Illegal immigration
Encyclopedia
Illegal immigration is the migration into a nation in violation of the immigration laws of that jurisdiction. Illegal immigration raises many political, economical and social issues and has become a source of major controversy in developed countries and the more successful developing countries.
In 2010, the International Organization for Migration
(IOM) estimated that 25.5 to 32.1 million people (or 10%–15%) of the world's total 214 million international immigrants are illegal immigrants, though the IOM notes that it is difficult to make accurate estimates. Furthermore, most illegal immigrants arrive in a country legally, but overstay their authorized residence (i.e. overstaying a visa). The Center for Immigration Studies
(CIS) estimates that there were 11 million illegal immigrants in the US in 2008, while other estimates for the US range from 7 to 20 million. If these estimates are correct, it could mean that approximately half of the total illegal immigrants in the world are in the US.
circumstances to countries with higher socio-economic circumstances, where potential immigrants perceive greater economic opportunities and quality of life. This has typically been viewed as driving people from developing countries to developed countries but as economic conditions improve in a number of developing countries, illegal immigration to these more successful developing countries has also increased significantly.
When potential illegal immigrants believe the probability and benefits of successfully migrating to the destination country are greater than the costs then illegal immigration will be an attractive option. The benefits taken into account not only include expected improvements in pay and living conditions but also include expectations in relation to potential future immigration amnesty, where illegal immigration is given a path to naturalization or citizenship and also the rights to citizenship of future children are a consideration. The costs may include restrictions on living as an illegal immigrant in the destination country, leaving family and ways of life behind, and the probability of being detained and resulting sanctions. Proposed economic models of illegal immigration include varying considerations and degrees of complexity.
Neoclassical theory posits that factors such as geographic proximity, border enforcement, probability and consequences of arrest, ease of illegal employment, and chances of future legalization govern the likelihood of "successful" illegal immigration. This model also assumes that illegal workers tend to add to, and compete with, the receiving nation's pool of unskilled laborers. Illegal workers in this model find employment by accepting lower wages than native-born workers, sometimes below the minimum wage
and "off-the-books". Economist George Borjas supports aspects of this model, calculating that real wages of US workers without a high school degree declined by 9% from 1980-2000 due to competition from illegal immigrant workers.
Large scale economic evidence supports neoclassical theory, as may be seen in the long-term correlation of relative wages/unemployment and illegal immigration from Mexico to the US. However, immigration scholars such as Gordon Hanson and Douglas Massey
have criticized the model for being oversimplified and not accounting for contradictory evidence, such as low net illegal immigration from Mexico to the US before the 1980s despite significant economic disparity. Numerous refinements have been suggested to account for other factors, as seen below.
by joining decline to liberalize trade. But rapid opening of domestic markets may lead to displacement of large numbers of agricultural or unskilled workers, who are more likely to seek employment and a higher quality of life by illegal emigration. This is a frequently cited argument to explain how the North American Free Trade Association may have impoverished Mexican farmers who were unable to compete with the higher productivity of US subsidized agriculture, especially for corn. NAFTA may have also unexpectedly raised educational requirements for industrial jobs in Mexico, since the new maquiladora
s produced export products requiring skills and education that many unskilled workers did not have.
tized and require no education. These "underclass" jobs include harvesting crops, unskilled labor in landscaping and construction, house-cleaning, and maid and busboy work in hotels and restaurants, all of which have a disproportionate number of illegal workers.
Since the decline of middle-class blue-collar jobs in manufacturing and industry, younger native-born generations have acquired higher education. The majority of new blue-collar jobs qualify as Massey's "underclass" work, and suffer from unreliability, subservient roles, and, critically, a lack of potential for advancement. Entry-level white-collar and service jobs offer advancement opportunities for native-born and legal immigrant workers.
In a developed country like the US, only 12% of the labor force has less than a high school education. Illegal immigrants have much lower levels of education (about 70% of illegal workers in the US from Mexico lack a high school degree). Even "underclass" jobs have much higher relative wages than those in home countries. Since illegal immigrants often anticipate working only temporarily in the destination country, the lack of opportunity for advancement is less of a problem. Evidence for this can be seen in one Pew Hispanic Center poll of over 3,000 illegal immigrants from Mexico in the US, which found that 79% would voluntarily join a temporary worker program that allowed them to work legally for several years but then required them to leave.
The structural demand theory posits that willingness to work undesirable jobs is what gives illegal immigrants their employment.
Structural demand theory argues that cases like this show that there is no direct competition between unskilled illegal immigrants and native-born workers. This is the concept that illegal immigrants "take jobs that no one else wants". Massey argues that this has certain implications for policy, as it may refute claims that illegal immigrants are "lowering wages" or stealing jobs from native-born workers.
Other examples do show that increases in poverty, especially when associated with immediate crises, can increase the likelihood of illegal migration. The 1994 economic crisis in Mexico
, subsequent to the start of the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA) was associated with widespread poverty and a lower valuation for the peso relative to the dollar. It also marked the start of a massive swell in Mexican emigration, in which net illegal migration to the US increased every year from the mid-1990s until the mid 2000s.
There are also examples where natural disasters and overpopulation
can amplify poverty
-driven migration flows.
that exceeds the carrying capacity
of an area or environment results in overpopulation
. Spikes in human population can cause problems such as pollution
, water crisis
, and poverty
. World population
has grown from 1.6 billion in 1900 to an estimated 6.7 billion today. In Mexico alone, population has grown from 13.6 million in 1900 to 107 million in 2007.
In 2000, the United Nations
estimated that the world's population was growing at the rate of 1.14% (or about 75 million people) per year. According to data from the CIA's 2005–2006 World Factbook
s, the world human population currently increases by 203,800 every day. The United States Census Bureau issued a revised forecast for world population that increased its projection for the year 2050 to above 9.4 billion people, up from 9.1 billion people. We are adding a billion more every 12 years. Almost all growth will take place in the less developed regions.
Due to inability to marry, same-sex couples in which one member has an expiring visa may face an "unpalatable choice between leaving and living with the person they love in violation of U.S. immigration laws".
in the country of origin. Non-economic push factors include persecution
(religious and otherwise), frequent abuse
, bullying, oppression
, and genocide
, and risks to civilians during war. Political motives traditionally motivate refugee
flows - to escape dictatorship
for instance.
The status of "unauthorized immigrant" may coincide with or be replaced by the status of "asylum seeker" for emigrants who have escaped a war or repression and have unlawfully crossed into another state. If they are recognized as "legitimate" asylees by the destination state, they will then gain status. However, there may be numerous potential asylees in a destination state who are unwilling to apply or have been denied asylum status, and hence are categorized as "unathorized immigrants" and may be subject to punishment or deportation. However, Article 31 of the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees
prohibits the Contracting States from imposing penalties on refugees for their illegal enter or presence, who come directly from a territory where their life or freedom are threatened.
There are numerous cases of mass emigration from poor or war-stricken states. These include examples from Africa, Colombia, and El Salvador.
After decades of armed conflict, roughly one of every 10 Colombians now lives abroad.
For example, Colombians emigrating to Spain have "grown exponentially, from a little over 7,000 in 1993 to more than 80,000 in 2002 and 244,000 in 2003."
Also, figures from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security indicate that Colombia
is the fourth-leading source country of unauthorized immigration to the United States
. According to its estimates
, the number of unauthorized Colombian residents in the United States almost tripled from 51,000 in 1990 to 141,000 in 2000. According to the US Census Bureau, the number of authorized Colombian immigrants in the United States in 2000 was 801,363. Census data are important because, as the Department of Homeland Security states, [U.S.] "census data are more complete and reliable [than INS's data] because of the national scope of the data collection, the vastly larger data sample, and the extensive preparation and follow-up activities involved in conducting the decennial census."
El Salvador
is another country which experienced substantial emigration as a result of civil war and repression. The largest per-capita source of immigrants to the United States comes from El Salvador. Up to a third of the world's Salvadoran-born population lives outside the country, mostly in the United States.
into another country. Aside from the possibility that they may be intercepted and deported, some considerably more dangerous outcomes have been known to result from their activity. As an example, unauthorized immigrants may be trafficked for exploitation including sexual exploitation
.
People have been kidnapped or tricked into slavery to work as laborers, for example in factories. Those trafficked in this manner often face additional barriers to escaping slavery, since their status as illegal immigrants makes it difficult for them to gain access to help or services. For example Burmese women trafficked into Thailand and forced to work in factories or as prostitutes may not speak the language and may be vulnerable to abuse by police due to their illegal immigrant status.
face challenges of charges of illegal immigration.
Since the fall of the Iron Curtain
, Western Europe
is being confronted with a serious problem related to the sexual exploitation of illegal immigrants (especially from Eastern Europe
), for the purpose of prostitution.
. Death by exposure occurs in the deserts of Southwestern United States during the hot summer season.
Immigrants from nations that do not have automatic visa agreements, or who would not otherwise qualify for a visa, often cross the borders illegally in some areas like the United States–Mexico border
, the Mona Channel between the Dominican Republic
and Puerto Rico
, the Strait of Gibraltar
, Fuerteventura
, and the Strait of Otranto
. Because these methods are illegal, they are often dangerous. Would-be immigrants have been known to suffocate in shipping container
s, boxcar
s, and trucks http://english.people.com.cn/english/200103/06/eng20010306_64193.html, sink in shipwreck
s caused by unseaworthy vessels http://pakistantimes.net/2004/10/05/top5.htm, die of dehydration
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=21975 or exposure
during long walks without water. An official estimate puts the number of people who died in illegal crossings across the U.S.-Mexican border between 1998 and 2004 at 1,954 (see immigrant deaths along the U.S.-Mexico border
).
Human smuggling is the practice of intermediaries aiding illegal immigrants in crossing over international borders in financial gain, often in large groups. Human smuggling differs from, but is sometimes associated with, human trafficking
. A human smuggler will facilitate illegal entry
into a country for a fee, but on arrival at their destination, the smuggled person is usually free. Trafficking involves a process of using physical force, fraud
, or deception
to obtain and transport people.
Types of notorious human smugglers include Snakehead
gang
s present in mainland China
(especially in Fujian
) that smuggle laborers into Pacific Rim
nations (making Chinatown
s frequent centers of illegal immigration) http://web.archive.org/web/20091027131915/http://www.geocities.com/humanperil/FUZHOU.html and "coyotes", who smuggle illegal immigrants to the Southwestern United States
and have been known to abuse or even kill their passengers. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20060723-9999-1m23killed.html Sometimes immigrants are abandoned by their human traffickers if there are difficulties, often dying in the process. Others may be victims of intentional killing.
). For example, most of the estimated 200,000 illegal immigrants in Canada (perhaps as high as 500,000), are refugee claimants whose refugee applications were rejected but who have not yet been expelled from the country.
A related way of becoming an unathorized immigrant is through bureaucratic means. For example, a person can be allowed to remain in a country - or be protected from expulsion - because he/she needs special pension for a medical condition, deep love for a native, or even to avoid being tried for a crime in his/her native country, 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 "unauthorized" immigrants nor local 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 was the case in France until 1994 and in Ireland until 2005. In these countries, it was possible to obtain French or Irish nationality (respectively) solely by being born in France before 1994 or in Ireland before 2005 (respectively). At present, a French born child of foreign parents does not automatically obtain French nationality until residency duration conditions are met. Since 1 January 2005, a child born in Ireland does not automatically acquire Irish nationality unless certain conditions are met.
Many countries have had or currently have laws restricting immigration for economic or nationalistic
political reasons. United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373
concerning counter-terrorism
, enacted in October 2001, requested of UN member states to restrict immigration laws. Whether a person is permitted to stay in a country legally may be decided by quota
s 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 illegal immigrants, as well as people born on national territory (henceforth not "immigrants") but who have not obtained nationality of their birthplace and have no legal title of residency.
