Illegal Immigration - Research Paper Example

?Overview United s of America have had a national policy promoting the adoption and integration of migrants into its social and economic system.However, illegal migration has been largely increasing in United States since many years. The unaccountable nature of illegal migration poses many threats to the country in terms of its economy, socio-cultural balance and national security. This essay critically analyzes the impacts of illegal migration on national security, economy, culture and the social aspects. The paper suggests policy interventions to be administrated by the government so as to check illegal migration. Illegal Migration Introduction The United States of America has all through the history taken a very positive approach towards accommodating migrants from across its border. USA has been often referred to as a global nation which readily accommodates diverse cultures and people. The human resource of the nation is largely dependent on these migrants. However, it has been continuously observed that illegal migration into the country is increasing. In the year 2004, it has been estimated that there were 10.3 million illegal immigrants in the country (Hanson, 2006). Illegal migration in terms of overstaying and sneaking through borders, are turning to be of increasing concern. Illegal migration occurs through three generic channels. First amongst this is entry without inspection. The second type of illegal immigrants is ones who entered the geographical boundary of US legitimately having a valid visa but overstays after the expiry of the visa (Nadadur, 2009). Students and tourists who manage to acquire a visa for a short term entry and those who don’t leave the country even after the expiry of the visa falls into this category. The third category of illegal migrants is ones who have lost their status of legitimacy and are in the process of applying for asylum or change of status (Nadadur, 2009). The data on illegal migration provided by different organizations are varied in nature. This suggests the unaccountability of illegal immigration. The graph below explains the entry of illegal migrants and the statistics on general migration. This data is according to US Census Bureau. (Source :US Census Bureau ) With reference to the US- Mexico border, illegal migration is alarmingly increasing. Mexico is the leading source country for US immigration as 31% of America’s foreign born citizens are from Mexico. Interestingly, 5.9 million out of the estimated 10.3 million unauthorized people in America are Mexicans (Hanson, 2006).This forms 56% of the Mexican presence in America. The geographical proximity can be accounted as the major reason for this trend. The analysis of cultural, economical and social costs incurred by the country in this process would reveal information confirming the need to check illegal migration. One very important factor which magnifies the impact of illegal migration is its unaccountability. There are no records on how the large quantum of immigrants influences various nationally relevant issues. The benefits of policy interventions by the government meant of its citizens are received in a large scale by the illegal immigrants. Owing to the unaccountability of people living illegally in the country, quantifying this is difficult. This results in deterioration in the expected results of the policies. Resultant would be the social, cultural and economic costs associated with this. Taking these serious implications into account, it is very important for the Government of United States to control illegal migration. As Mexico border being the most susceptible in this regard, special attention need to be given in this area. Many of the policy statements of the American government emphasize on the issue of illegal immigration as of prime importance. Despite this, the statistics on migration suggests increasing trends on illegal immigration. The objective of this essay is to critically analyze the impacts of illegal migration on national security, economy, culture and the social aspects. Illegal Immigration & national Security While analyzing the urgency to check the possibilities of illegal immigration, it is necessary to examine the risks that illegal migration poses to the country and its people. The most important and potentially risky impact of illegal migration is the concern that it poses over national security. The Commission report on the 9/11 has stated that the visas given to terrorists are as harmful as the most detrimental weapons (Hayworth, John D & Eule, Joe, 2006). The report has revealed interesting statistics on t illegal immigration. It has been stated that almost 500 million people cross the US borders of which 330 million are non citizens. Hayworth, John D & Eule, Joe (2006) has opined that the major concern is over the other 500,000 people who enter the American soil illegally or who overstay in the country despite the visa expiry. This population may cause irreparable damage to the country and would spread antinational feelings. A factor of increasing concern is that the production of fraud travel documents has more or less become a business. The investigations on the 9/11 attack has revealed a number of forgeries relating to driving licenses, Social security cards, vehicle registration ,insurance documents and many other nationally sensitive documents (Hayworth, John D & Eule, Joe, 2006). In general, illegal immigrations, sham marriages to attain permanent residency and forgery of documents to extend the stay, all has been observed in association with terrorist activities. Thus for the sake national security, it becomes very important for the government to put an urgent stop to illegal migration and the allied activities. Illegal immigration is raising doubts over the precision of the immigration policies and the border security setups. Policies like Visa Waiver Programs, which promotes citizens of twenty seven friendly countries to travel into the country without going through stringent rules, can prove to be one among such policy gaps. This should be read together with the fact that the London Subway and train bombers also belonged to