Illegal immigration describes migration across national borders without complying with the legal requirements. Some people call those they suspect of illegally immigrating, "illegal immigrants" or "undocumented immigrants". People who arrive in a legal manner but then outstay their visas (that is the authorized time in the host country), may also have illegal status. The term illegal immigrant is highly contested because some consider it a pejorative term, since some consider violating the law a moral as well as legal issue.
There are various terms used to describe a person who either enters a country illegally, or who enters legally but subsequently violates the terms of their visa, permanent resident permit or refugee permit. The status and rights of such individuals are a controversial debate based on the economic vitality, job availability, environmental costs of illegal immigration, nationalism, racism, and moral concerns.
Due to the political contention surrounding immigration issues, the use of language to describe certain types of immigrants is a sensitive matter. Terms that refer to immigrants who do not have residency permits to stay in the country of their choice, include:
illegal immigrant
illegals
illegal alien
undocumented alien
undocumented immigrant
criminal alien
unauthorized immigrant
Those more supportive of the illegal immigrant community tend to use the undocumented terms, which according to Stanford University linguist Geoffrey Numberg derives from a French term meaning "without papers". [1] Undocumented worker is often used by supporters to refer to all undocumented individuals, including children and those who do not work. While alien is a term with a specific legal meaning, the term "alien" carries with it the negative connotations of extraterrestrials and other meanings of the word alien, and is criticized by the pro-illegal immigrant community. George Lakoff, a University of California linguist and progressive strategist, has told fellow liberals not to use the alien term. [2] Meanwhile, border patrol agents and those supporting stronger controls on the border tend to use illegal alien or the shorter illegals. Illegal immigrant is generally accepted as a neutral term suitable for use in mainstream media according to the AP Stylebook.
The terms "illegal immigrant" and "illegal alien" are commonly used phrases that refer to the illegality of the action of migration without legal authorization.
The U.S. Census Bureau defines "immigrants" as "legal permanent residents." Dictionaries define "immigrant" as "one who settles as a permanent resident in another country." Permanency is granted to immigrants by federal issuance of a "green card." An "alien" is a person who comes from a foreign country. Aliens residing in a country without residency authorization are subject to deportation and thus not permanent.
The term "illegal alien" includes "undocumented aliens" and "nonimmigrant overstayers." An "undocumented alien" is an alien who has entered a country illegally, without entry documentation. A "nonimmigrant overstayer" is an alien who remains in a country beyond the expiration date of the visa.
The international migration of people is largely driven by persons who leave poverty and poor living condition in their own nations. For example, nations experiencing sharp upsets in their political stability, will experience short term exmigrations. Poor conditions may be a result of nations that lag in technological ability, lack resources, or are in some other way disadvantaged.
Advocates of more restricted immigration divide people into political migrants - i.e. refugees - and economic migrants, while supporters of more open immigration may consider all kind of migrants as refugees. Those who migrate for personal reasons are generally classed as economic migrants, regardless whether living in the new country greatly reduces or increases their earnings potential.
Critics of the "illegal immigrant" status, such as Saskia Sassen in The Global City (1991), have contended that the artificial creation of legal aliens was necessary to insure the reduction of production costs and low-wages policies demanded by the "new economics". Others, such as Giorgio Agamben, have pointed out the similarity between an illegal alien, an "enemy combatant" and a Homo Sacer, a figure of Roman law deprived of any civil rights.
Some illegal immigrants enter a country legally and then overstay or violate their visa, while others follow underground routes, such as illegally crossing the border without being inspected by an immigration officer at a Port of Entry (POE) and/or without a valid passport and U.S. visa. Approximately 60% of illegal immigrants in the U.S. entered without a valid passport and visa by illegally crossing the border. The other way of becoming an illegal immigrant being for bureaucratic reasons. For example, one can be allowed to remain in a country - or protected from expulsion -, because he/she needs special treatment to his sickness, etc., without being able to regularize his/her situation and obtain a work and/or residency permit, let alone naturalization. Hence, categories of people being neither illegals immigrants nor legal citizens are created, living in a judicial "no man's land". Another example is formed by children of foreigners born in countries observing jus soli ("right of territory"), such as France. In this last country, one may obtain French nationality if he was born in France - but, due to recent legislative changes, he only obtains it at the age of eighteen, but only if he asks for it. Some who, for one reason or another, haven't asked for it, suddenly become illegal aliens on their eighteenth birthday, making them eligible for expulsion by police forces.