Most countries have laws requiring workers to have proper documentation, often intended to prevent or minimize the employment of unauthorized immigrants. However the penalties against employers are often small and the acceptable identification requirements vague and ill-defined as well as being seldom checked or enforced, making it easy for employers to hire unauthorized labor. Unauthorized immigrants are especially popular with many employers because they can pay less than the legal minimum wage
or have unsafe working conditions, secure in the knowledge that few unauthorized workers will report the abuse to the authorities. Often the minimum wages in one country can be several times the prevailing wage in the unauthorized immigrant's country, making even these jobs attractive to the unauthorized worker.
In response to the outcry following popular knowledge of the Holocaust
, the newly-established United Nations
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. It is, however, 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.
The right to freedom of movement
of an individual within national borders is often contained within the constitution
or in a country's human rights
legislation but these rights are restricted to citizens and exclude all others. Some argue that the freedom of movement both within and between countries is a basic human right and that nationalism
and immigration policies of state governments violate this human right that those same governments recognize within their own borders. According to the article 13 on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
, fundamental human rights are violated when citizens are forbidden to leave their country. However, immigrants are not assured the right to enter a country, that right is given at the host country's discretion.[citation]
Since illegal immigrants without proper legal status have no valid identification documents such as identity cards, they may have reduced or no access to public health
systems, proper housing, education
and bank
s. This lack of access may result in the creation or expansion of illegal underground forgery to provide this documentation.
When the authorities are overwhelmed in their efforts to stop "illegal" immigration, they have historically provided amnesty
. Amnesties waive the "subject to deportation" clause associated with illegal aliens.
. Since 2004, more than 400,000 illegal immigrants, almost all from the Democratic Republic of the Congo
, have been expelled from Angola.
by Nepalese settlers (Lhotshampa
) began slowly towards the end of the 19th century.
In 1985, the government passed a new Citizenship Act which clarified and attempted to enforce the 1958 Citizenship Act
to control the flood of illegal immigration. Those individuals who could not provide proof of residency prior to 1958 were adjudged to be illegal immigrants. In 1991-92, Bhutan
expelled roughly 139,110 ethnic Nepal
is, most of whom have been living in seven refugee camps in eastern Nepal ever since. The United States has offered to resettle 60,000 of the 107,000 Bhutanese refugees of Nepalese origin now living in U.N. refugee camps in Nepal. The Bhutanese government, even today has not been able to sort the problem of giving citizenship to those people who are married to Bhutanese, even though they have been in the country for 40 years.
). That same year, the Brazilian Parliament approved an amnesty, opening a six-month window for all foreigners to seek legalization irrespective of their previous standing before the law. Brazil had last legalized all immigrants in 1998; bilateral deals, one of which promoted the legalization of all reciprocal immigrants with Bolivia to date, signed in 2005, are also common.
Clandestine immigrants in Brazil enjoy the same legal privileges as native Brazilians regarding access to social services such as public education
and the Brazilian public healthcare system
. Most unauthorized immigrants in Brazil come from Bolivia, Paraguay
, Peru
, China (mainly from Fujian
), North Korea
and sub-Saharan Africa
. A Federal Police
operation investigated Chinese immigrants who traveled through six countries before arriving in São Paulo
to work under substandard conditions in the textile industry
.
After signing the 2009 amnesty bill into law, President Lula said, in a speech, that "repression and intolerance against immigrants will not solve the problems caused by the economic crisis", thereby also harshly criticizing the "policy of discrimination and prejudice" against immigrants in developed nations.
An October 2009 piece from O Globo
, quoting a UNDP study, estimates the number of unauthorized immigrants at 0.7 million, and points out to a recent wave of xenophobia among the general populace.
, a former head of the Canadian Immigration Service, has suggested that the lack of any credible refugee screening process, combined with a high likelihood of ignoring any deportation orders, has resulted in tens of thousands of outstanding warrants for the arrest of rejected refugee claimants, with little attempt at enforcement. Refugee claimants in Canada do not have to attempt re-entry to learn the status of their claim. A 2008 report by the Auditor General
Sheila Fraser
stated that Canada has lost track of as many as 41,000 illegal immigrants. This number is predicted to increase drastically with the expiration of temporary employer work permits issued in 2007 and 2008, which were not renewed in many cases because of the shortage of work due to the recession.
has recently become a new pole of attraction for unathorized immigrants, mostly from neighboring Peru
and Bolivia
, Ecuador
, Paraguay
, Colombia
and Haiti
. According to the 2002 national census, Chile's foreign-born foreign population has increased by 75% since 1992.
is building a security barrier along its border with North Korea
to prevent the defectors or refugees from North Korea. Also, many immigrants from Mongolia
have tried to make it to China. There might be as many as 100,000 Africans in Guangzhou
, mostly illegal overstayers.
To encourage people to report foreigners living illegally in China, the police is giving a 100 RMB reward to whistleblowers whose information successfully leads to an expulsion.
, an island-nation shared with Haiti
, has many illegal immigrants coming from Haiti. Since the country's landmass of 48,000 Km and its native population barely exceeds 10 million, and authorities give a figure of over a million illegal Haitian immigrants on Dominican soil (over 10% of the total population).
is developing a common system for immigration and asylum and a single external border control strategy.
Many reports from local Greek islands near the Turkish coast indicate that Turks equip migrants with boats and knives and tell them to cut the boat when they reach Greek waters. Greek authorities are then forced to deal with the influx of thousands of illegal immigrants under EU rules. Greek police are unable to work with their counterparts in Turkey because the Turkish army is responsible for their border. Recently 14 illegal migrants drowned because of Turkish traffickers who sent them into the sea telling them to slice the dinghies once they reach Greek waters. The Turkish newspaper Hürriyet published stories once in July 2004 and a second time in May 2006 that Hellenic Coast Guard
ships were caught on film cruising as near as a few hundred meters off the Turkish coast and abandoning clandestine immigrants to the sea. This practice allegedly resulted in the drowning of six people between Chios
and Karaburun Peninsula
on 26 September 2006 while three others disappeared and 31 were saved by Turkish gendarmes and fishermen. However, there are numerous non-Turkish claims and testimonies that Turkish authorities and/or citizens lead immigrants through the sea, often resulting to the abandonment and sometimes drowning of said immigrants.
A tough new EU immigration law detaining illegal immigrants for up to 18 months before deportation has triggered outrage across Latin America, with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez
threatening to cut off oil exports to Europe.
n borders in 1991, a huge influx of Albanian
economic migrants crossed illegally into Greece in order to find work. They are currently estimated at about 600,000-800,000, but an accurate calculation is very difficult because of the large percentage of illegal immigrants.
and Latin America who are in the UK illegally, having overstayed their visas.
s (NGOs) such as the CIMADE and the GISTI
, left-wing political parties such as the Greens and the French Communist Party
, and trade-unions such as the magistrates' Syndicat de la magistrature
.
The linguistic differentiations between Anglophone and francophone rhetoric is important when considering the topic of French illegal immigration. In French, the term “irrégulière” is used (literally “irregular”), whereas in English, the term more often used is “illegal.” Often instead of referring to someone’s irregular immigrant status, the colloquial term used is “sans papiers” (literally “without papers”), referring to the fact that irregular immigrants to not possess papers from the French government allowing them to stay in France
.
It is important to distinguish illegal immigrants from other forms of immigrants and residents in France. Some immigrants to France are asylum seekers, and once granted asylum, they are no longer illegal/irregular, though they are immigrants. There are also children who are born to immigrants in France who are therefore not immigrants themselves, but are still considered foreigners by the French national government. One does not merely need to be a foreign immigrant in order to be a foreigner in France.
French citizenship is based in the idea of political unity; therefore French citizenship may be more accessible than other EU citizenships, such as German citizenship. However, there is also the strong feeling among French citizens that those non-native people who gain French citizenship should also conform to the cultural aspects of French life.
French law prohibits anyone from assisting or trying to assist “the entry, movement, or irregular stay of a foreigner in France.” If one is found guilty of these acts, they can be imprisoned for up to five years and fined €30,000. There are also quotas for the number of arrests that should be made in such cases: 5,000 arrests for 2009, and 5,500 arrests for 2011.
France has an Immigration Ministry (L’immigration, l’intégration, l’asile et le développement solidaire) which begun functioning in 2007 under President Sarkozy. The goal of these quotas and laws put forth by the government is to combat smugglers who profit financially from moving immigrants into, through, and out of France, according to the Immigration Minister, Eric Besson.
Calais, France is an important site when considering illegal immigrants in France. This is where many sans papiers move in an effort to cross the English Channel towards Great Britain. Great Britain is the goal for many clandestine aliens, as easier to gain asylum or refugee status there. In Calais, when trying to pass through customs towards Great Britain, truck drivers can be fined up to 2,500€ if illegal immigrants are found on board their truck when it is searched.
There is an area of Calais known as “the Jungle” which houses many sans papiers waiting to move to Great Britain. There was a police raid here in September 2009, seen as a political move by authorities to publicly show their efforts to control and deter illegal immigration.
Many non-governmental organizations, such as Secours Catholique and the Red Cross, are involved in the situation as well. These NGO’s provide food, showers, and shelter to sans papiers who gather waiting to cross the Channel. In 2002, then Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy closed a Red Cross shelter in the Calais suburb of Sangette that housed thousands of sans papiers in an effort to discourage them from trying to cross the border. These immigrants simply moved to other parts of the Calais region.
Philippe Lefilleul, a member of Secours Cotholique, stated that aid workers from these NGO’s do not condone the illegal immigration of people to France, but they feel that it is their “duty as fellow human beings and as Christians” to help the sans papiers who inhabit Calais and the suburbs around it.
The French film “Welcome” is a portrayal of a sans papiers young man trying to cross the English Channel from Calais and his interactions with a swim instructor in Calais. It was a controversial film when released because it moves a very sensitive political and social topic into a very important French cultural venue—film. Other French films that address the topic of French immigration, especially illegal immigration, are “The Class” and “La Haine”, which address cultural and political situations surrounding immigration in Parisian suburbs and the country at large.
India is constructing barriers on its eastern borders to combat the surge of migrants. The Indo-Bangladeshi barrier is 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles) long. Presently, India is constructing a fence along the border to restrict illegal traffic from Bangladesh
. This obstruction will virtually isolate Bangladesh from India. The barrier's plan is based on the designs of the Israeli West Bank barrier
and will be 3.6 m (11.8 ft) high. The stated aim of the fence is to stop infiltration of terrorists, prevent smuggling, and to bring a close to illegal immigration from Bangladesh.
ian government has forcibly deported back to Afghanistan
mostly unregistered (and some registered) Afghans living and working in Iran
at a rate between 250,000 - 300,000 per year. The forceful evictions of the refugees, who have lived in Iran and Pakistan for nearly three decades, are part of the two countries' larger plans to repatriate all Afghan refugees within a few years. Iran says it will send 1,000,000 by next March, and Pakistan announced that all 2,400,000 Afghan refugees, most living in camps, must return home by 2009. Experts say it will be 'disastrous' for Afghanistan.
is home to a large illegal Sub-Saharan Africa
n population which numbers as much as 2,000,000. The mass expulsion plan to summarily deport all undocumented foreigners was announced by Libyan leader Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi
in January 2008. "No resident without a legal visa will be excluded."
