined status which covers a variety of situations, including, but not limited to, those persons who are appealing for an adjustment of status as refugee, or persons who are awaiting hearings to decide status and final legal disposition of their case. There are an estimated 300,000 to 500,000 children per year born to parents of mixed legal immigration status.

Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986

The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) made the hiring of an individual without documents an offense for the first time. Enforcement has been lax, but major businesses have often been found to use illegal immigrants. The act is somewhat redundant since the forging of government documents (fake immigration documents or providing falsified social security numbers) is already a felony, and for most companies such documents must be provided to the government in its tax filings. However, the government does not notify those whose identities have been stolen for the falsified social security numbers, thus making it difficult to estimate the extent of the problem. [49]

Legal Cases

Some major companies have been accused of hiring undocumented workers.

• Tyson Foods was accused of actively importing illegal labor for its chicken packing plants, but a jury in Chattanooga, Tennessee resoundingly acquitted the company after evidence was presented that Tyson Foods went beyond mandated government requirements in demanding documentation for its employees.
• Wal-Mart was convicted of using illegal sub contracted janitorial workers, though it claimed they were hired by a subcontractor without company knowledge or permission.
• Philippe Kahn, who wanted to stay in the United States, created the successful computer software company Borland International without ever getting proper legal status.

Use of military to patrol border

The policy of Posse Comitatus states that the military will not be used for domestic issues. Some argue that using the military to protect the country againt invasion by illegal aliens is a violation of Posse Comitatus. However, former US Border Patrol Supervisor David Stoddard, has stated, "There are those who would argue that this is a violation of Posse Comitatus. That's ridiculous. Posse Comitatus prohibits the use of troops for domestic law enforcement. Border security is not domestic law enforcement. It is protecting our nation from foreign intruders. Besides, Posse Comitatus was passed in 1878, yet the U.S. Cavalry continued to patrol the U.S. Mexico Border until 1924. If Congress intended Posse Comitatus to prevent the military from securing our nation, the cavalry wouldn't have continued on the border for another 46 years. I once brought up that fact to U.S. Representative Jim Kolbe at a Town Hall meeting in which he stated that Posse Comitatus prevented the U.S. Military from securing our border. Jim Kolbe reacted with a look on his face like he had been photographed in a compromising position in a gay bath house. He has never again used Posse Comitatus as an excuse not to use the military on the border." [47]

Immigration with and without quotas

The immigration quota system was first expanded with the Emergency Quota Act of 1921 which was used to reduce the influx of East and Southern European immigrants who were coming to the country in large numbers from the turn of the century. This immigration was further reduced by the Immigration Act of 1924 which was structured to maintain the cultural and ethnic traditions of the United States.

There has never been a quota for Jews or any other religious group, only for people from specific countries. The waiting list for the few available immigration spots grew enormously in the 1930s in the U.S. and throughout the free world that was accepting any immigration. In the 1930's the number of Jewish immigrant applicants seeking visa to the U.S. alone exceeded the quota for all of Germany. Adolf Hitler started his Holocast program in the 1930's that ultimately led to the death of over 10,000,000 people including 6,000,000 Jews. The Franklin D. Roosevelt administration had nearly shut down immigration during the decade of the Great Depression of 1929. In 1929 there were 279,678 immigrants recorded and in 1933 there were only 23,068 [50]. By 1939 recorded immigrants had crept back up to 82,998 but then the advent of World War II drove it back down to 23,725 in 1943 increasing slowly to 38,119 by 1945 [51]. After 1946 about 600,000 of Europe's Displaced Person (DP's) refugees were admitted under special laws outside the country quotas, and in the 1960s and 1970s large numbers of Cuban and Vietnamese refugees [52] were admitted under special laws outside all quotas. Congress passed the Immigration and Nationality Services Act of 1965 which esssentially removed all nation-specific quotas, while retaining an overall quota, and included immigrants from Mexico and the Western Hemisphere for the first time with their own quotas. It also put a large part of immigration, so-called family reunification, outside the quota system. This dramatically changed the number, type and composition of the new arrivals from mostly European, to predominantly poor Latino and Asian. It also dramatically increased the number of illegal immigrants as many poorer people now had family or friends in the U.S. that attracted them there. [53] In 1986, the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) was passed, creating amnesty for about 3,000,000 illegal immigrants already in the United States. Critics believe IRCA just intensified the illegal immigration flow as those granted amnesty illegally brought more of their friends and family into the U.S.. [54]

