Illegal Immigration
Structural Demand
Since the decline of
middle class blue collar jobs in manufacturing and
industry younger native generations have chosen to acquire higher
degrees now that there are fewer blue collar careers that a worker with
no formal education can find. In the United
States only 12 percent ofthe labor force has less than a high school
education. Illegal Imigrants have lower levels ofeducatio. 70 percent
of illegal immigrant workers from Mexico lack a high school degree. In
a Pew Hispanic Center (PHC) poll over 3,000 illegal immigrants from
Mexico to the United Stts found that 79% would volunteer to join a work
program that allowed them to work illegally for several years but then
required them to leave."In the March 2005 estimate two-thirds (66%) of
the unauthorized population had been in the country for ten years or
less, and the largest share, 40% of the total or 4.4 million people had
been in the country five years or less."(Estimating the Undocumented
Population)
Poverty
Studies from the Pew Hispanic
Center have shown that the education and wage levels of illegal mexican
immigrants in the United States are the median for Mexico. In the 1994
economic crisis in Mexico right after the start of the North American
Free Trade was associated with widespread poverty and a lower valuation
for the pes. This marked the start of a huge swell in the Mexican
emigration. The net illegal immigration to United States increased
every year from the mid 1990's to the 2000's.
Overpopulation
In Mexico the population has
grown from 13.6 million in 1900 to about 107 million in 2007. The
United Nations estimated approximately 75 million people each year
according to the world's population rate. The United States Census
Bureau issued a forecast for world population that increased its
projection for the year 2050 to be above 9.4 billion people. It is said
that we are adding close to a billion or more people evey 12 years.
"The number of potentially
unauthorized migrants exceeds the estimated number of unauthorized
migrants (from the residual estimates) by 20-35%."(Jeffrey S. Passel).
Family Reunification
Family reunification visas can
only be applied for by the legal residens or naturalized citizens to
bring their family members into a destined state legally. The
visas are limited in number and are subjected to a yearly quota. This
forces their family members who are not citizens enter the states
illegally to reunify. The likelihood of a mexican national to emigratw
to the United States increases dramatically if they have one or more
family members that are already residing in the United States
legally or illegally. Due to the inability to marry, same-sex couples
in which one member has an expiring visa can face a undesired choice of
whether to leave or continue to live with their partners in violtion of
the United States immigration laws.
Slavery
After the end of the legal
international slave trade illegal immigration of slaves continued.
Women are smuggled into the United States and Canada. People have been
kidnapped and tricked into slavery to work as laborers in factories.
Burmese women are trafficked into Thailand and forced to work in
factories or as prostitutes. They may not speak the language which
makes them vulnerable to abuse by police due to their illegal
immigration status. Those that are trafficked face additonal barriers
to escaping slavery because their status as illegal immigrants makes it
difficult for them to gain help or access to services.
Prostitutes
Some people are forced into sexual
slavery face charges of illegal immigration. Western Europe is
confronted with relations to sexual exploitation of illegal immigrants
for the purpose of prostitution.
Deaths
Each year there are several
hundred illegal immigrant deaths along the United States and Mexico
border. Death by exposure occurs in the South western deserts of
the United States during the summer season.
Countries
In the United States the
number of illegal immigrants have increased and since the 1990's has
surpassed the number of legal immigrants. Estimates for the PHC show
that the number of illegal immigrants has declined to 11.1 million in
March 2009 from its peak of 12 million in March of 2007. Between 7-20
million illegal immigrants are estimated to be living in the United
States due to nature of illegal immigration. Controversy centers around
the huge redistribution of
wealth away from unskilled American workers to American employers who use illegal immigrants.
In Syria agencies have
reported that Syria imposed restrictions on Iraq refugees under Syria's
new rules. Only Iraq merchants, businessmen and university professors
with visas that are acquired from Syrian embassies can enter into
Syria. Syrian refugees from Iraq have increased in number since the
United States invaded that country in March of 2003. The United Nations
estimates that nearly 2.2 million Iraqis have fled the counrty since
2003 with close to about 100,000 fleeing to Syria and Jordan each month.
In Russia about 200,000 legal
immigrants enter the country every year. There are between 10-12
million illegal immigrants in the country. Illegal border crossing is a
crime on occasions and those who are captured crossing the border
illegally are sentenced to time in prison. Many immigrant ethnic groups
have higher birth rates than those who are natives to the country which
further shifts the balance.
In Mexico within the first six
months of 2005 well over 120,000 people from Central America were
deported to their country of origin. The chinese would pay $5,500 to
smugglers to be taken to Mexico from Hong Kong. Only 2.4% of rejections
for work permits in Mexico correspond to Chinese citizens.
In India several million
illegal immigrants live in India specifically a few hundred thousand to
20 million. India constructed a border to stop infiltration of
terrorists, prevent smuggling and to bring a close to illegal
immigraton from Bangladesh.