. An ethnic Indian Malaysian was recently sentenced to whipping and 10 months in prison for hiring six illegal immigrants at his restaurant. "I think that after this, Malaysian employers will be afraid to take in foreign workers (without work permits). They will think twice", said immigration department prosecutor Azlan Abdul Latiff. "This is the first case where an employer is being sentenced to caning", he told. Illegal immigrants also face caning before being deported.
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 http://www.cimacnoticias.com/noticias/01dic/01122403.html. Many women from Eastern Europe
, Asia, 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 http://www.tvazteca.com/hechos/archivos2/2004/10/102327.shtml. In 2004, the INM deported 188,000 people at a cost of US$10 million http://www.migracion.gob.mx/paginas/entrevistas/entrevista10feb2004.htm.
Illegal immigration of Cubans through Cancún
tripled from 2004 to 2006.
http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/415621.html
In September 2007, Mexican President Calderón harshly criticized the United States government for the crackdown on illegal immigrants, saying it has led to the persecution of immigrant workers without visas. "I have said that Mexico does not stop at its border, that wherever there is a Mexican, there is Mexico", he said.
In October 2008, Mexico tightened its immigration rules and agreed to deport Cubans
using the country as an entry point to the US. It also criticized U.S. policy that generally allows Cubans who reach U.S. territory to stay. Cuban Foreign Minister said the Cuban-Mexican agreement would lead to "the immense majority of Cubans being repatriated."
's Maoist-led government has initiated a major crackdown against Tibetan exiles with the aim to deport to China
all Tibetans living illegally in the country. Tibetans started pouring in Nepal after a failed anti-Chinese uprising in Tibet
in 1959.
from other republics of the former Soviet Union. In addition, there are an estimated 10-12 million illegal immigrants in the country. There has been a significant influx of ethnic Georgians
, Armenians
, Azerbaijanis, Tajiks, and Uzbeks
into big Russian cities in recent years, which has been viewed very unfavorably by many citizens, and has contributed to nationalist
sentiments. Many immigrant ethnic groups have much higher birth rates than native Russians, further shifting the balance. Some Chinese
flee the overpopulation and birth control regulations of their home country and settle in the Far East
and in southern Siberia
. Russia's main Pacific port and naval base of Vladivostok
, once closed to foreigners, today is bristling with Chinese markets, restaurants and trade houses. This has been occurring a lot since the Soviet collapse.
Illegal border crossing is considered a crime, and on occasions captured illegal border crossers are sentenced to a prison term. For example, Rossiyskaya Gazeta
reported in October 2008 the case of a North Korea
n who was detained after illegally crossing the Amur River from China. Considered by Russian authorities an "economic migrant", he was sentenced to 6 months in prison, and was to be deported to the country of his nationality after serving his sentence, even though he may now risk an even heavier penalty there. That was just one of the 26 cases year-to-date of illegal entrants, of various nationalities, receiving criminal punishment in Amur Oblast
.
has begun construction of a separation barrier
between its territory and Yemen
to prevent the unauthorized movement of people and goods into and out of the kingdom. See Saudi-Yemen barrier
.
In 2006 Saudi Arabia proposed plans for the construction of a security fence along the entire length of its 560-mile (900 km) desert border with Iraq in a multimillion-pound project to secure the kingdom's borders in order to improve internal security, control illegal immigration
and bolster its defences against external threats.
ans. Attacks on foreign nationals increased markedly in late 2007 and it is believed that there have been at least a dozen attacks since the start of 2008. A series of anti-immigrant riots occurred in South Africa beginning on May 11, 2008. see (Zimbabwean diaspora
)
have increased in number since the U.S.-led invasion of that country in March 2003. The United Nations
estimates that nearly 2,200,000 Iraq
is have fled the country since 2003, with nearly 100,000 fleeing to Syria
and Jordan
each month. Most ventured to Jordan and Syria, creating demographic shifts that have worried both governments. Refugees are mired in poverty as they are generally barred from working in their host countries.
Syrian authorities worried that the new influx of refugees would limit the country's resources. Sources like oil, heat, water and electricity were said to be becoming more scarce as demand had gone up. On October 1, 2007 news agencies reported that Syria re-imposed restrictions on Iraqi refugees, as stated by a spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
. Under Syria's new rules, only Iraqi merchants, businessmen and university professors with visas acquired from Syrian embassies may enter Syria.
receives many economic migrants from nearby countries such as Armenia
, Georgia
, and Azerbaijan
, but also from Afghanistan
, Central Asia
and Pakistan. The Iraq War is thought to have increased the flow of illegal immigration into Turkey, while the global parties directly involved in the conflict have been accused of extending a less-helping hand than Turkey itself to resolve the precarious situation of immigrants stranded in passage.
economist George J. Borjas
explains that the controversy centers around the "huge redistribution [of wealth] away from [unskilled American] workers to [American employers] who use illegal immigrants." In 2007, President Bush called for Congress to endorse his guest worker proposal, stating that illegal immigrants took jobs that Americans would not take. The Pew Hispanic Center notes that while the number of legal immigrants (including LPRs, refugees, and asylum seekers) arriving has not varied substantially since the 1980s, the number of illegal immigrants has increased dramatically and, since the mid 1990s, has surpassed the number of legal immigrants
. Penalties for employers who hire illegal immigrants range from $2,000-$10,000 and up to six months' imprisonment. However, penalties for employers go largely unenforced. Political groups like Americans for Legal Immigration
have been formed to fight what they perceive as the threat of illegal immigration by demanding that the US enforce immigration laws and secure the borders. However ALIPAC has also called for "safe departure" border checkpoints free of criminal checks for illegal activities.
n immigrants living in Venezuela
. In 1995, Venezuela announced plans to conduct a census to locate and deport illegal immigrants. An estimated 200,000 Colombians have fled the Colombian Civil War and sought safety in Venezuela. Most of them lack identity documents and this hampers their access to services, as well as to the labor market. The Venezuelan government had no specific policies on refugees.
In 2010, the International Organization for Migration
International Organization for Migration
The International Organization for Migration is an intergovernmental organization. It was initially established in 1951 as the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration to help resettle people displaced by World War II....
(IOM) estimated that 25.5 to 32.1 million people (or 10%–15%) of the world's total 214 million international immigrants are illegal immigrants, though the IOM notes that it is difficult to make accurate estimates. Furthermore, most illegal immigrants arrive in a country legally, but overstay their authorized residence (i.e. overstaying a visa). The Center for Immigration Studies
Center for Immigration Studies
The Center for Immigration Studies is a non-profit research organization that advocates Immigration reduction in the United States. Founded in 1985, its executive director is Mark Krikorian. As a 501 organization, it is subject to limits or absolute prohibitions on engaging in political...
(CIS) estimates that there were 11 million illegal immigrants in the US in 2008, while other estimates for the US range from 7 to 20 million. If these estimates are correct, it could mean that approximately half of the total illegal immigrants in the world are in the US.
Other terms
- illegal alienAlien (law)In law, an alien is a person in a country who is not a citizen of that country.-Categorization:Types of "alien" persons are:*An alien who is legally permitted to remain in a country which is foreign to him or her. On specified terms, this kind of alien may be called a legal alien of that country...
- illegal immigrant
- clandestine workers
- sans papiers / "without papers"
- irregular immigrant/migrant/alien/worker/resident
- people "hiding/living/staying/working/ in the shadows"
- undocumented immigrant/migrant/alien/worker/resident
- unauthorized immigrant/migrant/alien/worker/resident
- paperless immigrant/migrant/alien/worker/resident
- immigrant "without immigration/legal status"
- out of status immigrant/migrant/alien/worker/resident
- boat peopleBoat peopleBoat people is a term that usually refers to refugees, illegal immigrants or asylum seekers who emigrate in numbers in boats that are sometimes old and crudely made...
Economics and labor markets
Illegal immigration occurs principally from countries with lower socio-economicSocioeconomics
Socioeconomics or socio-economics or social economics is an umbrella term with different usages. 'Social economics' may refer broadly to the "use of economics in the study of society." More narrowly, contemporary practice considers behavioral interactions of individuals and groups through social...
circumstances to countries with higher socio-economic circumstances, where potential immigrants perceive greater economic opportunities and quality of life. This has typically been viewed as driving people from developing countries to developed countries but as economic conditions improve in a number of developing countries, illegal immigration to these more successful developing countries has also increased significantly.
When potential illegal immigrants believe the probability and benefits of successfully migrating to the destination country are greater than the costs then illegal immigration will be an attractive option. The benefits taken into account not only include expected improvements in pay and living conditions but also include expectations in relation to potential future immigration amnesty, where illegal immigration is given a path to naturalization or citizenship and also the rights to citizenship of future children are a consideration. The costs may include restrictions on living as an illegal immigrant in the destination country, leaving family and ways of life behind, and the probability of being detained and resulting sanctions. Proposed economic models of illegal immigration include varying considerations and degrees of complexity.
Neoclassical model
The neoclassical economic model looks only at the probability of success in immigrating and finding employment, and the increase in real income an illegal immigrant can expect. This explanation would account for the economies of the two states, including how much of a "pull" the destination country has in terms of better-paying jobs and improvements in quality of life. It also describes a "push" that comes from negative conditions in the home country like lack of employment or economic mobility.Neoclassical theory posits that factors such as geographic proximity, border enforcement, probability and consequences of arrest, ease of illegal employment, and chances of future legalization govern the likelihood of "successful" illegal immigration. This model also assumes that illegal workers tend to add to, and compete with, the receiving nation's pool of unskilled laborers. Illegal workers in this model find employment by accepting lower wages than native-born workers, sometimes below the minimum wage
Minimum wage
A minimum wage is the lowest hourly, daily or monthly remuneration that employers may legally pay to workers. Equivalently, it is the lowest wage at which workers may sell their labour. Although minimum wage laws are in effect in a great many jurisdictions, there are differences of opinion about...
and "off-the-books". Economist George Borjas supports aspects of this model, calculating that real wages of US workers without a high school degree declined by 9% from 1980-2000 due to competition from illegal immigrant workers.
Large scale economic evidence supports neoclassical theory, as may be seen in the long-term correlation of relative wages/unemployment and illegal immigration from Mexico to the US. However, immigration scholars such as Gordon Hanson and Douglas Massey
Douglas Massey
Douglas S. Massey is an American sociologist. Massey is currently a professor of Sociology at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and is an adjunct professor of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania...
have criticized the model for being oversimplified and not accounting for contradictory evidence, such as low net illegal immigration from Mexico to the US before the 1980s despite significant economic disparity. Numerous refinements have been suggested to account for other factors, as seen below.
Trade liberalization
In recent years, developing states are pursuing the benefits of globalizationGlobalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
by joining decline to liberalize trade. But rapid opening of domestic markets may lead to displacement of large numbers of agricultural or unskilled workers, who are more likely to seek employment and a higher quality of life by illegal emigration. This is a frequently cited argument to explain how the North American Free Trade Association may have impoverished Mexican farmers who were unable to compete with the higher productivity of US subsidized agriculture, especially for corn. NAFTA may have also unexpectedly raised educational requirements for industrial jobs in Mexico, since the new maquiladora
Maquiladora
A maquiladora or maquila is a concept often referred to as an operation that involves manufacturing in a country that is not the client's and as such has an interesting duty or tariff treatment...
s produced export products requiring skills and education that many unskilled workers did not have.
Structural demand in developed states
Douglas Massey argues that a bifurcating labor market in developed nations creates a structural demand for unskilled immigrant labor to fill undesirable jobs that native-born citizens do not seek, regardless of wages. He postulates that postindustrial economies have a widening gap between well-paying, white-collar jobs that require ever higher levels of education ("human capital"), for which native-born citizens and legal immigrants can qualify, and bottom-tier jobs that are stigmaSocial stigma
Social stigma is the severe disapproval of or discontent with a person on the grounds of characteristics that distinguish them from other members of a society.Almost all stigma is based on a person differing from social or cultural norms...
tized and require no education. These "underclass" jobs include harvesting crops, unskilled labor in landscaping and construction, house-cleaning, and maid and busboy work in hotels and restaurants, all of which have a disproportionate number of illegal workers.
