Undocumented immigrants

Undocumented Immigrants in United States

Hassan Almahdi

St. Mary’s University

Undocumented Immigrants in United States

Overview

Undocumented immigrants can be defined as those people who were not born in America and have no legal rights that allow them to live in America. Undocumented immigrants are also known as aliens but this is not a legal term and it is widely used among the Americans because of its abusive connotation. It is believed that there are more than 11 million people living in America as illegal or undocumented immigrants in United States and this number has stood steady in the last the last eight years consecutively (Massey & Gentsch, 2014). This has been credited on many things that include stability of the Mexican economy and the gradual economic gains of nations across the world that have witnessed a number of its citizens moving to America to seek employment. Other immigration experts attribute this to the recent signed immigration policy by the Trump administration in United States. This paper will look at some of the issues around immigration in America that impact undocumented immigrants.

Undocumented Immigrants

The report that was released this year on the number of undocumented immigrants in the United States has remained steady in the last seven years and it has stood at 11.3 million. One reason as to why the number of undocumented immigrants in America has been steady is because of the Mexican economy stability and the improved rules and regulations on immigration in America that have been passed in the last few years (Goldman et al., 2014). The number of undocumented immigrants is likely to go down further in the next few years given the deportation policy that has been passed into law by the Trump administration in the recent past. The policy though controversial has given the immigration department powers to identify any undocumented immigrant and depot them back to their countries. the united states federal government has maintained that the proposed wall on the Mexican American border remain the highest priority of the current administration and this will contribute to the reduction of undocumented immigrants in America (Jiang, 2017). Mexico has been the mother of countries that produce most of the undocumented in American but it reduced to just 49% in 2016 and they have dropped from 6.4 million in 2009 to 5.6 million in 2015. The number has been increasing due to instability among most countries and people have flown to America to seek refuge and asylum.

Rules, Regulation and Government Legislation

The major reason as to why there are more immigrants in United States in the rules and regulations that must be followed for one to be an American citizen and that allow the authorities to deport already undocumented immigrants in United States. The regulation that one must follow to become a legal immigrant in United States are so involving and most of the immigrants have not been able to adhere to them. The rule that allow American legal immigrants to invite in their immediate relatives has contributed largely to the number of undocumented immigrants in America because the rule requirements have not been followed to the letter (Jones & Martin, 2017). The requirement to get a green card as the first requirement towards getting American citizenship has made it quite impossible for most of the undocumented immigrants to become legal immigrants in America and if this is changed, it is likely that the number of undocumented immigrants will reduce in America. The deportation regulations are also involving and expensive. It is estimated that the government will have to spend up to $ 12,500 to deport one immigrant to their country. According to the report that was published by Center for American Progress in 2015 shows that it cost the government $23,480 to deport one person. the American government should change the law that require that undocumented immigrants be subjected to legal proceedings before being deported as this will reduce the cost of deportation. The laws and regulations on asylum and temporary protected status are some of the laws that should be changed so as to ensure that people who come to America under these provisions are satisfied as so by their countries of immigration department in United States (Jiang, 2017). The American authority should pass legislations that target undocumented immigrants with criminal records even if they are under limbo status called deferred action or are protected by Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) or are being helped by Prosecutorial Discretion. the government should pass laws that are aimed at not only stopping entry of illegal immigrants in America but it should pass laws that will support the already signed Executive Order by the trump government that will ensure that all the undocumented immigrants are deported to their respective country without being subjected to legal processes. Most of the movements that have supported the rights of undocumented immigrants have used the law to halt the efforts of the government that are aimed at deporting the illegal immigrants.

Actions that can be taken against Illegal Immigrants

There have been a lot of social petitions and movements have been formed in the recent past that advocate for the rights of undocumented immigrants in America. Most of the movements have been cited by the media and the public asserting that the recent immigration policies that have been passed by the Trump administration are oppressive since they do not allow for the immigrants to be hard before an impartial tribunal so that they can be heard and deported or settled in the American society based on the legal merits (Goldman et al., 2014). Civil movements have responded to the immigration policy by filing court cases against the government which have resulted to court injunctions on the government efforts to deport the said undocumented immigrants. Social movements have also organized public protests against the policy throughout United States (Jones & Martin, 2017). These protests have been organized to ensure that all the said illegal immigrants are legalized and their liberty respected just like other immigrants in America. Nonviolent social protests are the best ways to end the current social impediment to the stand between the government and the social rights advocates in United States. Apart from the social protest, the government should engage the human rights activities and the movement leaders and organizers to come up with the solution on how the issue of undocumented immigrants can be solved once and for all in America (Roblyer et al., 2016). Protest cannot bring solution to the problem because the solute to undocumented immigrants can only be solved if the root cause of these illegal immigrations is solved in the process so that there will be no such movements of people. Nonviolent action will also ensure that all the undocumented immigrants are treated with human dignity in the process something that will be different as to how they would have treated through deportation mechanism.