this ‘elite’ category of friendly countries (Hayworth, John D & Eule, Joe, 2006). It has been found that there are lacunas in securing the borders of the nation from such illegal migrants. Such challenges in the border security have been highly observed in Arizona-Mexico border. There had been ample evidences on terrorists trying to sneak in through the southern border. In 2004, the border patrol agents have arrested 650 suspected terrorists from different countries while trying to get into infiltrate through this border (Hayworth, John D & Eule, Joe, 2006). This very fact points towards the possibility of other illegal migrants getting into terrorism and antinationalistic activities. Thus controlling illegal migration becomes very important in the context of the modern world terrorism and other antinational activities. Scott (2009) has urged the need for closely monitoring the national borders. The American government has to take care of the problem of antinational elements getting into the country. For the sake of the national security, it must be ensured that the national borders are not sneaked through and the policies must grow stronger to stop illegal migration. Impact on economy The increasing count of illegal migration can cause acute impacts on the national economy and its distribution among the citizens. The average government spending on the eligible citizens would divert in multitudes as the illegal migrants would take the share of these in varied levels. This economic impact would spread across to all the areas where the government tries to intervene economically. For example, the illegal immigrants may take a large count of the skilled jobs for which the American government would have spared much from its budget so as to help its people. Adding to the complexity of this scenario is the fact that these illegal workers won’t alternatively contribute to the economy through tax returns. Thus the illegal immigrants can act as a hole in the economy. Vang (2007) has agreed with this argument in the article on ‘benefits of illegal migration offset costs on the US economy’. Scott (2009) has explained the increased cost on economy caused by the illegal migrants emphasizing on the case with Southern California. “Rising illegal migration from Mexico may be partly responsible for the recent surge in remittances in the country, which rose from 0.1% of GDP in 1990 to 2.2% of GDP in 2004 and now generate more foreign exchange in the country than tourism or foreign direct investment” (IADB, 2005). The labour market consequences caused by the illegal migrants are also severe. It has been observed that the illegal migrants engage in certain set of jobs which require specific skill sets. Adding to the phenomenon is the fact that these people cannot and do not engage in jobs which requires any sort of legal bindings. There are very established labour establishments and networks involving employers in the US, through which these workers mange to source these workers. On the other side, the migrants use the same source to find a job in US. This results in illegal migration. These migrants end up in involving in only certain class of jobs. This leads to serious consequences in the labour market. Labour market segmentation and trends leading to exclusion in employment are some of these. This further leads to economic segmentation in the society. The objective of the quota system for employees with different skill sets that the US government uses as a policy for legal migration is deterred. The government policy to regulate the inflow of migrants into different sectors of labour won’t find its intended results as the unaccountability of the illegal migrants would bring forth unintended consequences. However, the Taking into account all these factors, for the Americans to have the appropriate benefit of its economic environment and the social cost that the government bears for them, illegal migration must be stopped. Socio-Cultural Impacts The impact of illegal migration on the cultural and social setup of the country is also a matter of concern. The illegal immigrants from different nationalities create isolated cultures and communities of themselves. These different cultures would associate only within themselves and would form isolated cultural groups. Vang (2007) has quoted the case of isolations in job classifications created by the illegal migrants. This causes active stratification within the community in account of the jobs undertaken. This is because particular job titles and profiles are being created within the nation which are only meant for and dealt by the illegal migrants. The stratification process is also evident in culturally important areas like standard of living, consumer pattern etc (Vang, 2007). The British Broadcasting Company (BBC) in one of their documentaries aired on 30th May 2005 had predicted the conversion of California into a predominantly Spanish speaking population within next few years from then (Hayworth, John D & Eule, Joe, 2006). This prediction was well backed by the indications in the American society towards centralization of cultures as a result of non Americanization of the immigrants. The multicultural approach of the immigration policy has within it the danger of forming cultures within the culture. For instance, the illegal immigrants from Mexico are so well networked and stratified that they tend to settle near an individual from their native place in Mexico (Hanson, 2006). Munshi (2003) has observed that that immigrants from the Mexican State Guanajuato, settles down in Chicago or Dallas where as the illegal migrants from Jalisco tends to settle in Los Angeles or San Diego. This is a clear evidence for the socio-cultural stratification happening within America as a result of illegal migration. A backup strategy to ensure the assimilation of different immigrant cultures into the American society should be included. However, more dangerous is the fact that the illegal immigrants are getting assimilated into cultures of minorities belonging to their country, religion or other classifications. This in general is detrimental to the integrity of the nation. Thus for maintaining the cultural integrity