Since the decline of middle-class blue-collar jobs in manufacturing and industry, younger native-born generations have acquired higher education. The majority of new blue-collar jobs qualify as Massey's "underclass" work, and suffer from unreliability, subservient roles, and, critically, a lack of potential for advancement. Entry-level white-collar and service jobs offer advancement opportunities for native-born and legal immigrant workers.
In a developed country like the US, only 12% of the labor force has less than a high school education. Illegal immigrants have much lower levels of education (about 70% of illegal workers in the US from Mexico lack a high school degree). Even "underclass" jobs have much higher relative wages than those in home countries. Since illegal immigrants often anticipate working only temporarily in the destination country, the lack of opportunity for advancement is less of a problem. Evidence for this can be seen in one Pew Hispanic Center poll of over 3,000 illegal immigrants from Mexico in the US, which found that 79% would voluntarily join a temporary worker program that allowed them to work legally for several years but then required them to leave.
The structural demand theory posits that willingness to work undesirable jobs is what gives illegal immigrants their employment.
Structural demand theory argues that cases like this show that there is no direct competition between unskilled illegal immigrants and native-born workers. This is the concept that illegal immigrants "take jobs that no one else wants". Massey argues that this has certain implications for policy, as it may refute claims that illegal immigrants are "lowering wages" or stealing jobs from native-born workers.
Poverty
While economic models do look at relative wealth and income between home and destination countries, they do not necessarily imply that illegal migrants are always impoverished by standards of the home country. The poorest classes in a developing country may lack the resources needed to mount an attempt to cross illegally, or the connections to friends or family already in the destination country. Studies from the Pew Hispanic Center have shown that the education and wage levels of illegal Mexican immigrants in the US are around the median for Mexico, and that having family who have emigrated or being from a community with many emigrants is a much better predictor of one's choice to emigrate.Other examples do show that increases in poverty, especially when associated with immediate crises, can increase the likelihood of illegal migration. The 1994 economic crisis in Mexico
1994 economic crisis in Mexico
The 1994 Economic Crisis in Mexico, widely known as the Mexican peso crisis, was caused by the sudden devaluation of the Mexican peso in December 1994....
, subsequent to the start of the North American Free Trade Agreement
North American Free Trade Agreement
The North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA is an agreement signed by the governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1994. It superseded the Canada – United States Free Trade Agreement...
(NAFTA) was associated with widespread poverty and a lower valuation for the peso relative to the dollar. It also marked the start of a massive swell in Mexican emigration, in which net illegal migration to the US increased every year from the mid-1990s until the mid 2000s.
There are also examples where natural disasters and overpopulation
Overpopulation
Overpopulation is a condition where an organism's numbers exceed the carrying capacity of its habitat. The term often refers to the relationship between the human population and its environment, the Earth...
can amplify poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
-driven migration flows.
Overpopulation
Population growthPopulation growth
Population growth is the change in a population over time, and can be quantified as the change in the number of individuals of any species in a population using "per unit time" for measurement....
that exceeds the carrying capacity
Carrying capacity
The carrying capacity of a biological species in an environment is the maximum population size of the species that the environment can sustain indefinitely, given the food, habitat, water and other necessities available in the environment...
of an area or environment results in overpopulation
Overpopulation
Overpopulation is a condition where an organism's numbers exceed the carrying capacity of its habitat. The term often refers to the relationship between the human population and its environment, the Earth...
. Spikes in human population can cause problems such as pollution
Pollution
Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into a natural environment that causes instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or living organisms. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light...
, water crisis
Water crisis
Water crisis is a general term used to describe a situation where the available water within a region is less than the region's demand. The term has been used to describe the availability of potable water in a variety of regions by the United Nations and other world organizations...
, and poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
. World population
World population
The world population is the total number of living humans on the planet Earth. As of today, it is estimated to be billion by the United States Census Bureau...
has grown from 1.6 billion in 1900 to an estimated 6.7 billion today. In Mexico alone, population has grown from 13.6 million in 1900 to 107 million in 2007.
In 2000, the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
estimated that the world's population was growing at the rate of 1.14% (or about 75 million people) per year. According to data from the CIA's 2005–2006 World Factbook
The World Factbook
The World Factbook is a reference resource produced by the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States with almanac-style information about the countries of the world. The official paper copy version is available from the National Technical Information Service and the Government Printing Office...
s, the world human population currently increases by 203,800 every day. The United States Census Bureau issued a revised forecast for world population that increased its projection for the year 2050 to above 9.4 billion people, up from 9.1 billion people. We are adding a billion more every 12 years. Almost all growth will take place in the less developed regions.
Family reunification
Some illegal immigrants seek to live with loved ones, such as a spouse or other family members. Family reunification visas may be applied for by legal residents or naturalized citizens to bring their family members into a destination state legally, but these visas may be limited in number and subject to yearly quotas. This may force their family members to enter illegally to reunify. From studying Mexican migration patterns, Douglas Massey 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.Due to inability to marry, same-sex couples in which one member has an expiring visa may face an "unpalatable choice between leaving and living with the person they love in violation of U.S. immigration laws".
Wars and asylum
Unauthorized immigration may be prompted by the desire to escape civil war or repressionPolitical repression
Political repression is the persecution of an individual or group for political reasons, particularly for the purpose of restricting or preventing their ability to take political life of society....
in the country of origin. Non-economic push factors include persecution
Persecution
Persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another group. The most common forms are religious persecution, ethnic persecution, and political persecution, though there is naturally some overlap between these terms. The inflicting of suffering, harassment, isolation,...
(religious and otherwise), frequent abuse
Physical abuse
Physical abuse is abuse involving contact intended to cause feelings of intimidation, injury, or other physical suffering or bodily harm.-Forms of physical abuse:*Striking*Punching*Belting*Pushing, pulling*Slapping*Whipping*Striking with an object...
, bullying, oppression
Oppression
Oppression is the exercise of authority or power in a burdensome, cruel, or unjust manner. It can also be defined as an act or instance of oppressing, the state of being oppressed, and the feeling of being heavily burdened, mentally or physically, by troubles, adverse conditions, and...
, and genocide
Genocide
Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
, and risks to civilians during war. Political motives traditionally motivate refugee
Refugee
A refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...
flows - to escape dictatorship
Dictatorship
A dictatorship is defined as an autocratic form of government in which the government is ruled by an individual, the dictator. It has three possible meanings:...
for instance.
The status of "unauthorized immigrant" may coincide with or be replaced by the status of "asylum seeker" for emigrants who have escaped a war or repression and have unlawfully crossed into another state. If they are recognized as "legitimate" asylees by the destination state, they will then gain status. However, there may be numerous potential asylees in a destination state who are unwilling to apply or have been denied asylum status, and hence are categorized as "unathorized immigrants" and may be subject to punishment or deportation. However, Article 31 of the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees
The United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees is an international convention that defines who is a refugee, and sets out the rights of individuals who are granted asylum and the responsibilities of nations that grant asylum. The Convention also sets out which people do not...
prohibits the Contracting States from imposing penalties on refugees for their illegal enter or presence, who come directly from a territory where their life or freedom are threatened.
There are numerous cases of mass emigration from poor or war-stricken states. These include examples from Africa, Colombia, and El Salvador.
After decades of armed conflict, roughly one of every 10 Colombians now lives abroad.
For example, Colombians emigrating to Spain have "grown exponentially, from a little over 7,000 in 1993 to more than 80,000 in 2002 and 244,000 in 2003."
Also, figures from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security indicate that Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
is the fourth-leading source country of unauthorized immigration to the United States
Immigration to the United States
Immigration to the United States has been a major source of population growth and cultural change throughout much of the history of the United States. The economic, social, and political aspects of immigration have caused controversy regarding ethnicity, economic benefits, jobs for non-immigrants,...
. According to its estimates
Estimates
In countries using the Westminster system the Estimates are a series of legislative proposals to parliament outlining how the government will spend its money....
, the number of unauthorized Colombian residents in the United States almost tripled from 51,000 in 1990 to 141,000 in 2000. According to the US Census Bureau, the number of authorized Colombian immigrants in the United States in 2000 was 801,363. Census data are important because, as the Department of Homeland Security states, [U.S.] "census data are more complete and reliable [than INS's data] because of the national scope of the data collection, the vastly larger data sample, and the extensive preparation and follow-up activities involved in conducting the decennial census."
El Salvador
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
is another country which experienced substantial emigration as a result of civil war and repression. The largest per-capita source of immigrants to the United States comes from El Salvador. Up to a third of the world's Salvadoran-born population lives outside the country, mostly in the United States.
Dangers
Unauthorized immigrants may expose themselves to dangers while engaged in illegal entryIllegal entry
Illegal entry is the act of foreign nationals arriving in or crossing the borders into a country in violation of its immigration law.Migrants from nations that do not have automatic visa agreements, or who would not otherwise qualify for a visa, often cross the borders illegally in some areas like...
into another country. Aside from the possibility that they may be intercepted and deported, some considerably more dangerous outcomes have been known to result from their activity. As an example, unauthorized immigrants may be trafficked for exploitation including sexual exploitation
Sexual exploitation
Sexual exploitation may refer to:*Sexual slavery*Sexual exploitation and abuse in humanitarian response...
.
Slavery
After the end of the legal international slave trade by the European nations and the United States in the early 19th century, the illegal importation of slaves has continued, albeit at much reduced levels. Although not as common as in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America, some women are undoubtedly smuggled into the United States and Canada.People have been kidnapped or tricked into slavery to work as laborers, for example in factories. Those trafficked in this manner often face additional barriers to escaping slavery, since their status as illegal immigrants makes it difficult for them to gain access to help or services. For example Burmese women trafficked into Thailand and forced to work in factories or as prostitutes may not speak the language and may be vulnerable to abuse by police due to their illegal immigrant status.
Prostitution
Some people forced into sexual slaverySexual slavery
Sexual slavery is when unwilling people are coerced into slavery for sexual exploitation. The incidence of sexual slavery by country has been studied and tabulated by UNESCO, with the cooperation of various international agencies...
face challenges of charges of illegal immigration.
Since the fall of the Iron Curtain
Iron Curtain
The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989...
, Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
is being confronted with a serious problem related to the sexual exploitation of illegal immigrants (especially from Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
), for the purpose of prostitution.
Death
Each year there are several hundred illegal Immigrant deaths along the U.S.-Mexico borderImmigrant deaths along the U.S.-Mexico border
Each year there are several hundred migrant deaths along the Mexico–U.S. border of those attempting to cross into the United States from Mexico illegally...
. Death by exposure occurs in the deserts of Southwestern United States during the hot summer season.
Border crossing
United States–Mexico border
The United States–Mexico border is the international border between the United States and Mexico. It runs from Imperial Beach, California, and Tijuana, Baja California, in the west to Matamoros, Tamaulipas, and Brownsville, Texas, in the east, and traverses a variety of terrains, ranging from major...
, the Mona Channel between the Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
and Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
, the Strait of Gibraltar
Strait of Gibraltar
The Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Spain in Europe from Morocco in Africa. The name comes from Gibraltar, which in turn originates from the Arabic Jebel Tariq , albeit the Arab name for the Strait is Bab el-Zakat or...