Also in Iran the government
forcibly deported 250,000-300,000 unregistered and registered Afghans
living and working in Iran back to Afghanistan. There plans are to
repatriate all Afghan refugees within a few years. Also, Pakistan sent
2.4 million Afghan refugees living in camps back home in 2009.
Deportation
The cost of removing the
nation's estimated 10 million illegal immigrants is $41 billion a year.
There have been two major periods of mass deportations in U.S. history.
In the Mexican Repatriation of the 1930s, through mass deportations and
forced migration, 500,000 Mexicans and Mexican Americans were deported
into emigrating, to some this is referred to as "a racial removal
program". If illegal immigration were to be made into a felony, it
could prompt a massive deportation of U.S. citizens.
Wages and employment
Illegal immigration reduces
the economic status of U.S. poor while benefiting middle class
individuals and wealthier Americans. Exploitation of illegal immigrants
drives down wages for certain sectors of the American populace. $% of
the black wage was reduced, the employment rate of black men was
lowered by 3.5% and increased the incarceration rate of blacks by
one percent.The economic impact of $150 billion in consumer demand from
illegal immigrants employs 5% of the United States workforce.
Crime
The murder
of Arizona rancher Rob Krentz in March 2010, was suspected to have been
committed by an illegal immigrant. It was reported that
illegal immigrants had done over $8 million dollars in damage to
ranching operations during a five-year period. Arizona passed the
nation's toughest state immigration law. The law sparked protests in
Arizona and elsewhere, it also led to the boycott of Arizona by cities
nationwide. Since most criminals are young adults, the study considered
the proportion of foreign-born young adults in the general population
compared to those in the prison population. Researchers found that,
while foreign born young adults in California represented about 17% of
the prison population. This proves that immigrants are less likely to
be involved in criminal activity than non-immigrants.
Mortgages
In 2005, banks saw
illegal immigrants as a resource for growing their own revenue stream.
They also felt that if they provide illegal aliens with mortgages it
would help revitalize local communities.
Visa
Between 33–50% of the total
population of the United States those who are unauthorized migrants
enters the United States with a legal visa. A tourist or traveler that
remains in the United States after the time of admission has expired is
called visa overstay. The time of admission varies depending on the
visa class that they are admitted to. Visa overstays tend to be more
educated and better off financially than those who entered the country
illegally. To help track visa overstayers the United States Visitor and
Immigrant Status Indicator Technolog program collects and holds their
biographic, travel information such as photographs and fingerprints, of
foreign nationals seeking entry into the United States. Visa
overstayers mostly enter with tourist or business visas.
Immigrations laws
The maximum prison term is 6
months for the first offense of illegal migraton and 2 years for any
subsequent offense. In addition to criminal fines and penalties, civil
fines may also be imposed. Arizona which passed immigration enforcement
law Arizona in April of last year. The Mexican Constitution grants citizens freedom
to travel. The Constitution stipulates also that the right to cross
border migration is authorized only if other applicable laws and
requirements are observed, and when certain prerequisites have been met.
Demographics
13.9 million people live in
families in which the
head of household or the spouse is an illegal immigrant. Illegal
immigrants arriving tend to be better educated than those who have been
in the country a decade or more. A quarter of all immigrants who have
arrived in recent years have some college education. Illegal immigrants
as a group tend to be less educated than other sections of the U.S.
population: 49 percent haven't completed high school, compared with 9
percent of native-born Americans and 25 percent of legal immigrants.
Illegal immigrants work in many sectors of the U.S. economy. According
to National Public Radio in 2005, 3 percent work in agriculture; 33
percent have jobs in service industries; and 16 percent can be found in
construction and related occupations. According to (USA Today) in 2006,
"a mere 4 percent work in farming; 21 percent have jobs in service
industries, with 12% in sales, 10% in management, and 8% in
transportation. Illegal immigrants have lower incomes than both legal
immigrants and native-born Americans, but earnings do increase based on
the longer an individual is in the country."
Taxes and Social Services
Illegal immigrants are
estimated to pay in $7 billion per year into Social Security. Illegal
immigrants contribute more in taxes than they cost in social services.
Tax revenues that unauthorized immigrants generate for state and local
governments do not offset the total cost of services provided to those
immigrants, but that the amount that state and local governments spend
on services for unauthorized immigrants represents a small percentage
of the total amount spent by those governments to provide such services
to residents in their jurisdictions.
Want to know more?
topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/.../i/illegal_immigrants/index.html
www.illegalimmigrationstatistics.org/
www.foxnews.com/topics/.../immigration/illegal-immigration.htm
Bibliographies
http://www.pewhispanic.org/2006/03/07/size-and-characteristics-of-the-unauthorized-migrant-population-in-the-u
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0516/p01s02-ussc.htmls/