Immigration Consequences of Criminal Activity - Research Paper Example

Introduction During recent years a significant problem has arisen for the United States and the legacy formerly referred to as Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) as a consequence of illegal and undocumented aliens residing in the United States. Their entry into the United States and their presence once they have arrived create both financial and security problems for the government and for the entire criminal justice system. Less than 3 years ago, it was estimated that there were 11 million undocu­mented aliens living in the United States. Annually, the INS accounts for thousands of criminal investigations. Between the period of 1997 and 2005 approximately 1.5 million people were deported by INS.1 Most are illegal aliens, half of them convicted of drug dealing and drug trafficking. In addition, it was also determined that at least 6 of the 19 September 11 hijackers were in the United States illegally, their visas having previously expired.2 Ultimately, these statistics suggest that illegal immigration has profound effects on the criminal justice system of the United States. History of Immigration and Crime in the United States As a "nation of immigrants," the United States of America and its people have witnessed the issue of immigration transform over time, from general concerns about cheap labor pushing "real Americans" out of jobs to a substantially broader policy concern with much more far-reaching economic and potentially criminal concerns. Although the events of September 11, 2001, have thrust immigration to the fore, official concern about immigration dates back to the mid-19th century. At the close of America's revolutionary period, the nation began to expand westward rapidly. The United States beckoned many settlers with its vast amount of land, temperate climate, and abundance of natural resources. The country had no restrictions on the number and type of people admitted for permanent residence. Agri­cultural production and farm employment dominated the labor market, and most jobs required little, if any, specialized skills. Evidence suggests that newcomers entered the United States at a status equal to that of the older residents and maintained that status as time passed.3 However, in the late 19th century, United States immigration policy changed as the nation, recovering from its Civil War, began to fear the surge of foreigners pouring in. Several immigration laws passed between 1882 and 1887, including the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, banned certain nationalities from maintaining residence in the United States, reflecting some of the early concerns about conflicts over cheap labor. According to proponents of the law, White wage earners could not compete with Chinese, who were willing to live in squalor.4 The act prohibited immigration of persons considered to be "idiots, lunatics, convicts and persons likely to become a public charge"5. Although this statement does not report any specific criminal statistical information, it does suggest the beginning of Americans' concern about the issues of immigration and crime.6 American political policy quickly shifted during the advent of the American industrialization process. It was at this time that increased immigration became of critical importance to the assembly of an urban labor force.7 Newly introduced mechanization procedures required mainly unskilled workers to fill the nation's rapidly expanding urban labor markets. The jobs created during this era typically required little in the way of skill, education, literacy, numeracy, or even fluency in English. The immigrant laborers filling these positions generally lacked these attributes. In fact, a 42-volume U.S. government study issued in 1911 reported that the "new immigrants" (referring to those of the industrial revolution) were less educated, less skilled, and generally less desirable than the "old immigrants".8 Similarly, Peter Roberts, an immigrant scholar of the early 20th century, wrote that, although the United States may have yearned for more intelligent and better-trained workers, it is questionable whether that type of individual would have been suitable for the work that America had to offer at the time.9 Immigration Consequences of Criminal Activity Several authors have found that crime among illegal aliens is an increasing and alarming phenomenon, and further, that the most prevalent crimes committed by these aliens are crimes that are drug related. Butcher and Piehl found that statistics on foreign-born inmates were very different from those on native-born inmates, and that foreigners were much more likely to be serving time for drug offenses. Furthermore, they found that, in 1986, 20% of the native inmates and 33% of the foreign-born inmates had been committed for drug offenses. By 1996, these figures rose to 32% of the native-born inmates and 46% of the foreign-born inmates. In addition, Butcher and Piehl found that the foreign born were significantly less likely in 1990 and 1996 to be incarcerated solely on drug possession charges, intimating that foreigners were more likely to be incarcerated for the sale or transportation of drugs. This and similar studies suggest that a fairly large proportion of illegal aliens may be turning to the sale or transportation of drugs as a means of supporting themselves in lieu of legitimate forms of employment.10 Other authors indicate that the disproportionate representation of illegal aliens in the criminal justice system is not specific to California but can be found on a larger, federal scale.11 Several researchers have examined the recidivism rates of illegal aliens. Particularly, in Clark and Anderson's study, it was determined that illegal aliens were more likely than legal aliens or United States citizens to have at least one prior conviction resulting in a sentence of at least 60 days incarceration. Despite not providing comparative statistics for legal aliens or U.S. citizens, a 1997 U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) report, which utilized fiscal year 1995 data, tracked the post ­release criminal activities of 635 aggravated felons and reported that 148 of the 635 had been re-arrested since their release and that 31 of them had been re-arrested more than once. In addition to the 148 arrested, individuals were charged as committing 184 felonies; 114 of the 148 had been convicted.12 To counter the growing problems that illegal immigration has caused the country in general, several strategies have been employed to address illegal immigration and crime. In 1994, the INS instituted several operations at the southwest border that are aimed at deterring illegal