, Fuerteventura
Fuerteventura
Fuerteventura , a Spanish island, is one of the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa. It is situated at 28°20' north, 14°00' west. At 1,660 km² it is the second largest of the Canary Islands, after Tenerife...
, and the Strait of Otranto
Strait of Otranto
The Strait of Otranto connects the Adriatic Sea with the Ionian Sea and separates Italy from Albania. Its width at Punta Palascìa, east of Salento is less than . The strait is named after the Italian city of Otranto.- History :...
. Because these methods are illegal, they are often dangerous. Would-be immigrants have been known to suffocate in shipping container
Shipping container
A shipping container is a container with strength suitable to withstand shipment, storage, and handling. Shipping containers range from large reusable steel boxes used for intermodal shipments to the ubiquitous corrugated boxes...
s, boxcar
Boxcar
A boxcar is a railroad car that is enclosed and generally used to carry general freight. The boxcar, while not the simplest freight car design, is probably the most versatile, since it can carry most loads...
s, and trucks http://english.people.com.cn/english/200103/06/eng20010306_64193.html, sink in shipwreck
Shipwreck
A shipwreck is what remains of a ship that has wrecked, either sunk or beached. Whatever the cause, a sunken ship or a wrecked ship is a physical example of the event: this explains why the two concepts are often overlapping in English....
s caused by unseaworthy vessels http://pakistantimes.net/2004/10/05/top5.htm, die of dehydration
Dehydration
In physiology and medicine, dehydration is defined as the excessive loss of body fluid. It is literally the removal of water from an object; however, in physiological terms, it entails a deficiency of fluid within an organism...
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=21975 or exposure
Hypothermia
Hypothermia is a condition in which core temperature drops below the required temperature for normal metabolism and body functions which is defined as . Body temperature is usually maintained near a constant level of through biologic homeostasis or thermoregulation...
during long walks without water. An official estimate puts the number of people who died in illegal crossings across the U.S.-Mexican border between 1998 and 2004 at 1,954 (see immigrant deaths along the U.S.-Mexico border
Immigrant deaths along the U.S.-Mexico border
Each year there are several hundred migrant deaths along the Mexico–U.S. border of those attempting to cross into the United States from Mexico illegally...
).
Human smuggling is the practice of intermediaries aiding illegal immigrants in crossing over international borders in financial gain, often in large groups. Human smuggling differs from, but is sometimes associated with, human trafficking
Human trafficking
Human trafficking is the illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of reproductive slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, forced labor, or a modern-day form of slavery...
. A human smuggler will facilitate illegal entry
Illegal entry
Illegal entry is the act of foreign nationals arriving in or crossing the borders into a country in violation of its immigration law.Migrants from nations that do not have automatic visa agreements, or who would not otherwise qualify for a visa, often cross the borders illegally in some areas like...
into a country for a fee, but on arrival at their destination, the smuggled person is usually free. Trafficking involves a process of using physical force, fraud
Fraud
In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
, or deception
Deception
Deception, beguilement, deceit, bluff, mystification, bad faith, and subterfuge are acts to propagate beliefs that are not true, or not the whole truth . Deception can involve dissimulation, propaganda, and sleight of hand. It can employ distraction, camouflage or concealment...
to obtain and transport people.
Types of notorious human smugglers include Snakehead
Snakehead (gang)
Snakeheads are Chinese gangs that smuggle people to other countries. They are found in the Fujian region of China and smuggle their customers into wealthier Western countries such as those in Western Europe, North America, Australia, and some nearby wealthier countries such as Taiwan and...
gang
Gang
A gang is a group of people who, through the organization, formation, and establishment of an assemblage, share a common identity. In current usage it typically denotes a criminal organization or else a criminal affiliation. In early usage, the word gang referred to a group of workmen...
s present in mainland China
Mainland China
Mainland China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China . According to the Taipei-based Mainland Affairs Council, the term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and...
(especially in Fujian
Fujian
' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...
) that smuggle laborers into Pacific Rim
Pacific Rim
The Pacific Rim refers to places around the edge of the Pacific Ocean. The term "Pacific Basin" includes the Pacific Rim and islands in the Pacific Ocean...
nations (making Chinatown
Chinatown
A Chinatown is an ethnic enclave of overseas Chinese people, although it is often generalized to include various Southeast Asian people. Chinatowns exist throughout the world, including East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Americas, Australasia, and Europe. Binondo's Chinatown located in Manila,...
s frequent centers of illegal immigration) http://web.archive.org/web/20091027131915/http://www.geocities.com/humanperil/FUZHOU.html and "coyotes", who smuggle illegal immigrants to the Southwestern United States
Southwestern United States
The Southwestern United States is a region defined in different ways by different sources. Broad definitions include nearly a quarter of the United States, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah...
and have been known to abuse or even kill their passengers. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20060723-9999-1m23killed.html Sometimes immigrants are abandoned by their human traffickers if there are difficulties, often dying in the process. Others may be victims of intentional killing.
Overstaying a visa
Most illegal immigrants are migrants who originally arrive in a country lawfully, but overstay their authorized residence (i.e. overstaying a visaVisa (document)
A visa is a document showing that a person is authorized to enter the territory for which it was issued, subject to permission of an immigration official at the time of actual entry. The authorization may be a document, but more commonly it is a stamp endorsed in the applicant's passport...
). For example, most of the estimated 200,000 illegal immigrants in Canada (perhaps as high as 500,000), are refugee claimants whose refugee applications were rejected but who have not yet been expelled from the country.
A related way of becoming an unathorized immigrant is through bureaucratic means. For example, a person can be allowed to remain in a country - or be protected from expulsion - because he/she needs special pension for a medical condition, deep love for a native, or even to avoid being tried for a crime in his/her native country, without being able to regularize his/her situation and obtain a work and/or residency permit, let alone naturalization
Naturalization
Naturalization is the acquisition of citizenship and nationality by somebody who was not a citizen of that country at the time of birth....
. Hence, categories of people being neither "unauthorized" immigrants nor local 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
Jus soli
Jus soli , also known as birthright citizenship, is a right by which nationality or citizenship can be recognized to any individual born in the territory of the related state...
("right of territory"), such as was the case in France until 1994 and in Ireland until 2005. In these countries, it was possible to obtain French or Irish nationality (respectively) solely by being born in France before 1994 or in Ireland before 2005 (respectively). At present, a French born child of foreign parents does not automatically obtain French nationality until residency duration conditions are met. Since 1 January 2005, a child born in Ireland does not automatically acquire Irish nationality unless certain conditions are met.
Legal and political status
- See also: Illegal immigration to the United StatesIllegal immigration to the United StatesAn illegal immigrant in the United States is an alien who has entered the United States without government permission or stayed beyond the termination date of a visa....
, Immigration to the United StatesImmigration to the United StatesImmigration to the United States has been a major source of population growth and cultural change throughout much of the history of the United States. The economic, social, and political aspects of immigration have caused controversy regarding ethnicity, economic benefits, jobs for non-immigrants,...
, Australian immigration, Immigration to the United KingdomImmigration to the United KingdomImmigration to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland since 1922 has been substantial, in particular from Ireland and the former colonies and other territories of the British Empire - such as India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, the Caribbean, South Africa, Kenya and Hong Kong - under...
, Immigration to CanadaImmigration to CanadaImmigration to Canada is the process by which people migrate to Canada to reside permanently in the country. The majority of these individuals become Canadian citizens. After 1947, domestic immigration law and policy went through major changes, most notably with the Immigration Act, 1976, and the...
, Illegal immigration to Pakistan, Illegal immigrants in MalaysiaIllegal immigrants in MalaysiaIllegal immigrants in Malaysia comprise a substantial portion of the Malaysian population, numbering as many as two million by some estimates. Most of them are from nearby Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines. Illegal migrants tend to take odd jobs unpalatable to the...
, Immigration to ChileImmigration to ChileOver the centuries, Chile has received a number of immigrants mainly from Europe followed by the Americas and Asia. Today, millions of their descendants still live in the country and are found in all areas of the community....
, Hazleton, Pennsylvania.
Many countries have had or currently have laws restricting immigration for economic or nationalistic
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
political reasons. United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373, adopted unanimously on September 28, 2001, is a counter-terrorism measure passed following the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States...
concerning counter-terrorism
Counter-terrorism
Counter-terrorism is the practices, tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, militaries, police departments and corporations adopt to prevent or in response to terrorist threats and/or acts, both real and imputed.The tactic of terrorism is available to insurgents and governments...
, enacted in October 2001, requested of UN member states to restrict immigration laws. Whether a person is permitted to stay in a country legally may be decided by quota
Emergency Quota Act
The Emergency Quota Act, also known as the Emergency Immigration Act of 1921, the Immigration Restriction Act of 1921, the Per Centum Law, and the Johnson Quota Act restricted immigration into the United States...
s 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 illegal immigrants, as well as people born on national territory (henceforth not "immigrants") but who have not obtained nationality of their birthplace and have no legal title of residency.
Most countries have laws requiring workers to have proper documentation, often intended to prevent or minimize the employment of unauthorized immigrants. However the penalties against employers are often small and the acceptable identification requirements vague and ill-defined as well as being seldom checked or enforced, making it easy for employers to hire unauthorized labor. Unauthorized immigrants are especially popular with many employers because they can pay less than the legal minimum wage
Minimum wage
A minimum wage is the lowest hourly, daily or monthly remuneration that employers may legally pay to workers. Equivalently, it is the lowest wage at which workers may sell their labour. Although minimum wage laws are in effect in a great many jurisdictions, there are differences of opinion about...
or have unsafe working conditions, secure in the knowledge that few unauthorized workers will report the abuse to the authorities. Often the minimum wages in one country can be several times the prevailing wage in the unauthorized immigrant's country, making even these jobs attractive to the unauthorized worker.
In response to the outcry following popular knowledge of the Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
, the newly-established United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
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. It is, however, 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.
The right to freedom of movement
Freedom of movement
Freedom of movement, mobility rights or the right to travel is a human right concept that the constitutions of numerous states respect...
of an individual within national borders is often contained within the constitution
Constitution
A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...
or in a country's human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
legislation but these rights are restricted to citizens and exclude all others. Some argue that the freedom of movement both within and between countries is a basic human right and that nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
and immigration policies of state governments violate this human right that those same governments recognize within their own borders. According to the article 13 on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly . The Declaration arose directly from the experience of the Second World War and represents the first global expression of rights to which all human beings are inherently entitled...
, fundamental human rights are violated when citizens are forbidden to leave their country. However, immigrants are not assured the right to enter a country, that right is given at the host country's discretion.[citation]
Since illegal immigrants without proper legal status have no valid identification documents such as identity cards, they may have reduced or no access to public health
Public health
Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals" . It is concerned with threats to health based on population health...
systems, proper housing, education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
and bank
Bank
A bank is a financial institution that serves as a financial intermediary. The term "bank" may refer to one of several related types of entities:...
s. This lack of access may result in the creation or expansion of illegal underground forgery to provide this documentation.
When the authorities are overwhelmed in their efforts to stop "illegal" immigration, they have historically provided amnesty
Amnesty
Amnesty is a legislative or executive act by which a state restores those who may have been guilty of an offense against it to the positions of innocent people, without changing the laws defining the offense. It includes more than pardon, in as much as it obliterates all legal remembrance of the...
. Amnesties waive the "subject to deportation" clause associated with illegal aliens.
Angola
In 2007 around 44,000 Congolese were forced to leave AngolaAngola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
. Since 2004, more than 400,000 illegal immigrants, almost all from the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...
, have been expelled from Angola.