Immigrants from nations that do not have an automatic visa agreements, or who would not otherwise qualify for a visa, often cross the borders illegally. In some areas like the U.S.-Mexico border, the Strait of Gibraltar, Fuerteventura and the Strait of Otranto, human traffickers (known as "coyotes" along the U.S.-Mexican border) receive money from migrants and immigrants to get them into the new country. Because these methods must be extralegal, they are often dangerous. Would-be immigrants suffocate in shipping containers, boxcars, and trucks, sink in unseaworthy vessels, die of dehydration or exposure during long walks without water. Sometimes migrants are abandoned by their human traffickers if there are difficulties, often dying in the process. Others may be victims of intentional killing. The official estimate is that between 1998-2004 there were 1,954 people who died in illegal crossings of the U.S.-Mexico border. These smugglers often charge a hefty fee, and have been known to abuse their customers in attempts to have the debt repaid.
The Snakeheads gang of Fujian, China has been smuggling labor into Pacific Rim nations for over a century, making Chinatowns frequent centers of illegal immigration.[3]
People smuggling may also be involuntary. Following the close of the legal international slave trade by the European nations and the United States in the early 19th century the illegal importation of slaves into America continued for decades, albeit at much reduced levels. More recently, a sweatshop in Los Angeles, California was discovered in 1995 to be staffed by 72 imprisoned Thai persons who had been smuggled in for the purpose. Concerned for the workers' safety if returned to Thailand, the federal government granted them legal residency with the right to work in the United States. In 1997 57 deaf Mexicans were found to have been kidnapped and enslaved as pan handlers in New York City, these people were deported to Mexico after being placed under house arrest to secure their testimony for the trial.
The so-called "white slave trade" referred to the smuggling of women, almost always under duress or fraud, for the purposes of forced prostitution. Now more generically called "sexual slavery" it continues to be a problem, particularly in Europe and the Middle East, though there have been increasing cases in the U.S.
Many countries have or had laws restricting immigration for economic or political reasons. Whether a person is permitted to stay in a country legally may be decided on by quotas or point systems or may be based on considerations such as family ties (marriage, elderly mother, etc.). Exceptions relative to political refugees or to sick people are also common. Immigrants who do not participate in these legal proceedings or who are denied permission under them and still enter or stay in the country are considered illegal immigrants.
In response to the outcry following popular knowledge of the Holocaust, the newly-established U.N. held an international conference on refugees, where it was decided that refugees (legally defined to be people who are persecuted in their original country and then enter another country seeking safety) should be exempted from immigration laws, however it is up to the countries involved to decide if a particular immigrant is a refugee or not, and hence whether they are subject to the immigration controls.
Since immigrants without proper legal status have no valid identity cards or other official identification documents, they may have reduced or even no access to public health systems, proper housing, education and banks, which may result in the creation or expansion of an illegal underground economy to provide these services. In the U.S. however, hospitals (which are not allowed to ask the citizenship status of patients) have the obligation to provide care regardless of a patient's ability to pay. This has led to many hospitals running a deficit and being forced to close. Also, free public education is extended to all children in the U.S. regardless of their citizen status.
Most countries have laws requiring workers to have proper documentation, often intended to prevent the employment of illegal immigrants. However the penalties against employers are not always enforced consistently and fairly, which means that employers can easily use illegal labor. Agriculture, construction, domestic service, restaurants, resorts, and prostitution are the leading legal and illegal jobs that illegal workers are most likely to fill. For example, it is estimated that 80% of U.S. crop workers are without valid legal status. Illegal immigrants are especially popular with employers because they can violate minimum wage laws secure in the knowledge that illegal workers dare not report their employers to the police. Some members of the public react negatively to the presence of immigrants, whether legal or illegal, and such sentiments are often exploited politically. However, allegations that the presence of illegal immigrants means increased rates of crime and unemployment are conversely attacked as "anti-immigrant" or "xenophobic" to exploit the opposite political mentality. When the authorities are overwhelmed in their efforts to stop immigration, they may issue periods of amnesties (often called regularization, earned legalization or guest worker programs).
Restricting immigration in the European Union has often been driven by the fear the immigrants will bring alien political values that will disrupt or dilute European values, by nativism or general fear of strangers, by fear of wage and benefit reduction, by concerns of adverse impact on public services, or by security interests regarding criminals or terrorists.