and the sovereignty of the nation, it is important to put a halt on illegal immigration. There are few counter arguments trying to point out some of the benefits of illegal migration. Vang (2007) has pointed out the economic benefits that illegal immigrants brings forth in terms of the productivity and economic growth. However, taking into account the ethical aspects of it and comparing the benefits with the actual losses in economy, the argument of Vang (2007) cannot be substantiated. Vang (2007) has also argued that the illegal migrants are filling the gap of skilled labor in the country. This argument cannot be agreed to, taking into account the economic, cultural and ethical cost. Another prevalent assumption is that the illegal migration, especially from Mexico is driven by “by the needs and rhythms of agriculture (Hanson, 2006)”. This means that the illegal migration from Mexico constitutes agricultural laborers from the villages of Mexico. They emigrate illegally depending on the agriculture cycle in US. One the peak agriculture season is over, it’s assumed that they go back to their native places in Mexico. This population is assumed to include only adult males. (Hanson, 2006). They are generally uneducated as well. This assumption suggests that this sort of immigration does not affect American Society, but in turn supplies additional human resource. However, this argument does not find a place in the contemporary scenario as most of the illegal immigration from Mexico is of permanent nature and this population is largely turning heterogenic. Policy interventions The importance of stopping illegal migration is becoming more relevant from day to day. The impact that illegal migration is causing on the economy, national security, cultural and the national standards are substantial. A stricter approach on the illegal migrants would be an ideal warning helping to stop further illegal immigration. The laws will have to be made stronger to deport and punish illegal immigrants. This would for sure discourage the immigrants to overstay and the use of forged documents for entry into the country. Fake activities like sham marriages have to be properly checked and stopped. So as to stop the illegal entry through the weaker borders of the nation, the border security force has to be equipped properly. In totality, beyond doubts it has been reiterated that putting halt on illegal migration has to be dealt seriously by the American government. A more strategically formulated approach in defining the immigration policies has to be followed to ensure safe immigration practices. While formulating the policy the prime concerns including Border Security, Sovereignty of National values, Cultural Assimilation and Diversity in the immigrants have to be considered. A redefinition of the list of friendly countries with regard to immigration would be ideal to recheck the quality of the immigrants. The policy on free entry without visa has to be updated from time to time according to the international security scenarios. Networking with the international intelligence agencies would help the immigration department to have proper identification of the prospective immigrants. As forgery has been found as a potential problem, proper measures have to be taken nationally and internationally through the embassies to ensure the originality of the documents. The illegal agencies working within the nation involved in the forgery has to identified and sued. A stricter approach on the illegal migrants would be an ideal warning helping to stop further illegal immigration. The laws will have to be made stronger to deport and punish illegal immigrants. This would for sure discourage the immigrants to overstay and to use forged documents for entry into the country. Fake activities like sham marriages have to be properly checked and stopped. Policy interventions to have serious actions against US employees who employ illegal migrants will discourage employees resorting to the illegal sources which are relatively cheap. “While U.S. laws mandate that authorities prevent illegal entry and punish firms that hire unauthorized immigrants, these laws are imperfectly enforced. Lax enforcement may reflect political pressure by employers and other interests that favor open borders (Hanson, 2006).” So as to stop the illegal entry through the weaker borders of the nation, the border security force has to be equipped properly. The policy on immigration has to concentrate more on assimilation rather than on multicultural aspect. A backup plan on the immigration including the training of the immigrants to help them assimilate into American conditions has to be ensured. The danger of multicultural approach towards immigration has to be properly checked .It should be taken care that the culture of the immigrants do not completely affect the American culture. References Hanson, G. H (2006), Illegal Migration from Mexico to the United States, NBER Working Paper Series, 12141 Hayworth, John D; Eule, Joe. "Extract" in Whatever It Takes : Illegal Immigration, Border Security, and the War on Terror , Hayworth, John D & Eule, Joe , 2006 , 5-15 . Inter-American Development Bank (2004) “Sending Money Home: Remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean.” IADB Report, May. Munshi, Kaivan (2003) “Networks in the Modern Economy: Mexican Migrants in the Nadadur R (2009) Illegal Immigration: A Positive Economic Contribution to the United States, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Vol. 35, No. 6, pp. 1037-1052 US Labor Market.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 118 (May): 549-97. Scott Michael, (2009) ‘America Must Take Stronger Measures to Halt Illegal Immigration’, Stormfront, 21 November, 2011 ,http://www.stormfront.org/forum/showthread.php?t=285517 U.S. Department of Homeland Security. .“2005 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics. Immigration Statistics, 2006. Vang Bruce, ‘benefits of illegal migration offset costs on the US economy’, 2007, Associated Content, 21 November, 2011, http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/464357/benefits_of_illegal_immigratio n_offset.html?singlepage=true&cat=9 Read More