Argentina
The preamble of the Constitution of Argentina states as its purpose to secure the blessings of liberty to all men of the world who wish to dwell on Argentine soil. Furthermore, the section 25 of its Constitution states that the Federal Government shall foster European immigration, and may not restrict, limit or burden with any tax whatsoever, the entry into the Argentine territory of foreigners who arrive for the purpose of tilling the soil, improving industries, and introducing and teaching arts and sciences. Although the Constitution of Argentina makes impossible the existence of such a thing as "illegal immigration", there are in the country, however, undocumented immigrants. Undocumented immigrants were estimated at 50,000 to 2,500,000 in the year 2001.Australia
Official government sources put the number of visa over stayers in Australia at approximately 50,000. This has been the official number of illegal immigrants for about 25 years and is considered to be on the low side. Other sources have placed it at up to 100,000 but no detailed study has been completed to quantify this number and it is possible it could be significantly higher.Bhutan
Immigration in BhutanImmigration in Bhutan
Immigration in Bhutan has an extensive history and has become one of the country's most contentious social, political, and legal issues. Since the twentieth century, Bhutanese immigration and citizenship laws have been promulgated as acts of the royal government, often by decree of the Druk Gyalpo...
by Nepalese settlers (Lhotshampa
Lhotshampa
Lhotshampa, or Lhotsampa, means "southerners" in Dzongkha, the national language of Bhutan. The term refers to the heterogeneous ethnic Nepalese population of Bhutan.-History:...
) began slowly towards the end of the 19th century.
In 1985, the government passed a new Citizenship Act which clarified and attempted to enforce the 1958 Citizenship Act
Bhutanese Citizenship Act 1958
The Bhutanese Citizenship Act of 1958, officially the Nationality Law of Bhutan, 1958, is a decree by the Druk Gyalpo King Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, recognizing the definition of a Bhutanese citizen...
to control the flood of illegal immigration. Those individuals who could not provide proof of residency prior to 1958 were adjudged to be illegal immigrants. In 1991-92, Bhutan
Bhutan
Bhutan , officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China...
expelled roughly 139,110 ethnic Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
is, most of whom have been living in seven refugee camps in eastern Nepal ever since. The United States has offered to resettle 60,000 of the 107,000 Bhutanese refugees of Nepalese origin now living in U.N. refugee camps in Nepal. The Bhutanese government, even today has not been able to sort the problem of giving citizenship to those people who are married to Bhutanese, even though they have been in the country for 40 years.
Brazil
Brazil has long been part of international migration routes. In 2009, the government estimated the number of undocumented immigrants at about 200,000 people; a Catholic charity working with immigrants said there were 600,000 unauthorized immigrants (75,000 of which from BoliviaBolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
). That same year, the Brazilian Parliament approved an amnesty, opening a six-month window for all foreigners to seek legalization irrespective of their previous standing before the law. Brazil had last legalized all immigrants in 1998; bilateral deals, one of which promoted the legalization of all reciprocal immigrants with Bolivia to date, signed in 2005, are also common.
Clandestine immigrants in Brazil enjoy the same legal privileges as native Brazilians regarding access to social services such as public education
Public education
State schools, also known in the United States and Canada as public schools,In much of the Commonwealth, including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, the terms 'public education', 'public school' and 'independent school' are used for private schools, that is, schools...
and the Brazilian public healthcare system
Sistema Único de Saúde
The Sistema Único de Saúde is Brazil's publicly-funded health care system. SUS was created after the Brazilian Constitution of 1988, which assured that health care is a "right of all and an obligation of the State" . Prior to that, only people who contributed with the social security were able to...
. Most unauthorized immigrants in Brazil come from Bolivia, Paraguay
Paraguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
, Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, China (mainly from Fujian
Fujian
' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...
), North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
and sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa as a geographical term refers to the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara. A political definition of Sub-Saharan Africa, instead, covers all African countries which are fully or partially located south of the Sahara...
. A Federal Police
Policia Federal
Policia Federal may refer to:Argentina:* Argentine Federal PoliceBrazil:* Federal Police Mexico:* Federal Police * Federal Judicial Police, until 2002...
operation investigated Chinese immigrants who traveled through six countries before arriving in São Paulo
São Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
to work under substandard conditions in the textile industry
Textile industry
The textile industry is primarily concerned with the production of yarn, and cloth and the subsequent design or manufacture of clothing and their distribution. The raw material may be natural, or synthetic using products of the chemical industry....
.
After signing the 2009 amnesty bill into law, President Lula said, in a speech, that "repression and intolerance against immigrants will not solve the problems caused by the economic crisis", thereby also harshly criticizing the "policy of discrimination and prejudice" against immigrants in developed nations.
An October 2009 piece from O Globo
O Globo
O Globo is a Brazilian newspaper based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. O Globo is the most prominent print publication in the Marinho family's Brazilian media conglomerate....
, quoting a UNDP study, estimates the number of unauthorized immigrants at 0.7 million, and points out to a recent wave of xenophobia among the general populace.
Canada
There is no credible information available on unathorized immigration in Canada. Estimates range between 35,000 and 120,000 unauthorized immigrants in Canada. James BissettJames Byron Bissett
James Byron Bissett is a former Canadian diplomat. He was High Commissioner to Trinidad and Tobago and later Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Yugoslavia, Albania, and Bulgaria.- Career :...
, a former head of the Canadian Immigration Service, has suggested that the lack of any credible refugee screening process, combined with a high likelihood of ignoring any deportation orders, has resulted in tens of thousands of outstanding warrants for the arrest of rejected refugee claimants, with little attempt at enforcement. Refugee claimants in Canada do not have to attempt re-entry to learn the status of their claim. A 2008 report by the Auditor General
Auditor General of Canada
The role of the Auditor General of Canada is to aid accountability by conducting independent audits of federal government operations. The Auditor General reports to the House of Commons, not to the government...
Sheila Fraser
Sheila Fraser
Sheila Fraser served as Auditor General of Canada from 2001 to 2011.Ms. Fraser was born in Dundee, Quebec, Canada. She earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McGill University in 1972. She then became a chartered accountant in 1974 and FCA in 1994...
stated that Canada has lost track of as many as 41,000 illegal immigrants. This number is predicted to increase drastically with the expiration of temporary employer work permits issued in 2007 and 2008, which were not renewed in many cases because of the shortage of work due to the recession.
Chile
ChileChile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
has recently become a new pole of attraction for unathorized immigrants, mostly from neighboring Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
and Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
, Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
, Paraguay
Paraguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
, Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
and Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
. According to the 2002 national census, Chile's foreign-born foreign population has increased by 75% since 1992.
People's Republic of China
People's Republic of ChinaPeople's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
is building a security barrier along its border with North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
to prevent the defectors or refugees from North Korea. Also, many immigrants from Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
have tried to make it to China. There might be as many as 100,000 Africans in Guangzhou
Guangzhou
Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
, mostly illegal overstayers.
To encourage people to report foreigners living illegally in China, the police is giving a 100 RMB reward to whistleblowers whose information successfully leads to an expulsion.
Dominican Republic
Dominican RepublicDominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
, an island-nation shared with Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
, has many illegal immigrants coming from Haiti. Since the country's landmass of 48,000 Km and its native population barely exceeds 10 million, and authorities give a figure of over a million illegal Haitian immigrants on Dominican soil (over 10% of the total population).
European Union
The European UnionEuropean Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
is developing a common system for immigration and asylum and a single external border control strategy.
Many reports from local Greek islands near the Turkish coast indicate that Turks equip migrants with boats and knives and tell them to cut the boat when they reach Greek waters. Greek authorities are then forced to deal with the influx of thousands of illegal immigrants under EU rules. Greek police are unable to work with their counterparts in Turkey because the Turkish army is responsible for their border. Recently 14 illegal migrants drowned because of Turkish traffickers who sent them into the sea telling them to slice the dinghies once they reach Greek waters. The Turkish newspaper Hürriyet published stories once in July 2004 and a second time in May 2006 that Hellenic Coast Guard
Hellenic Coast Guard
The Hellenic Coast Guard is the national coast guard of Greece. Like most other coast guards, it is a paramilitary organization that can support the Hellenic Navy in wartime, but resides under separate civilian control in times of peace...
ships were caught on film cruising as near as a few hundred meters off the Turkish coast and abandoning clandestine immigrants to the sea. This practice allegedly resulted in the drowning of six people between Chios
Chios
Chios is the fifth largest of the Greek islands, situated in the Aegean Sea, seven kilometres off the Asia Minor coast. The island is separated from Turkey by the Chios Strait. The island is noted for its strong merchant shipping community, its unique mastic gum and its medieval villages...
and Karaburun Peninsula
Karaburun Peninsula, Izmir
Karaburun Peninsula is a peninsula in the extreme western end of Turkey, one of the largest in the country. The peninsula carries the same name as the town and administrative center, Karaburun, located at a pivotal point in its extremity. It is located west of the city of İzmir, comprised wholly...
on 26 September 2006 while three others disappeared and 31 were saved by Turkish gendarmes and fishermen. However, there are numerous non-Turkish claims and testimonies that Turkish authorities and/or citizens lead immigrants through the sea, often resulting to the abandonment and sometimes drowning of said immigrants.
A tough new EU immigration law detaining illegal immigrants for up to 18 months before deportation has triggered outrage across Latin America, with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez
Hugo Chávez
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías is the 56th and current President of Venezuela, having held that position since 1999. He was formerly the leader of the Fifth Republic Movement political party from its foundation in 1997 until 2007, when he became the leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela...
threatening to cut off oil exports to Europe.
Greece
After the opening of the AlbaniaAlbania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
n borders in 1991, a huge influx of Albanian
Albanians
Albanians are a nation and ethnic group native to Albania and neighbouring countries. They speak the Albanian language. More than half of all Albanians live in Albania and Kosovo...
economic migrants crossed illegally into Greece in order to find work. They are currently estimated at about 600,000-800,000, but an accurate calculation is very difficult because of the large percentage of illegal immigrants.
United Kingdom
There are between 550,000 and 950,000 illegal immigrants in the United Kingdom, with a figure of 750,000 as the most likely number. The United Kingdom is a difficult country to reach as it is mostly located on two islands, but traffickers in Calais, France have tried to smuggle illegal immigrants into the UK. Many of the illegal immigrants come from Africa and Asia. There are also many from Eastern EuropeEastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
and Latin America who are in the UK illegally, having overstayed their visas.
France
In France, helping an unathorized immigrant (providing shelter, for example) is prohibited by a law passed on December 27, 1994. The law was heavily criticized by non-governmental organizationNon-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...
s (NGOs) such as the CIMADE and the GISTI
GISTI
GISTI is a French non-profit human rights organization created in 1972 to protect the legal and political rights of foreigners and immigrants and to advocate freedom of movement across borders....
, left-wing political parties such as the Greens and the French Communist Party
French Communist Party
The French Communist Party is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism.Although its electoral support has declined in recent decades, the PCF retains a large membership, behind only that of the Union for a Popular Movement , and considerable influence in French...
, and trade-unions such as the magistrates' Syndicat de la magistrature
Syndicat de la Magistrature
The Syndicat de la Magistrature is the French second largest magistrates trade union - in terms of membership - after the more conservative Union syndicale des magistrats....
.
The linguistic differentiations between Anglophone and francophone rhetoric is important when considering the topic of French illegal immigration. In French, the term “irrégulière” is used (literally “irregular”), whereas in English, the term more often used is “illegal.” Often instead of referring to someone’s irregular immigrant status, the colloquial term used is “sans papiers” (literally “without papers”), referring to the fact that irregular immigrants to not possess papers from the French government allowing them to stay in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
It is important to distinguish illegal immigrants from other forms of immigrants and residents in France. Some immigrants to France are asylum seekers, and once granted asylum, they are no longer illegal/irregular, though they are immigrants. There are also children who are born to immigrants in France who are therefore not immigrants themselves, but are still considered foreigners by the French national government. One does not merely need to be a foreign immigrant in order to be a foreigner in France.