A major issue is illegal immigration from Africa across the Mediterranean Sea, especially via the Strait of Gibraltar, where thousands of people die every year in attempts to reach Europe. There has been suggestions about establishing immigrant centres in Morocco, or elsewhere in northern Africa, to give information and protect the people risking their lives to reach Europe.
Southern Spain is a major entry region for illegal immigrants. It's estimated that about a million illegal immigrants from Africa live and work illegally in this area.
The European Union is developing a common system for immigration and asylum and a single external border control strategy.
In France, helping an illegal immigrant (providing shelter, for example) is prohibited by a law passed on December 27, 1994 under the cohabitation between socialist President François Mitterrand and right-wing Premier ministre Edouard Balladur [4]. The law was heavily criticized by NGOs such as the CIMADE or the GISTI, left-wing political parties such as the Greens or the French Communist Party, and trade-unions such as the magistrates' Syndicat de la magistrature, who alleged that this brought France to the dark periods of Vichy France during World War II.
In October 2005, dozens of Subsaharian emigrants died trying to bypass the Spanish enclaves of Melilla and Sebta. Morocco's authorities decided to expel all of them, leaving hundreds stranded in the desert near Oujda (border with a zone of Algeria loaded with landmines) and south of Morocco, without water nor food. This raised a public uproar in Europe, although Morocco legitimately pledged that Europe's 1985 Schengen Agreement compelled it to fund Morocco in order to be able to cope of emigration flux.
In 1885 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.
There was never a quota for Jews, only for people from specific countries, but the number of Jewish applicants exceeded the quota for Germany, and the waiting list for these immigration spots grew enormously in the 1930s. After 1945 large numbers of European refugees were admitted under special laws, and in the 1960s and 1970s large numbers of Cuban and Vietnamese refugees. In 1965 the US removed all nation-specific quotas, while retaining an overall quota, and included immigrants from Mexico and the Western Hemisphere for the first time. This changed the composition of the new arrivals from mostly European, to a variety including many Asians. But in the 1990s the U.S. government again tightened restrictions on immigration.
Roughly 60% of the illegal alien population are undocumented aliens and 40% are nonimmigrant overstayers. An "undocumented alien" is typically a foreign national that does not possesses a valid passport and/or a valid U.S. visa. An "overstay" is typically a foreign national in possession of a tourist visa, which only permits that individual to visit the United States as a tourist, and strictly prohibits the individual from working in the United States. The maximum length of stay in the United States for an individual in possession of a tourist visa is normally six months. 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. Immigrants who are caught illegally trespassing U.S. territory are fingerprinted and immediately returned, unless they are a repeat offender, in which case they may be criminally prosecuted. The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) made the hiring of an illegal alien an offense for the first time. American businesses have hired well over 10 million illegal aliens per year.[citation needed]
Enforcement of immigration policy in the United States has been lax due to the efforts of powerful lobbyists such as the Chamber of Commerce and the management of corporate America, which argue that cheap labor is needed by the American economy, although an immigration program for this category of worker already exists. Immigration officers, whose job entails investigating employers suspected of violating immigration laws by contracting illegal immigrants, have frequently complained over the last twenty years that politicians, caving under the pressure of powerful lobbyists, have directed management of the former INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) and the current ICE (United States Immigrations and Customs Enforcement) to abandon employer inspections. As a result, in fiscal year 2004, ICE issued just three "notices of intent to fine" in the entire country.
Some major companies have occasionally been found to use 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 it went beyond mandated government requirements in demanding documentation for its employees.
Wal-Mart was convicted of using illegal janitorial workers, though it claimed they were hired by a subcontractor without company knowledge.
Philippe Kahn, who wanted to stay in the United States, created the successful computer software company Borland International without proper legal status.
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 and Zoe Baird are among those accused of hiring illegal aliens, the resulting scandals sometimes being dubbed "Nannygate".
Some criminal elements enter the United States as illegal immigrants, most notably narcotics trafficking illegal immigrants and members of the street gang MS-13. With a total member count of 10,000 in the states and 50,000 worldwide they have already forced other gangs into submission or absorbed their members. MS-13's tactics were taught to them originally in El Salvador in the 1980's by the U.S. military, they have further advanced their original training by adapting it to urban environments. It is estimated that 29% of Federal prisoners are in the states illegally and 50% of those are active MS-13 members.[citation needed]
Many immigrants commit another federal offense by purchasing fake documents such as Social Security cards, birth certificates and driver's licenses, and many use fake social security numbers "SSN" (knowing they will never see the money that they illegally pay into Social Security) in order to illegally obtain employment in the U.S.