Arguments as To Why Undocumented Immigrants Should Be Deported

One of the major reason as to why there is high levels of alien immigration to America is for the sake family reunification. This comes as a result of American citizens sponsoring their relatives who then become American citizens. The idea sound good and provide the best ground on which immigration policy should be based on (Chavez et al., 2017). But it makes no economic gain to American government and government and it has disastrous consequences. The spouse, children and parents of the citizen may be unskilled or are less educated which may make them public charge and burden. This will only contribute to the American labor market being dominated by unskilled labor force in the world (Jones & Martin, 2017). This has been the opinion of the Department of Labor, which is mandated with the responsibility of protecting the employers in America for more than 20 years now but no one has been there to render the department a listen ear. Most of the companies that rely on these labor source that include food processors, cleaning companies and agriculture enjoy their presence and always want more illegal immigrants to come to America so as they can provide the cheap required labor (Roblyer et al., 2016). These companies could care less about public benefits, unemployment rates and rest of the pathologies that an excess of alien immigrants is causing to the American public. An influx of cheap labor from undocumented immigrants has been the reason as to why the American wages is low as compared to other countries such as Switzerland.

Another reason why illegal immigrants should be deported is the fact that alien immigrants abuse the welfare state that is offered by the American government. Most of the legal immigrants in America are allowed access to welfare such as medical insurance by Medicaid and even government sponsored housing (Massey & Gentsch, 2014). Given the fact that most of the immigrants can access welfare has reduced the value of welfare that is given to the American people something that contribute to their poor living standards. Some alien immigrants are not allowed to access welfare which makes them demand for lowly paid houses resulting to slums in the American urban centers. Since most of the illegal immigrants can access welfare, they consume more from the government as compared to what they can contribute since most of them earn little that is not even taxable (Chavez et al., 2017). Undocumented Immigrants also contribute to the economic inequalities that are witnessed in America resulting to the increasing gap between the poor and the rich in the American society.

It is of course undoubtedly that most of the undocumented immigrant pose insecurity in America and make American society more insecure. With the trends in global terrorism, most of the terrorist groups are using undocumented immigrants to recruit locals to join their terror groups. Apart from terrorism, most of the studies have shown that most of the immigrants who do not get employed are prone to joining gang and criminal organizations that terrorize the American streets (Massey & Gentsch, 2014). Most of the female undocumented immigrants join social practices such as prostitution and drug trafficking something that increase insecurity and rates of crimes in America. These are one of the reasons as to why immigration should be restricted in America. America remains to be the most open country in the world and if restrictions are not put in place, then it is likely that law and order may be compromised given the fact that most of the people who migrate to America increase the levels of unemployment.

Conclusion

Illegal immigrants can be defined as those people who were not born in America and have no legal rights that allow them to live in America. Alien immigrants are also known as aliens but this is not a legal term and it is widely used among the Americans because of its abusive connotation. It is believed that there are a lot of undocumented million people living in America as illegal or undocumented immigrants in United States and this number has stood steady in the last the last eight years consecutively. This has been credited on many things that include stability of the Mexican economy and the gradual economic gains of nations across the world that have witnessed a number of its citizens moving to America to seek employment. Other immigration experts attribute this to the recent signed immigration policy by the current administration in United States.

References

Chavez, L. R., Flores, E. T., & Lopez-Garza, M. (2017). Migrants and settlers: a comparison of undocumented Mexican and central americans in the United States. Frontera Norte, 1(1), 49-75.

Goldman, N., Pebley, A. R., Creighton, M. J., Teruel, G. M., Rubalcava, L. N., & Chung, C. (2014). The consequences of migration to the United States for short-term changes in the health of Mexican immigrants. Demography, 51(4), 1159-1173.

Jiang, J. (2017). Patrisia Macías-Rojas, From Deportation to Prison: The Politics of Immigration Enforcement in Post-Civil Rights America.

Jones, B., & Martin, D. J. (2017). Path-to-Citizenship or Deportation? How Elite Cues Shaped Opinion on Immigration in the 2010 US House Elections. Political Behavior, 39(1), 177-204.

Massey, D. S., & Gentsch, K. (2014). Undocumented migration to the United States and the wages of Mexican immigrants. International Migration Review, 48(2), 482-499.

Roblyer, M. I. Z., Grzywacz, J. G., Cervantes, R. C., & Merten, M. J. (2016). Stress and alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use among Latino adolescents in families with undocumented immigrants. Journal of child and family studies, 25(2), 475-487.