Illegal Immigration in America

Define the Problem

For decades, illegal immigration has been a contentious issue in America's culture wars. Despite passage of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, designed to rid the U.S. labor market of undocumented workers, there were an estimated 11 to 12 million illegal immigrants living in the United States in 2006. Americans have remained divided over how to address this problem. Illegal immigrants are sometimes called “illegal aliens,” a highly contested descriptive, with some arguing that it inappropriately implies criminality. “Undocumented worker,” an alternative term, is viewed by others as a phony euphemism. Simply defined, an illegal immigrant is a noncitizen who resides in a country without a valid visa. This occurs either because the visa has expired or because the person originally entered the country without one. Some would extend the definition of illegal immigrant to any child born in the United States whose mother was at the time “undocumented” (Jacoby, Pp. 221-305).

Mexicans comprise the largest group of illegal immigrants in the United States, followed by those from El Salvador and Guatemala. Beginning in 1942, the federal Bracero Program authorized temporary guest workers from Mexico to enter the United States to perform agriculture tasks, but contract violations and other problems prompted Mexico to stop sending guest workers to Texas. Consequently, between 1944 and 1954, there was a 6,000 percent increase in Mexican undocumented workers in the United States. In response to the more than 1 million workers who had illegally crossed the border, the federal government in 1954 launched Operation Wetback, deporting thousands and providing a show of force in the border region to discourage illegal entry (Meyers, Pp. 81-137). Termination of the Bracero Program in 1964 was followed by a significant spike in illegal immigration. In response, Michelle Dallacroce founded Mothers Against Illegal Aliens in 1968, warning that Hispanics were trying to “reconquer” the Southwest.

For others, illegal immigration demands a moral response, one emphasizing charity and assistance in order to welcome such people in the communities where they are working. This viewpoint, often shared by liberal religious groups, regards illegal immigrants as economic refugees, people escaping Third World poverty and trying desperately to support their families. This argument was poignantly highlighted in the film El Norte (1983), which portrays the humanity of two Guatemalans who sneak across the border to find work in Los Angeles. In 1994, however, at a time when it was estimated that 10 percent of the state budget was spent on illegal immigrants, California voters approved Proposition 187, which prohibits illegal immigrants from obtaining social services, including public-supported medical care and public schooling (Mosisa, Pp. 144-179).

The impact of illegal immigration on the Economy

If a rich man wants to hire low-skilled laborers, it is likely that he will go for illegal immigrants, because he can pay them less than what he would have to pay to legal immigrants. This, in turn, do not just hit the migrants who have entered the country legally, but also those poor Americans, for whom the ...