Without quotas on large segments of the immigration flow, legal immigration to the U.S. surged and soon became largely family based "Chain immigration" where familys brought in a never ending chain of off quota new immigrant family members. The number of legal immigrants rose from about 2.5 million in the 1950s to 4.5 million in the 1970s to 7.3 million in the 1980s to about 10 million in the 1990s. In 2006 legal immigrants to the United States now number approximately 1,000,000 legal immigrants per year of which about 600,000 are Change of Status immigrants who already are in the U.S. Legal immigrants to the United States are now at their highest level ever at over 35,000,000. Net Illegal immigration has also soared from about 130,000 per year in the 1970's, to 300,000+ per year in the 1980's to over 500,000 per year in the 1990's to over 700,000 per year in the 2000's. Total illegal immigration may be as high as 1,500,000 per year [in 2006] with a net of at least 700,000 more illegal immigrants arriving each year to join the 12,000,000 to 20,000,000 that are already here. (Pew Hispanic Data Estimates[55], [56])

See also:Immigration to the United States

Other

There have been occasional incidents where immigration status has been an issue in politics.

• During his 2003 campaign for California governor, it was alleged that Arnold Schwarzenegger had violated his visa by working without a permit in the 1970s; he vehemently denied the charge and produced his documents.
• Linda Chavez, Zoe Baird and Tom Tancredo are among those accused of hiring illegal aliens, the resulting scandals sometimes being dubbed "Nannygate". In Tancredo's case, a home contractor allegedly hired illegal aliens.

Historical Context

Every wave of immigration into the United States has faced fear and hostility, especially during times of economic hardship, political turmoil, or war: in 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, one of our nation's first immigration laws, to keep out all people of Chinese origin; during the "Red Scare" of the 1920s, thousands of foreign-born people suspected of political radicalism were arrested and brutalized; many were deported without a hearing; and in 1942, 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent were interned in camps until the end of World War II.

Chinese experience

In 1882 the Chinese Exclusion Act had cut off nearly all Chinese immigration. The first laws creating a quota for immigrants were passed in the 1920s, in response to a sense that the country could no longer absorb large numbers of unskilled workers, despite pleas by big business that it wanted the new workers. Ngai (2003) shows that the new laws were the beginning of mass illegal immigration, because they created a new class of persons - illegal aliens - whose inclusion in the nation was at once a social reality and a legal impossibility. This contradiction challenged received notions of sovereignty and democracy in several ways. First, the increase in the number of illegal entries created a new emphasis on control of the nation's borders - especially the long Canadian border. Second, the application of the deportation laws gave rise to an oppositional political and legal discourse, which imagined "deserving" and "undeserving" illegal immigrants and, therefore, just and unjust deportations. These categories were constructed out of modern ideas about crime, sexual morality, the family, and race. In the 1930s federal deportation policy became the object of legal reform to allow for administrative discretion in deportation cases. Just as restriction and deportation "made" illegal aliens, administrative discretion "unmade" illegal aliens. Administrative law reform became an unlikely site where problems of national belonging and inclusion played out.

The History of Border Security

For a period of time in the 1990s U.S. Army personnel were stationed along the U.S.-Mexico border to help stem the flow of illegal aliens and drug smugglers. These military units brought their specialized equipment such as FLIR infrared devices, and helicopters. In conjunction with the U.S. Border Patrol, they would deploy along the border and, for a brief time, there would be no traffic across that border which was actively watched by "coyotes" paid to assist border crossers. The smugglers and the alien traffickers ceased operations over the one hundred mile sections of the border sealed at a time. Sher Zieve claims this was very effective but temporary as the illegal traffic resumed as soon as the military withdrew.[57]. After the September 11, 2001 attacks the United States looked at the feasibility of placing soldiers along the U.S.-Mexico border as a security measure. [58]], [59], [60]

In December, 2005, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to build a separation barrier along parts of the border not already protected by a separation barriers. A later vote in the United States Senate on May 17, 2006 included a plan to blockade 860 miles of the border with vehicle barriers and triple-layer fencing along with granting amnesty to the 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. and roughly doubling legal immigration. Bay Buchanan, head of Team America, an immigration reduction political action committee, estimated that it would take less than six months to build a 2,000 mile, triple-layer fence and would cost roughly $1.5 - 3 billion. On the same show, Buchanan claimed that the 1990s-era border security program Operation Gatekeeper cut down unauthorized immigration by 90%.

