Illegal Immigration - USA

Legal U.S. Immigration History

• Northern Europe - Ireland, Sweden, Germany, Norway --> late 18oo’s to early 1900’s

Legal U.S. Immigration History

• Eastern Europe - Russia, Poland --> late 18oo’s to early 1900’s

Legal U.S. Immigration History

• Southern Europe - Italy, Greece, Turkey --> 1930s - 1940s

Legal U.S. Immigration History

• Holocaust Victims - > 1940s

Legal U.S. Immigration History

• Vietnam War Refugees - > 1960s - 1970

Legal U.S. Immigration History• Today - Mexico, Central/Middle America, Somalia --

> 1980s - Present

Immigration to USA -2007 Source Countries

Illegal Immigration to USATrend Started in 1960s

Where Are the Illegal Immigrants From:- 56% of illegal immigrants are from Mexico- 22% from other Latin American Countries (El Salvador, Honduras & Guatemala)- 13% Asia (Philippines & India)- 6% Europe and Canada- 3% Africa and the rest of the world

Pull factors - land of opportunity, freedom, social equality, escape famine, to escape revolution or war, jobs, reunite with family, cannot pass the citizenship test

How Do People Become Illegal

1. Enter without permission (Evaded the Immigration Inspectors and Border Patrol - 6-7 million)

2. Staying beyond the authorized period after legal entry (Non-Immigrants Visa Overstayer 4-5.5 million) - majority come this way

3. Violating terms of legal entry (Border Crossing Card Violator - 250,000-500,000

4. Anchor baby AB http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6x1t8ej-Tk

1. Historical•1519-1821 Mexico under Spanish Rule. Struggle for independence from Spain.•1821 - official independence from Spain•1820’s exposed to US influence•1846 -1848 Mexican-American War of Independence resulted in the sale of northern territories of Mexico for $10 million (Feb. 2nd 1848) - Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo boundary established rio Bravo del Norte•Mexico required to give up New Mexico and Upper California --> present day California, Nevada, Utah and parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming and to accept Texas’s incorporation into US•Mexico lost more than 1/2 of its territory

Reasons for Illegal Immigration

Reasons for Illegal Immigration1. Historical•1929-1939 Mexican Repatriation forced migration as many as 1 million people of Mexican descent were forced/pressured to leave the US. (60% of those driven out were U.S. citizens)MR http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKBgIpvIE4s

•The Bracero Program was initially prompted by a demand for manual labor during WWII•Began with the U.S. government bringing in a few hundred experienced Mexican Labourers to harvest sugar beets in California

•The program spread to cover most of the U.S. and provided workers for the agriculture Labour Market

•By 1945, the quota for the agricultural program was more than 75,000 braceros working in the U.S. railroad system and 50,000 braceros working in U.S. agriculture at any one time.

1. Historical•The railroad program ended in 1945(end of war)

•U.S. growers claimed ongoing labor shortages, the program was extended under a number of acts of congress until 1948

•Between 1948 and 1951, Mexican agricultural labourers continued under negotiated administrative agreements between growers and the Mexican Government

•After the formal end of the agricultural program (1964) there were a few contracts / agreements that lasted until 1967, after which no more braceros were granted

•Abrupt end lead to an increase in illegal immigration

•1986 Ronal Regan - through immigration reform there was tighter border security but anyone who entered the country before 1982 was eligible for amnesty (3 million granted Amnesty)

Reasons for Illegal Immigration

Reasons for Illegal ImmigrationReasons for Illegal Immigration2. Poverty • Increases in poverty increase the likelihood of illegal migration.

• Ex. The 1994 economic crisis in Mexico was associated with widespread poverty and a lower valuation for the peso relative to the dollar --> start of a massive swell in Mexican emigration

• The financial crisis in Mexico in 1982 had to do with external debt and took a long time for recovery. The peso crisis of 1994 had little to do with external but instead was due to a short-term foreign exchange problem. At the time NAFTA was approved in 1993 the economic future of Mexico looked bright.

• Political Figures were assassinated (1994: Luis Donaldo Colosio and José Francisco Ruiz-Massieu, the Secretary General ). The world public interpreted these assassination as evidence of the political instability of Mexico and those with funds invested in Mexico began to withdrawn them.

• The attempt to maintain an overvalued peso created economic problems for Mexico in that discouraged foreign buyers from buying Mexican products but it encouraged Mexicans to buy foreign products.

• Furthermore, those with funds held in Mexico, could see that a devaluation was likely and began converting their peso assets into dollar assets. A country supports the value of its currency by using up its hard foreign currency holdings to buy its own currency. Very quickly multibillion dollar reserves can be used up wastefully supporting an exchange rate that cannot be sustained.