Illegally entering, providing a fictitious "SSN" and illegally working in the U.S. are three separate federal offenses that are commonly committed by undocumented aliens in the U.S. Not paying all federal and state taxes would be a forth federal or state offense.
Some immigrants engage in criminal activity like identity theft while Mohamed Atta al-Sayed and two of his co-conspirators had expired visas when they executed the September 11, 2001 attacks. All of the attackers had U.S. government issued documents and two of them were erroneously granted visa extensions after their deaths. The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States found that the government inadequately tracked those with expired tourist or student visas.
A controversial alternative to fake IDs and other illegal practices is the Matricula Consular ID being used in the US, which is issued by Mexican consulates. This document is accepted at financial institutions in many states of the union and allows illegal immigrants to open checking and saving accounts. This has benefited American companies and banks who profit from remmittances of migrants towards their place of origin, while allowing immigrants to save money and identify themselves.[5] The passage of the REAL ID Act of 2005 (a part of Public Law P.L. 109-13) prohibits States from issuing identification or driver's permit cards to anyone who cannot demonstrate that they are legally in the USA, taking full effect in 2008. Citizenship and/or immigration status is to be clearly denoted on these ID cards and they automatically expire on the expiration date of non-citizens' visas or other authorizing documentation. These IDs will be tied to online databases which will allow instant verification of the validity of these documents at low cost or no cost to the person seeking verification. As of 2006, the anticipated effect of this legislation is to make it increasingly difficult for illegal aliens to use counterfeit documents to or to live and work illegally in the USA. However, at the same time, the REAL ID Act of 2005 effectively imposes a mandatory national ID for all US Citizens as well.
The 14th Amendment was ratified in 1866 to grant citizenship to and protect the civil liberties of recently freed slaves. The amendment subsequently was interpreted to provide citizenship to all children born in the country (see jus soli.) The U.S. government cannot deport a child citizen, but may deport his or her illegal alien family members. Children of families with mixed immigration status are sometimes referred to as anchor babies. Some find this term offensive. Aliens "Permanently Residing Under Color Of Law," or "PRUCOL" is a status which covers a variety of situations, including but not limited to those appealing for and adjustment of status as refugee, or awaiting hearings to decide status and disposition.
Mexico has accepted large numbers of immigrants during wars such as World War I (Germany, Yugoslavia, Poland, etc.); the Spanish Civil War and exilees form the South American and Central American dictatorships. It has also received those who are fleeing their native areas for religious persecution such as the Russian Molokans and Christian Lebanese and Mennonites. However, in the last decades, Mexico has received illegal immigrants as the result of civil war in Central America, many of whom attempt to eventually cross the US border illegally. Some of the immigrants are members of the Mara Salvatrucha criminal organization who have terrorized places in Mexico and currently as north as Washington, DC. It is said that the U.S. is pressuring Mexico and paying for the deportation of Central American origin.
In the first eight months of 2005 alone, more than 120,000 people from Central America have been deported to their countries of origin. This is a higher number than the people deported in the same lapse in 2002, when 130,000 people were deported in the entire year [6]. Other important group of people are those of Chinese origin, who pay about $5,500 to smugglers to be taken to Mexico from Hong Kong. It is estimated that 2.4% of rejections for work permits in Mexico correspond to Chinese citizens [7]. Many women from Eastern Europe, Asia, United States and Central and South America are also offered jobs at table dance establishments in large cities throughout the country causing the National Institute of Migration (INM) in Mexico to raid strip clubs and deport foreigners who work without the proper documentation [8]. After the Argentine economic crisis of 2001 many Argentines have chosen to immigrate to Mexico either temporarily or permanently. Many of these are currently working in the country with the proper documentation, including some who work also in table dance establishments. In 2004, the INM deported 188,000 people at a cost of USD$10 million [9].
Mexico has very strict immigration laws pertaining to both illegal and legal immigrants.[10] The Mexican constitution restricts non-citizens or foreign born persons from participating in politics, holding office, acting as a member of the clergy, or serving on the crews of Mexican-flagged ships or airplanes. Certain legal rights are waived in the case of foreigners, such as the right to a deportation hearing or other legal motions. In cases of flagrante delicto, any person may make a citzen's arrest on the offender and his accomplices, turning them over without delay to the nearest authorities