aliens from entering the United States. According to the most recent available research, results indicate that these operations have been success­ful in shifting illegal immigration but not necessarily in reducing it.13 In 1995, the INS created its the Institutional Hearing Program (IHP), which was designed to identify potentially deportable aliens prisoners and conduct their deportation hearings while incarcerated, so as to save the U.S. government the costs of further incarcerating them subsequent to their release from prison. However, a GAO audit found that IHP procedures had not been initiated for nearly 35% of the foreign-born inmates. Despite this glaring weak­ness, GAO found that, if administered properly, the IHP program could serve as a means of saving the government millions of dollars annually in costs of incarceration.14 Another program instituted by the INS, due in large part to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, was National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS), which was created, among other things, to identify and place into deportation proceedings the millions of illegal aliens who had overstayed their nonimmigrant visas. In 2003, the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) was also implemented to identify student status violators.15 Conclusion and Implications Immigration in the United States has long been a topic of debate and research, dating back to the late 19th century, when the government passed legislation excluding Chinese immigrants from entering the United States and forbade those who were already in the country from obtaining employment with either corporations or state governments. When the industrial revolution followed 30 years later, immigration again became crucial, as large numbers of primarily unskilled workers were needed to fill the rapidly expanding urban labor market. It was at this point that scholars such as Robert Park, Ernest Burgess, and others from the "Chicago School" began to examine the criminal activity among those living in the city, especially immigrants, as well as the communities in which they lived. Findings suggested that new immigrants had a tendency to live in slums, or areas they termed "transitional zones," where crime was heaviest. Park et al. explained that the transitional zones were crowded to overflowing with immigrant colonies and that the tens of thousands immigrating into cities such as New York and Chicago served as a sort of "tidal wave" that dislodged thousands of inhabitants and sent them to the next zone. This constant mobility, in his opinion, caused primary controls to break down and, consequently, promiscuity and vice surfaced. Other theorists argued that crime was caused by the conflicts that began to arise between new immigrants who possessed different values and norms from those of the general population of the city, including older immigrant groups. Ultimately, these theorists felt that it was not the area in which the immigrants were living that caused criminal activity; it was the way in which the immigrants had been socialized to their native cultures in contrast to the broader American culture. In addition to theorists, criminal statisticians have made note of the effects of illegal immigration on the American criminal justice system. For instance, researchers examining the representation of foreigners in the California prison system found that foreign-born inmates were considerably more likely than native-born inmates to be incarcerated for drug charges. It was also determined that the foreign-born inmates served substantially longer terms than native-born inmates, at an ever-increasing cost to the state. Similar research conducted on the federal prison system revealed that the number of illegal aliens sentenced in federal courts increased significantly, for all major offense categories, and for all major country-of-citizenship groups, with drug trafficking as the second most frequent offense committed. Therefore, it is important for criminal justice and public policy makers (particularly the Department of Homeland Security DHS) to restrict illegal aliens from entering the country. It has been noted by researchers that the clear majority of illegal immigrants currently incarcerated entered the United States without inspection (EWI, for "entered without inspection") rather than entering legally and then overstaying their visas. Research shows that foreign-born inmates serve, on average, longer sentences than native born inmates, at an ever-increasing cost to the American taxpayer. Therefore, one can surmise that if DHS is able to reduce the number of EWIs, a large amount of criminal activity among illegal immigrants can be reduced. This may, in turn, reduce the costs of imprisonment as well as many of the other related costs that illegal immigration has placed on the American economy. End Notes/Bibliography 1. Jones, Marlyn J. Deportation. Encyclopedia of Race and Crime. (Sage Publications, 2009). 2. Robbins, T. Nearly Half of Illegal Immigrants Overstay Visas. Information (2006) Accessed April 24, 2011, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5485917 3. Kralj, D. Urban Immigration. Encyclopedia of American Urban History (Sage Publications, 2006). 4. Crawford, J. Cycles of Nativism in U.S. History. The danger of strangers within US. News & World Report, (1999), 132, 12. 5. Crawford, Cycles of Nativism in U.S. History. p. 44 6. Tebo, M. G. The closing door. ABA Journal, 88, (2002, September), 42-47. 7. Kralj, Urban Immigration, p. 1. 8. Crawford, Cycles of Nativism in U.S. History. p. 12 9. Roberts, P. The new immigration. (New York: Macmillan, 1913). 10. Butcher, K. F., & Piehl, A. M. Cross-city evidence on the relationship between immigration and crime. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 17, (1998), 457­493. 11. Clark, R. & Anderson, S. A. Illegal aliens in federal, state and local crimi­nal justice systems. (Washington, DC: Urban Institute, 2000). 12. U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Criminal aliens: INS' efforts to identify and remove imprisoned aliens need to be improved. Washington, DC: (1997). General Ac­counting Office; Clark, & Anderson, Illegal aliens, 92. 13. Wilson, Lonnie. "Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS)." Encyclopedia of Immigration and Migration in the American West. (Sage Publications, 2009) 14. GAO, United States General Accounting Office, (2011), Accessed April 24, 2011, http://www.fas.org/irp/gao/ggd-99-047.htm 15. Curro, Isabelle L. Immigrants (Policy Toward). Encyclopedia of Law Enforcement. (Sage Publications. 2004). 16. Park, R. E., Burgess, E. W., & Mckenzie, R. D. The city. (Chicago, Univer­sity of Chicago Press. 1925). Read More