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Illegal Immigration

When a foreign national enters the U.S unlawfully or overstays the time allotted on a visa, he/she is then termed as an illegal immigrant. Unlawful immigration directly or indirectly impacts millions of people living in the United States. Undocumented immigration is a controversial topic involving health care, living standards, border laws, and international relations. In this essay, I will argue that Illegal immigration should not be supported and encouraged, as it creates an imbalance in the labor market, overburdens the financial budget of the government, increases criminal activities, and creates a problem for legal migration.

Why do undocumented immigrants cross the U.S-Mexico border? The major motive behind crossing the border was identified as “We cross for our families”; all the men specified that economic opportunities available in the U.S would help them improve lives of their family members living in Mexico. The survey also showed that many people gave up while, crossing the border due to threats like being spotted by border patrol, and some were abandoned by their border guide. However, a majority of the men decided to cross the border again after a fail attempt. This indicates that even though immigrants realize the risk behind crossing the U.S-Mexico border could end up taking their lives, but their quest to earn a better livelihood for their families outweighed the risk factor (DeLuca 117). However, this perception of better lives in the U.S is falsely exaggerated. As published in the Journal of Clinical Nursing, 90 illegal immigrants participated in a self-report questionnaire and the results were shocking. The level of psychological distress was extremely high amongst the illegal immigrants due to their immigration status, hunger, and financial constraints. The immigrants who participated in the survey immediately required health care (Myhrvold 825). Furthermore, the immigrants who migrated to the U.S were at the mercy of their employers, who exploited them by giving lesser wage rates.

Illegal immigrants pose a threat to the labor market by disturbing the Human capital supply chain. In 2012 there were over 8 million illegal immigrants who were either employed or looking for a job (Passel). A huge number of illegal immigrants in the U.S create an excessive demand for blue-collar jobs, as most of them are employed in agricultural, building, and construction industry. The key focus is that there is an excessive demand for physical jobs amongst the undocumented immigrants, and their illegal status makes them prone to exploitation at the hands of employers. Due to the competition for work, undocumented immigrants end up doing a job at low wages, thus driving down the wage rates offered in that specific occupation. According, to Borjas, “Even after the economy is fully adjusted, those skill groups that received the most immigrants will still offer lower pay relative to those that received fewer immigrants.” Considering that most of the jobs acquired by the undocumented immigrants are blue-collar jobs. It threatens the most vulnerable group, the low-skilled American workers, who are at the bottom of the supply chain, including the blacks and Hispanics, suffer the most because of lowered wage rates (Borjas). Their survival is directly challenged.

Correspondingly, an important part of legal immigration is the process through which, an immigrant qualifies for a legal status in the U.S to obtaining an American citizenship. First, to gain a permanent status in the United States, the waiting period is from anywhere between one to eight years for a person who legally qualifies under one of the immigration categories provided in the immigration law and then, an additional three to five years to obtain a citizenship after a citizenship test. Considering the above-mentioned facts that, authorities have a waiting period of 10 to 15 years to issue legal status to a qualifying legal immigrant, it will take several more years for them to issue a legal status to an illegal immigrant. Because the process is so complicated and there aren’t enough people in authority to fulfill issuance of legal status to 11 million undocumented immigrants. Furthermore, before issuing a legal status, the immigration laws require an undocumented immigrant to go through a certified health screening and proper background checks for any criminal record. The whole process will be exorbitant and will put a huge burden on the immigration authority. While, further delaying the processing of a visa application.

An illegal immigrant who enters in the U.S escapes from the U.S customs and Border Protection. Due, to which an undocumented immigrant doesn’t pass through the regular security check, and the U.S customs has no trace of tracking there past criminal records. It is dangerous as an immigrant, who might have a criminal record in the country he/she belongs to, is a potential threat to the safety of people who encounter him/her in the U.S. As per the information released by United States Government Accountability Office (GAO), the number of criminal aliens in the federal prisons in year 2010 was 55,000, and the number of criminal aliens incarcerated in state prison systems and local jails was about 296,000 in the year 2009. Above mentioned statistics have increased by 35 percent for state prison systems from 220,000 in the year 2003. It indicates that the crime rate amongst illegal immigrants is alarmingly high, and because the U.S government has no access to information related to the background check of an alien, the situation becomes more dangerous. Meanwhile, the estimated cost to incarcerate criminal aliens in federal and state prisons ranged from about $1.5 billion to $1.6 billion annually from 2004 to 2009 (GAO). The huge amount of monetary costs involved burdens the government. The above results imply that the government should enforce U.S border patrol, and formulate strict immigration policy, regarding punishment of the convicted criminal aliens to reduce criminal activities.