References

• Barkan, Elliott R. "Return of the Nativists? California Public Opinion and Immigration in the 1980s and 1990s." Social Science History 2003 27(2): 229-283. in Project Muse
• Borjas, G.J. "The economics of immigration," Journal of Economic Literature, v 32 (1994), pp. 1667-717
• Cull, Nicholas J. and Carrasco, Davíd, ed. Alambrista and the US-Mexico Border: Film, Music, and Stories of Undocumented Immigrants U. of New Mexico Press, 2004. 225 pp.
• Thomas J. Espenshade; "Unauthorized Immigration to the United States" Annual Review of Sociology. Volume: 21. 1995. pp 195+.
• Flores, William V. "New Citizens, New Rights: Undocumented Immigrants and Latino Cultural Citizenship" Latin American Perspectives 2003 30(2): 87-100
• Lisa Magaña, Straddling the Border: Immigration Policy and the INS (2003
• Mohl, Raymond A. "Latinization in the Heart of Dixie: Hispanics in Late-twentieth-century Alabama" Alabama Review 2002 55(4): 243-274. Issn: 0002-4341
• Ngai, Mae M. Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America (2004),
• Ngai, Mae M. "The Strange Career of the Illegal Alien: Immigration Restriction and Deportation Policy in the United States, 1921-1965" Law and History Review 2003 21(1): 69-107. Issn: 0738-2480 Fulltext in History Cooperative

See also

• Immigration reduction
• Immigration to the United States
• Immigration and Nationality Services Act of 1965
• H.R. 4437
• Illegal emigration
• 2006 U.S. immigration reform protests
• United States immigration debate
• Free immigration
• History of US immigration
• Illegal immigration
• Immigrant deaths along the United States Border
• Migra
• Nativism
• NumbersUSA
• H-1B visa
• MS-13 Violent gang of illegal immigrants estimated to have 8,000 to 10,000 members in the U.S.[61]
• Minuteman Project
• S. 2611

Footnotes

Template:FnbThe Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) defines unauthorized immigrants as “foreign-born persons who entered without inspection or who violated the terms of a temporary admission and who have not acquired Legal Permanent Resident (LPR) status or gained temporary protection against removal by applying for an immigration benefit. For example, the following foreign-born persons are not considered to be unauthorized residents in these estimates: refugees, asylees, and parolees who have work authorization but have not adjusted to LPR status; and aliens who are allowed to remain and work in the United States under various legislative provisions or court rulings. [[62]]

Template:FnbThe U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Border Patrol use illegal alien as their preferred term. When the term undocumented worker is used, it generally encompasses all people who enter without documents, including children, the elderly, and those who do not work. The term illegal immigrant is the preferred language of the AP Stylebook.

External links

News Coverage

• Orange County Register: “ 'Visa overstayers' fuel illegal population” - April 5, 2006 [63]
• USA Today: Text of President Bush's Immigration Law Reform Speech on May 16, 2006 [64]
• CNN: Reaction to Bush immigration speech - May 15, 2006 [65]
• Miami Herald: “No human being is `illegal” – May 24, 2006 [66]
• Washington Post: “One Sheriff sees immigration answer as simple – May 20, 2006 [67]
• Associated Press: “Ariz. Posse to Arrest Illegal Immigrants” –May 4, 2006 [68]
• NY Times “Arizona County Uses New Law to Look for Illegal Immigrants” –May 9, 2006 [69]
• City Journal “How Unskilled Immigrants Hurt Our Economy” –no date [70] A publication of The Manhattan Institute

Others

• Border Security: Fences Along the U.S. International Border[71] a report of the Congressional Research Service (January 13, 2005) provided by the Federation of American Scientists.