French citizenship is based in the idea of political unity; therefore French citizenship may be more accessible than other EU citizenships, such as German citizenship. However, there is also the strong feeling among French citizens that those non-native people who gain French citizenship should also conform to the cultural aspects of French life.
French law prohibits anyone from assisting or trying to assist “the entry, movement, or irregular stay of a foreigner in France.” If one is found guilty of these acts, they can be imprisoned for up to five years and fined €30,000. There are also quotas for the number of arrests that should be made in such cases: 5,000 arrests for 2009, and 5,500 arrests for 2011.
France has an Immigration Ministry (L’immigration, l’intégration, l’asile et le développement solidaire) which begun functioning in 2007 under President Sarkozy. The goal of these quotas and laws put forth by the government is to combat smugglers who profit financially from moving immigrants into, through, and out of France, according to the Immigration Minister, Eric Besson.
Calais, France is an important site when considering illegal immigrants in France. This is where many sans papiers move in an effort to cross the English Channel towards Great Britain. Great Britain is the goal for many clandestine aliens, as easier to gain asylum or refugee status there. In Calais, when trying to pass through customs towards Great Britain, truck drivers can be fined up to 2,500€ if illegal immigrants are found on board their truck when it is searched.
There is an area of Calais known as “the Jungle” which houses many sans papiers waiting to move to Great Britain. There was a police raid here in September 2009, seen as a political move by authorities to publicly show their efforts to control and deter illegal immigration.
Many non-governmental organizations, such as Secours Catholique and the Red Cross, are involved in the situation as well. These NGO’s provide food, showers, and shelter to sans papiers who gather waiting to cross the Channel. In 2002, then Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy closed a Red Cross shelter in the Calais suburb of Sangette that housed thousands of sans papiers in an effort to discourage them from trying to cross the border. These immigrants simply moved to other parts of the Calais region.
Philippe Lefilleul, a member of Secours Cotholique, stated that aid workers from these NGO’s do not condone the illegal immigration of people to France, but they feel that it is their “duty as fellow human beings and as Christians” to help the sans papiers who inhabit Calais and the suburbs around it.
The French film “Welcome” is a portrayal of a sans papiers young man trying to cross the English Channel from Calais and his interactions with a swim instructor in Calais. It was a controversial film when released because it moves a very sensitive political and social topic into a very important French cultural venue—film. Other French films that address the topic of French immigration, especially illegal immigration, are “The Class” and “La Haine”, which address cultural and political situations surrounding immigration in Parisian suburbs and the country at large.
India
It is estimated that several million illegal immigrants live in India. Precise figures are not available, but the numbers run from anywhere from a few hundred thousand to 20 million. Especially in Eastern India, these are mainly economic migrants from Bangladesh.India is constructing barriers on its eastern borders to combat the surge of migrants. The Indo-Bangladeshi barrier is 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles) long. Presently, India is constructing a fence along the border to restrict illegal traffic from Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
. This obstruction will virtually isolate Bangladesh from India. The barrier's plan is based on the designs of the Israeli West Bank barrier
Israeli West Bank barrier
The Israeli West Bank barrier is a separation barrier being constructed by the State of Israel along and within the West Bank. Upon completion, the barrier’s total length will be approximately...
and will be 3.6 m (11.8 ft) high. The stated aim of the fence is to stop infiltration of terrorists, prevent smuggling, and to bring a close to illegal immigration from Bangladesh.
Iran
Since late April 2007, the IranIran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
ian government has forcibly deported back to Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
mostly unregistered (and some registered) Afghans living and working in Iran
Afghans in Iran
Afghans in Iran are mostly refugees who fled Afghanistan during the 1980s Soviet war as well as diplomats, traders, businesspersons, workers, exchange students, tourists and other visitors. As of March 2009, nearly 1 million Afghan nationals were reported to be living in Iran...
at a rate between 250,000 - 300,000 per year. The forceful evictions of the refugees, who have lived in Iran and Pakistan for nearly three decades, are part of the two countries' larger plans to repatriate all Afghan refugees within a few years. Iran says it will send 1,000,000 by next March, and Pakistan announced that all 2,400,000 Afghan refugees, most living in camps, must return home by 2009. Experts say it will be 'disastrous' for Afghanistan.
Libya
LibyaLibya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
is home to a large illegal Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa as a geographical term refers to the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara. A political definition of Sub-Saharan Africa, instead, covers all African countries which are fully or partially located south of the Sahara...
n population which numbers as much as 2,000,000. The mass expulsion plan to summarily deport all undocumented foreigners was announced by Libyan leader Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi
Muammar al-Gaddafi
Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar Gaddafi or "September 1942" 20 October 2011), commonly known as Muammar Gaddafi or Colonel Gaddafi, was the official ruler of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then the "Brother Leader" of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011.He seized power in a...
in January 2008. "No resident without a legal visa will be excluded."
Malaysia
There are an estimated 800,000 illegal immigrants in Malaysia. In January 2009 Malaysia banned the hiring of foreign workers in factories, stores and restaurants to protect its citizens from mass unemployment amid the global economic crisisLate 2000s recession
The late-2000s recession, sometimes referred to as the Great Recession or Lesser Depression or Long Recession, is a severe ongoing global economic problem that began in December 2007 and took a particularly sharp downward turn in September 2008. The Great Recession has affected the entire world...
. An ethnic Indian Malaysian was recently sentenced to whipping and 10 months in prison for hiring six illegal immigrants at his restaurant. "I think that after this, Malaysian employers will be afraid to take in foreign workers (without work permits). They will think twice", said immigration department prosecutor Azlan Abdul Latiff. "This is the first case where an employer is being sentenced to caning", he told. Illegal immigrants also face caning before being deported.
Mexico
In the first six months of 2005 alone, more than 120,000 people from Central America have been deported to their countries of origin. This is a significantly higher rate than in 2002, when for the entire year, only 130,000 people were deported http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2005/08/24/018n3pol.php. Another important group of people are those of ChineseHan Chinese
Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...
origin, who pay about $5,500 to smugglers to be taken to Mexico from Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
. It is estimated that 2.4% of rejections for work permits in Mexico correspond to Chinese citizens http://www.cimacnoticias.com/noticias/01dic/01122403.html. Many women from Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
, Asia, and Central
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
and South America are also offered jobs at table dance
Table dance
Table dance, or bartop dancing, is typically an erotic dance performed at a patron's table, as opposed to on a stage. In some jurisdictions, a table dance may be an alternative to a lap dance, due to laws preventing exotic dancers from making contact with customers...
establishments in large cities throughout the country causing the National Institute of Migration
National Institute of Migration
The National Institute of Migration ) is a unit of the government of Mexico dependent on the Secretariat of the Interior that controls and supervises migration in the country.-Controversy and public demonstrations against:...
(INM) in Mexico to raid strip clubs and deport foreigners who work without the proper documentation http://www.tvazteca.com/hechos/archivos2/2004/10/102327.shtml. In 2004, the INM deported 188,000 people at a cost of US$10 million http://www.migracion.gob.mx/paginas/entrevistas/entrevista10feb2004.htm.
Illegal immigration of Cubans through Cancún
Cancún
Cancún is a city of international tourism development certified by the UNWTO . Located on the northeast coast of Quintana Roo in southern Mexico, more than 1,700 km from Mexico City, the Project began operations in 1974 as Integrally Planned Center, a pioneer of FONATUR Cancún is a city of...
tripled from 2004 to 2006.
http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/415621.html
In September 2007, Mexican President Calderón harshly criticized the United States government for the crackdown on illegal immigrants, saying it has led to the persecution of immigrant workers without visas. "I have said that Mexico does not stop at its border, that wherever there is a Mexican, there is Mexico", he said.
In October 2008, Mexico tightened its immigration rules and agreed to deport Cubans
Cubans
Cubans or Cuban people are the inhabitants or citizens of Cuba. Cuba is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds...
using the country as an entry point to the US. It also criticized U.S. policy that generally allows Cubans who reach U.S. territory to stay. Cuban Foreign Minister said the Cuban-Mexican agreement would lead to "the immense majority of Cubans being repatriated."
Nepal
In 2008, NepalNepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
's Maoist-led government has initiated a major crackdown against Tibetan exiles with the aim to deport to China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
all Tibetans living illegally in the country. Tibetans started pouring in Nepal after a failed anti-Chinese uprising in Tibet
1959 Tibetan uprising
The 1959 Tibetan uprising, or 1959 Tibetan Rebellion began on 10 March 1959, when a revolt erupted in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, which had been under the effective control of the Communist Party of China since the Seventeen Point Agreement in 1951...
in 1959.
Russia
Russia experiences a constant flow of immigration. On average, 200,000 legal immigrants enter the country every year; about half are ethnic RussiansRussians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
from other republics of the former Soviet Union. In addition, there are an estimated 10-12 million illegal immigrants in the country. There has been a significant influx of ethnic Georgians
Georgians
The Georgians are an ethnic group that have originated in Georgia, where they constitute a majority of the population. Large Georgian communities are also present throughout Russia, European Union, United States, and South America....
, Armenians
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
, Azerbaijanis, Tajiks, and Uzbeks
Uzbeks
The Uzbeks are a Turkic ethnic group in Central Asia. They comprise the majority population of Uzbekistan, and large populations can also be found in Afghanistan, Tajikstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Pakistan, Mongolia and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China...
into big Russian cities in recent years, which has been viewed very unfavorably by many citizens, and has contributed to nationalist
Russian nationalism
Russian nationalism is a term referring to a Russian form of nationalism. Russian nationalism has a long history dating from the days of Muscovy to Russian Empire, and continued in some form in the Soviet Union. It is closely related to Pan-Slavism...
sentiments. Many immigrant ethnic groups have much higher birth rates than native Russians, further shifting the balance. Some Chinese
Chinese people
The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....
flee the overpopulation and birth control regulations of their home country and settle in the Far East
Russian Far East
Russian Far East is a term that refers to the Russian part of the Far East, i.e., extreme east parts of Russia, between Lake Baikal in Eastern Siberia and the Pacific Ocean...
and in southern Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
. Russia's main Pacific port and naval base of Vladivostok
Vladivostok
The city is located in the southern extremity of Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula, which is about 30 km long and approximately 12 km wide.The highest point is Mount Kholodilnik, the height of which is 257 m...
, once closed to foreigners, today is bristling with Chinese markets, restaurants and trade houses. This has been occurring a lot since the Soviet collapse.
Illegal border crossing is considered a crime, and on occasions captured illegal border crossers are sentenced to a prison term. For example, Rossiyskaya Gazeta
Rossiyskaya Gazeta
Rossiyskaya Gazeta is a Russian government daily newspaper of record which publishes the official decrees, statements and documents of state bodies...
reported in October 2008 the case of a North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
n who was detained after illegally crossing the Amur River from China. Considered by Russian authorities an "economic migrant", he was sentenced to 6 months in prison, and was to be deported to the country of his nationality after serving his sentence, even though he may now risk an even heavier penalty there. That was just one of the 26 cases year-to-date of illegal entrants, of various nationalities, receiving criminal punishment in Amur Oblast
Amur Oblast
Amur Oblast is a federal subject of Russia , situated about east of Moscow on the banks of the Amur and Zeya Rivers. It shares its border with the Sakha Republic in the north, Khabarovsk Krai and the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in the east, People's Republic of China in the south, and Zabaykalsky...
.