By the same token, providing a legal status to Illegal migrants is unfair to the immigrants, who are following the lawful immigration process and abide by the authority to gain a permanent status in the U.S. It promotes a sense of inequality, as giving a legal status to illegal migrants, who are already living in the U.S increase the backlog period for people who have been waiting for several years. Similarly, giving a legal status and a path to citizenship to illegal immigrants will cause a supply deficit of skilled workers coming from different countries in the U.S. Who possess an undergraduate or Graduate degree and the required knowledge to contribute to the U.S economy. Again, to provide a legal status to illegal immigrants the government would have to cut down the number of visas issued under the Skilled Work (H1) and business (B1/B2) category, through which law-abiding immigrants who want to come with an intention of starting their own business or getting a highly skilled job in the United States will be excluded. Leading to a decrease in the flow of diversified and talented minds and further, decelerating America’s economic growth.

We should understand that legalizing illegal immigrants is not a feasible solution. In 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) which granted 2.6 million illegal immigrants U.S citizenship, to stop undocumented immigration. However, unlawful immigration is on a rise ever since, as per Department of Homeland security there are 11.5 million illegal immigrants in the U.S as on January 1, 2012 (Baker, 2013). These figures have multiplied by four times since 1986. So, the 1986 amnesty act, proved that government should not have provided a pathway for illegal immigrants to gain citizenship. Because it encourages more immigrants to move to United states. To counter illegal immigration, the government should increase the number of visas under the category of unskilled workers for the immigrants who intend to come to the United States for earning a livelihood. It is evident that the illegal immigrants migrate to U.S, only to work and earn money. Hence, providing and increasing legal work visas in the unskilled category will curb some illegal migration, as more immigrants would want to first apply for a legal work visa, rather than risking their lives on an illegal status (Gordon 445).

To consider opposing side, people have made an argument that under the law, Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) the immigration authorities doesn’t consider the emotional and family ties of an illegal immigrant in the United States. The acts specify that, if an immigrant enters in the U.S illegally and then marries a U.S citizen or simply wants to acquire a green card. He/she would have to apply for a green card through the embassy consulate present in their country. However, since an illegal immigrant was present in the U.S unlawfully, they are immediately barred from re-entering the U.S for a period of 10 years (Lundstrom 389). This law has serious implications against a U.S citizen and needs to be amended since, a lawfully married spouse of a U.S citizen should not be separated from his/her family, creating an extremely hard situation for their children born in the U.S (Lundstrom, 391). At the same time, the law should remain enforced for illegal immigrants, who were present in the U.S and have no immediate family ties. Thus, barring deported illegal immigrants from entering again.

I would like to conclude by saying that, Illegal immigration has reached a break point and the needs to addressed immediately. To quote Eton Gallegly, “Every unskilled illegal immigrant who enters the United States for work drives up healthcare costs for every American, and every illegal immigrant we turn a blind eye toward weakens the rule of law our country is founded on.” The rapid growth in a number of illegal immigrants entering the United States is a topic of concern for the government as it poses a threat to the safety of the American people, creates an imbalance in the functioning of immigration authorities, and involves huge financial burden on the government. Moreover, unlawful immigration endangers the life of an illegal immigrant, who ignores the unforeseeable risks with the U.S-Mexico border crossing, and further psychological, financial, legal and emotional obstacles they will face in the U.S. Immigration is a natural right of humans but doing it lawfully is beneficial for both the immigrant and the country he/she is migrating to.

Works Cited

DeLuca L, McEwen M, Keim S. United States–Mexico Border Crossing: Experiences and Risk Perceptions of Undocumented Male Immigrants. Journal Of Immigrant & Minority Health [serial online]. February 2010;12(1):113-123. Available from: Academic Search Complete, Ipswich, MA.

Myhrvold, Trine and Milada Cvancarova Småstuen. "The Mental Healthcare Needs of Undocumented Migrants: An Exploratory Analysis of Psychological Distress and Living Conditions among Undocumented Migrants in Norway." Journal of Clinical Nursing, vol. 26, no. 5/6, Mar. 2017, pp. 825-839. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/jocn.13670.

Passel, Jeffrey S., and D’Vera Cohn. "Share of Unauthorized Immigrant Workers in Production, Construction Jobs Falls Since 2007." Pew Research Center's Hispanic Trends Project. N.p., 26 Mar. 2015. Web. 20 Apr. 2017.

Borjas, George J. "The Labor Demand Curve is Downward Sloping: Reexamining the Impact of Immigration on the Labor Market." The Quarterly Journal of Economics. Oxford University Press, 01 Nov. 2003.

"CRIMINAL ALIEN STATISTICS ." United States Government Accountability Office, Mar. 2011. Web. <http://www.gao.gov/assets/320/316959.pdf>.