• Net illegal migration to the US increased every year from the mid-1990s until the mid 2000s

Reasons for Illegal ImmigrationReasons for Illegal Immigration3. Overpopulation • Pop. Growth is greater than the carrying

capacity of a country and its environment

• Overpopulation leads to increases in pollution, lack of water & poverty

• There was an increase in Mexico’s population 13.6 million in 1900 to 107.56 million in 2010

• There was an increase in China’s population from 400 million in 1900 to 1.34 billion in 2010

• There was an increase in India’s population from 234 million in 1900 to 1.18 billion in 2010

• By 2050 world pop. to 9.4 billion

Reasons for Illegal ImmigrationReasons for Illegal Immigration4. Reunification of families - Chain

Immigration

• If unable to reunite families through sponsorship programs (not meeting criteria or over quotas)

• May force their family members to enter illegally to reunify

• Douglas Massey (Princeton sociologist) finds that the likelihood of a Mexican national to emigrate illegally to the US increases dramatically if they have one or more family members already residing in the United States, legally or illegally

Reasons for Illegal ImmigrationReasons for Illegal Immigration5. War/Conflict• Desire to escape civil war or repression in the

country of origin

• Persecution, abuse, repression & genocide

• For emigrants who have escaped a war or repression and have illegal crossed into another state those who are unwilling to apply or have been denied asylum status become "illegal immigrants" and may be subject to punishment or deportation

• Columbia, El Salvador, Sir Lanka

6. Economic - practice of hiring illegal works (Magnet for

illegal immigration)

- 2003 Mexican President Vicente Fox stated Remittances are our biggest source of foreign income

(more than oil, tourism and foreign investment)

2005 - $18.1 billion dollar a year (Ranked 3rd after India and China)

Reasons for Illegal ImmigrationReasons for Illegal Immigration

7. US Government Inefficiencies - costs, delays and

inefficiencies in processing visa applications and work

permits contribute to Illegal Immigration (as of 2007 backlog

of 1.1 million green card application and waiting time ~3

years)

Reasons for Illegal ImmigrationReasons for Illegal Immigration

8. Trade agreements & government failures - Trade agreements (NAFTA, CAFRA, WTO, IMF, WB were suppose to SOL (standard of Living) and incentives for illegal immigration

- Mexican gov’t failed to make promised investments in roads, schooling, sanitation, housing

- China surpassed Mexico in producing products for US markets and manufacturing jobs from 4.1million to 3.5 million from 2000 to 2004

Reasons for Illegal ImmigrationReasons for Illegal Immigration

- 1994 economic crisis devalued the Peso wages of Mexican workers compared to counterparts in the US

- More efficient farming practices in US and elimination of tariffs under NAFTA caused price of corn to 70% in Mexco between 1994-2001 --> # of farm jobs 8.1 million to 6.8 million in 2002

- Gov’t corruption (72nd most corrupt state out of 179)

Reasons for Illegal ImmigrationReasons for Illegal Immigration

BenefitsBenefits• Work jobs that residents do not want to do - low

paying

• Pay taxes through product purchases

• Contribute to the economy (purchasing items)

• Fill in gap of aging population

BenefitsBenefits• Low wages help various sectors of the economy

remain competitive (agriculture, restaurants, garment industry, cleaning, dietary)

• Illegals and Economy

• Immigration Helps economy grow: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=2654583n

Issue• Tougher border control is not a deterrent --> Illegal

Immigrants will attempt to cross the border until they are successful (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wnL1jQSxVE)

• Tougher border control traps prospective immigrants on the Mexico side, whom are suffering from the in local wages

• Legal route is not an option for some because it is to hard to get in --> get a green card, take the citizenship test (The test) http://uscitizennow.com/q26to50.htm

Issue• 2005 gov’t of Mexico produced handbook risks &

implications of crossing US border

• Guide told immigrants where to find health care, how to get kids into school, how to send $$$ home

• Gov’t said it was to save lives (over 300 Mexican die each year crossing the border illegally) - US felt it was encouraging illegal immigration (Gov't http://www.diggersrealm.com/mt/archives/000613.html)

gov"t

Issues• Don’t pay Personal Income Tax (Cost of illegal

immigration http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cY6t2ckpb5g)

• Take jobs away from Americans

• Have access to programs (education, health care)

• Send $$$ back to Mexico (remittance)

• Identity theft- use social security numbers of others in order to obtain fake work documentations

Issues• Drug trafficking Drugs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyDHNeJxazU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nz8k39p8z4U&feature=channel

• Gang violence MS-13 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6YBQ-w1UQ8 Part1

• http://www.youtube.com/watchv=MN0Nkt3gfhE&NR=1 Part 2http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra73WfdLsXI&NR=1

Part 3http://www.youtube.com/watcv=X0YfG16_u3M&NR=1 Part 4http://www.youtube.comwatchv=y7IdYy1vrXo&feature=related Part 5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NudzVA8bbak Toronto

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhnAK3MaGIE&NR=1 Toronto

• Environment - desert-walking immigrant leave behind 8lbs of trash during a journey of 1-3 days, wildfires

Issues

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NudzVA8bbak Toronto

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhnAK3MaGIE&NR=1 Toronto

• Environment - desert-walking immigrant leave behind 8lbs of trash during a journey of 1-3 days, wildfires

Issues

Solutions Fence http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ag7uAmDvejQ

Arizona law

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4ltqJ8-FG8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ah4zO_Dp4g&NR=1 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqLnXTMpJ0Q

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/jesse-jackson-arizona-immigration-law-is-terrorism-for-the-innocent/

Solutions

• More border patrols - operation gatekeeper -$800million - double # of border patrols, double amount of fencing and barrier,triple # of underground sensors

• Tougher immigration laws (Arizona, Virginia, Minnesota)

• Go after employers of illegal immigrants - Walmart (paid $11 million to settle federal investigation illegals employed in cleaning contracts)

• Swift & Co. arrested1,300 illegal immigrants in 6 states

• Find the illegal immigrants and send them all back to Mexico

Solutions

• Illegal immigration

• Protests

• Protests

• History

• border crossing