Saudi Arabia
Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
has begun construction of a separation barrier
Separation barrier
A separation barrier is a wall or fence constructed to limit the movement of people across a certain line or border, or to separate two populations. These structures vary in placement with regard to international borders and topography...
between its territory and Yemen
Yemen
The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
to prevent the unauthorized movement of people and goods into and out of the kingdom. See Saudi-Yemen barrier
Saudi-Yemen barrier
The Saudi–Yemen barrier is a physical barrier constructed by Saudi Arabia along part of its border with Yemen. It consists of a network of sandbags and pipelines, three metres high, filled with concrete and fitted with electronic detection equipment.When construction of the barrier began in...
.
In 2006 Saudi Arabia proposed plans for the construction of a security fence along the entire length of its 560-mile (900 km) desert border with Iraq in a multimillion-pound project to secure the kingdom's borders in order to improve internal security, control illegal immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
and bolster its defences against external threats.
- Saudi Iraq barrierSaudi Iraq barrierIn April 2006, Saudi Arabia began to call for tenders to construct a separation barrier in the form of a fence along its border with Iraq in an attempt to prevent the violence in Iraq spilling over into Saudi Arabia....
South Africa
South Africa is home to an estimated five million illegal immigrants, including some three million ZimbabweZimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
ans. Attacks on foreign nationals increased markedly in late 2007 and it is believed that there have been at least a dozen attacks since the start of 2008. A series of anti-immigrant riots occurred in South Africa beginning on May 11, 2008. see (Zimbabwean diaspora
Zimbabwean diaspora
The Zimbabwean diaspora refers to the diaspora of immigrants from the nation of Zimbabwe. The term Rhodesian diaspora only describes a specific subset of former Rhodesian/Southern Rhodesian residents who left the country during or after the Zimbabwean War of Liberation.-History:Temporary labour...
)
Syria
Refugees from IraqRefugees of Iraq
Throughout the past 100 years, there have been a growing number of refugees fleeing Iraq and settling throughout the world, peaking recently with the latest Iraq War. Most of Iraqi Jews, some 120,000, fled the country in mass exodus of 1950-1952. Tens of thousands of Kurds turned displaced and fled...
have increased in number since the U.S.-led invasion of that country in March 2003. The United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
estimates that nearly 2,200,000 Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
is have fled the country since 2003, with nearly 100,000 fleeing to Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
and Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
each month. Most ventured to Jordan and Syria, creating demographic shifts that have worried both governments. Refugees are mired in poverty as they are generally barred from working in their host countries.
Syrian authorities worried that the new influx of refugees would limit the country's resources. Sources like oil, heat, water and electricity were said to be becoming more scarce as demand had gone up. On October 1, 2007 news agencies reported that Syria re-imposed restrictions on Iraqi refugees, as stated by a spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees , also known as The UN Refugee Agency is a United Nations agency mandated to protect and support refugees at the request of a government or the UN itself and assists in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to...
. Under Syria's new rules, only Iraqi merchants, businessmen and university professors with visas acquired from Syrian embassies may enter Syria.
Turkey
TurkeyTurkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
receives many economic migrants from nearby countries such as Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
, Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
, and Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
, but also from Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
and Pakistan. The Iraq War is thought to have increased the flow of illegal immigration into Turkey, while the global parties directly involved in the conflict have been accused of extending a less-helping hand than Turkey itself to resolve the precarious situation of immigrants stranded in passage.
United States
Between 7 and 20 million illegal immigrants are estimated to be living in the United States; due to the nature of illegal immigration, the exact number is unknown. Estimates from the Pew Hispanic Center show the number of illegal immigrants has declined to 11.1 million in March 2009 from a peak of 12 million in March 2007. The majority of the illegal immigrants are from Mexico. Illegal immigration has been a longstanding issue in the United States, creating immense controversy. Harvard UniversityHarvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
economist George J. Borjas
George J. Borjas
George Jesus Borjas is an American economist and the Robert W. Scrivner Professor of Economics and Social Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. He is most well known for his advocacy of reducing the rates of immigration to the United States.- Personal life and education :Borjas was born in Havana,...
explains that the controversy centers around the "huge redistribution [of wealth] away from [unskilled American] workers to [American employers] who use illegal immigrants." In 2007, President Bush called for Congress to endorse his guest worker proposal, stating that illegal immigrants took jobs that Americans would not take. The Pew Hispanic Center notes that while the number of legal immigrants (including LPRs, refugees, and asylum seekers) arriving has not varied substantially since the 1980s, the number of illegal immigrants has increased dramatically and, since the mid 1990s, has surpassed the number of legal immigrants
Immigration to the United States
Immigration to the United States has been a major source of population growth and cultural change throughout much of the history of the United States. The economic, social, and political aspects of immigration have caused controversy regarding ethnicity, economic benefits, jobs for non-immigrants,...
. Penalties for employers who hire illegal immigrants range from $2,000-$10,000 and up to six months' imprisonment. However, penalties for employers go largely unenforced. Political groups like Americans for Legal Immigration
Americans for Legal Immigration – ALIPAC
Americans for Legal Immigration is an immigration reduction-oriented political action committee. It maintains a website which is a compendium of articles on the subject of immigration. The site encourages people to copy and post articles but monitors to make sure that they are linked to the...
have been formed to fight what they perceive as the threat of illegal immigration by demanding that the US enforce immigration laws and secure the borders. However ALIPAC has also called for "safe departure" border checkpoints free of criminal checks for illegal activities.
Venezuela
There are hundreds of thousands, possibly even millions of ColombiaEmigration from Colombia
Emigration from Colombia is determined by economic, social, and security issues linked mainly to the Colombian armed conflict. Emigration from Colombia is one of the largest in volume in Latin America. According to the 2005 Colombian census or DANE, about 3,331,107 Colombian citizens currently...
n immigrants living in Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
. In 1995, Venezuela announced plans to conduct a census to locate and deport illegal immigrants. An estimated 200,000 Colombians have fled the Colombian Civil War and sought safety in Venezuela. Most of them lack identity documents and this hampers their access to services, as well as to the labor market. The Venezuelan government had no specific policies on refugees.
See also
- Asylum shoppingAsylum shoppingAsylum shopping is a practice by asylum seekers of applying for asylum in several states or seeking to apply in a particular state after transiting other states. The term is used mostly in the context of the European Union and the Schengen area, but has been used by the Federal Court of Canada...
- Border Patrol
- Californians for Population StabilizationCalifornians for Population StabilizationCalifornians for Population Stabilization is a non-profit California organization founded in 1986 which works to "preserve California's future through the stabilization of our state's human population." CAPS was the former branch of the Zero Population Growth organization...
- California Proposition 187
- Convention Relating to the Status of RefugeesConvention Relating to the Status of RefugeesThe United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees is an international convention that defines who is a refugee, and sets out the rights of individuals who are granted asylum and the responsibilities of nations that grant asylum. The Convention also sets out which people do not...
- Free migrationFree migrationFree migration or open immigration is the position that people should be able to migrate to whatever country they choose, free of substantial barriers...
- Immigration and Customs Enforcement
- MyTwoCensusMyTwoCensusMyTwoCensus is a non-partisan, political watchdog group for the 2010 U.S. Census, created in February 2009. It tracks topics such as the constitutionality of including illegal immigrants in the census.-History:...
- Nationality lawNationality lawNationality law is the branch of law concerned with the questions of nationality and citizenship, and how these statuses are acquired, transmitted, or lost. By custom, a state has the right to determine who its nationals and citizens are. Such determinations are usually made by custom, statutory...
- Open borderOpen borderAn open border is a border that enables free movement of people between different jurisdictions with limited or no restrictions to movement. A border may be an open border due to intentional legislation allowing free movement of people across the border or a border may be an open border due to...
- United Nations Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families
- Working under the table
Further reading
Christine Bischoff, Falk, Francesca and Sylvia Kafehsy: Images of Illegalized Immigration. Towards a Critical Iconology of Politics. Bielefeld: transcript. November 2010, ISBN 978-3-8376-1537-1- Barkan, Elliott R. "Return of the Nativists? California Public Opinion and Immigration in the 1980s and 1990s." Social Science History 2003 27(2): 229-283. in Project Muse.
- Vanessa B. Beasley, ed. Who Belongs in America?: Presidents, Rhetoric, And Immigration (2006).
- Borjas, G.J. "The economics of immigration", Journal of Economic Literature, v 32 (1994), pp. 1667–717.
- Cull, Nicholas J. and Carrasco, Davíd, ed. Alambrista and the US-Mexico Border: Film, Music, and Stories of Undocumented Immigrants U. of New Mexico Press, 2004. 225 pp.
- De La Torre, Miguel A.Miguel A. De La TorreMiguel A. De La Torre is a professor of Social Ethics and Latino/a Studies at Iliff School of Theology, a religious scholar, author, and an ordained minister.-Biography:...
, "Trails of Terror: Testimonies on the Current Immigration Debate", Orbis Books, 2009. - Thomas J. Espenshade; "Unauthorized Immigration to the United States" Annual Review of Sociology. Volume: 21. 1995. pp 195+.
- Flores, William V. "New Citizens, New Rights: Undocumented Immigrants and Latino Cultural Citizenship" Latin American Perspectives 2003 30(2): 87-100.
- Griswold, Daniel T.; "Willing Workers: Fixing the Problem of Illegal Mexican Migration to the United States", Trade Policy Analysis no. 19, October 15, 2002.
- Kennedy, Marie and Chris Tilly, 'They Work Here, They Live Here, They Stay Here!': French immigrants strike for the right to work—and win. Dollars & SenseDollars & SenseDollars & Sense is a magazine dedicated to providing left-wing perspectives on economics.Published six times a year since 1974, it is edited by a collective of economists, journalists, and activists committed to the ideals of social justice and economic democracy.It was initially sponsored by the...
, July/August 2008. - Nicholas Laham; Ronald Reagan and the Politics of Immigration Reform Praeger Publishers. 2000.
- Lisa Magaña, Straddling the Border: Immigration Policy and the INS (2003)
- Mohl, Raymond A. "Latinization in the Heart of Dixie: Hispanics in Late-twentieth-century Alabama" Alabama Review 2002 55(4): 243-274. ISSN 0002-4341 9-4894945651.
- Ngai, Mae M. Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America (2004), 90952-15665.
- Ngai, Mae M. "The Strange Career of the Illegal Alien: Immigration Restriction and Deportation Policy in the United States, 1921-1965" Law and History Review 2003 21(1): 69-107. ISSN 0738–2480 Fulltext in History Cooperative.
- Mireille Rosello; "Representing Illegal Immigrants in France: From Clandestins to L'affaire Des Sans-Papiers De Saint-Bernard" Journal of European Studies, Vol. 28, 1998 959525126.
- Dowell MyersDowell MyersDowell Myers is a professor of urban planning and demography in the School of Policy, Planning, and Development, at the University of Southern California...
(2007), Immigrants and Boomers: Forging a New Social Contract for the Future of America, Russell Sage Foundation, ISBN 978-0-87154-636-4. - Tolley, Brett "Dying to Get In" Documentary (2006) Undocumented Immigration Documentary.
- Tranaes, T. and Zimmermann, K.F. (eds), Migrants, Work, and the Welfare State, Odense, University Press of Southern Denmark, (2004).
- Venturini, A. Post-War Migration in Southern Europe. An Economic Approach Cambridge University Press (2004).
- Zimmermann, K.F. (ed.), European Migration: What Do We Know? Oxford University Press, (2005).
- Range, Peter R., Europe faces an immigrant tide National Geographic MagazineNational Geographic MagazineNational Geographic, formerly the National Geographic Magazine, is the official journal of the National Geographic Society. It published its first issue in 1888, just nine months after the Society itself was founded...
May 1993.