A Look Inside:
Growth of Undocumented Immigrants to the U.S. Since the 1990’s
Since the 1990’s, the United States has seen a massive growth of Undocumented Immigrants. According to the U.S. Census bureau, we have seen nearly a million immigrants each year. Not all of these are legal or illegal, it is just a general average of immigrants coming into the United States annually. Reasons for their migration vary greatly, but some very common reasons are financial, health, well being, and to be with their families. There are many more reasons that force or influence immigrants to migrate to the United States illegally. According to Jeffrey Passel in “Estimates of the Size and Characteristics of the Undocumented Population.” there are nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States as of 2015.
The number of undocumented immigrants continues to grow. Immigrants from Mexico have long been the majority of undocumented immigrants but this has begun to change and we have begun to see an increase in immigrants from Central America and Asia. According to the “Issues in the Economics of Immigration” by George Borjas, nearly all of these undocumented immigrants are employed or looking for employment. In most cases these immigrants are not taking work from U.S. citizens, in fact they are completing work that majority of American have no desire doing.
Overpopulation and economic concerns are of the several reasons that many Americans fear this massive growth of undocumented immigrants in the United States. One thing that is very interesting that we noted in class, is that many of the undocumented immigrants have lived in the United States for a long period time, in many cases over a decade. There is no denying that the U.S. has seen a large increase in the amount of undocumented immigrants since the 1990’s, I plan to examine the exact causes and the effect that this has on the United States as a whole and furthermore how we can help these immigrants gain citizenship legally.
In beginning the research I began looking at Spehn Dinan’s piece on “Mass Immigration Costs Government $296 Billion a Year, Depresses Wages”. By examining this piece we are able to gain a better understanding of the facts associated with mass immigration into the United States. This newspaper article looks at the exact numbers that have been affected since the mass influx into the United States. Furthermore, this piece gives us a brief idea of how and why many immigrants have come to the United States since the 1990’s. By using newspaper articles such as this one we are able to look at the facts through numbers. That is not to say that the Washington Times is immune to bias’, but through further research I have gained a grasp on a middle ground concerning these immigrants and the mass immigration the the U.S. since the 1990’s.
To understand what has sparked this increase in unauthorized immigrants into the United States, we must first take a quick look back into history. Seeing as Mexico has the largest number of undocumented immigrants currently living in the U.S., it is appropriate to take a look at our history with Mexico. As many of us know from past history classes, Mexican immigrants migrated to the United States long before any European Colonizers. Throughout the 6th and 17th Century people working for the Spanish Government came across to explore the new land. Interesting enough many of these people were not “Mexicans” as we refer to them, many of them were indigenous and African American individuals (Planas, Roque). Furthermore, we then had the Texas Revolution, where European colonizers essentially stole the land of Texas from Mexico. Moving through history, in the early 1940’s and 50’s we saw a large number of immigrants from Mexico being brought in legally to work temporary manual labor that was not being occupied by existing American citizens (Briggs, Vermon). This was known as the Bracero program and was terminated shortly after it began, forcing millions of Mexican citizens to return to Mexico, unemployed.
In 1990, Congress was able to pass the Immigration Act of 1990 with the intentions of admitting a larger number of educated and skilled immigrants. It is clear that with a growing economy and need for cheap labor we saw a major increase in the amount of illegal immigrants coming into the United States. With the demand for goods came the demand to supply those goods, and in order to supply the necessary amount, farms needed more workers. This changed several factors regarding the U.S.’s immigration system, including changing the visa system as well as modifying the terms and conditions that were associated with deportation. This law also sought to give immigrants fleeing dangerous Countries an option to become legal here in the United States. These “dangerous” countries were decided by the Government which as you can imagine had many flaws.
Unfortunately these reforms and laws were no match for the large number of illegal immigrants coming into the United States to seek work in a time of economic prosperity. The U.S government could simply not handle the amount of requests for legal immigration that were coming in during this time. Immigrants needed money to support their families and as long as there was work available, there were going to be a large number of illegal immigrants. When looking at statistics for INS, it is clear that in times of economic prosperity we saw the highest number of illegal immigrants coming into the United States (Passel, Jeffrey). And with that, we saw the lowest amount of undocumented immigrants coming in during times of economic hardship or depressions.
Along with the opportunity to provide a better financially stable life for their families, many immigrants have other reasons for fleeing to the United States illegally. Since World War II, the United States has offered opportunities for immigrants to come to the United States to flee the danger in their current Country. Again, the United States set a cap on the number of refugee immigrants allowed to come in each year. This forced illegal immigrants to enter illegally or use fraudulent paperwork to try and gain access. In addition, immigrants would often use part time visas to gain access with the intention of never leaving.
Whether it be for financial or safety concerns, we have seen a large number of illegal immigrants flow into the United States since the 1990’s. According to the Pew Hispanic Center, they have found that majority of the illegal immigrants are entering the United States in times of economic prosperity such as the boom from 1990-2000 (Passel, Jeffrey) and also during times of great danger in other Countries and regions of the world. People view the United States as somewhat of a safe haven where they feel comfortable raising their kids while not living in constant fear of armed rebel groups.The reasons for the large number of undocumented immigrants coming into the United states is pretty clear, whether it be for financial stability or the opportunity for a safer life, many immigrants feel there is no other option than to enter illegally. These reasons for why immigrants have come to the U.S. are relatively similar despite where they are coming from.
As we have seen a large recent increase in illegal immigrants coming from places such as Asia, we have learned that it is in the effort to secure financial stability as well as find safety and freedom in America. Furthermore, as many manufacturing and farming jobs have been sent back to Mexico, many of the workers have left with the work as well.
After gaining a better understanding of reasons why individuals choose to enter and live in the United States illegally, it is important that we look at how this is being looked at by the general population. To avoid political bias, we will look at some of the claims being made regarding the general issue of increasing illegal immigrants since the 1990’s. The argument seems to begin with who, what, when, why. People want to know who and for what reason are people entering the United States. Unfortunately, the United States is different than Countries such as Canada who has implemented a federally funded agency that deals only with who can become legal citizens. We have agencies that deal with immigration but for the most part, many different agencies have a say in the decision making. Of course, both ways of doing things can have their own pro’s and con’s. We have seen great debate on both sides of the political spectrum regarding the underfunding and understaffing of our immigration agencies that are not able to adequately deal with the number of immigration forms they receive.
Since the number of undocumented immigrants has continued to rise over the past few decades, we have seen an extremely large amount of time, money, and effort being put into the fight against Illegal immigration. We have seen our federal government enforce by land with immigration centers as well as at our ports of entry. Furthermore, our government has been working increasingly hard on ensuring that no false paperwork is admitted at any of these entry points. Another way our government has been working to eliminate the number of illegal immigrants is by placing restrictions and guidelines on employers who may seek illegal immigrants for cheaper labor. In addition to all of these tactics being used by the United States government, they have also increased the rate at which many of these immigrants are being deported.
The amount of time, effort, and money being put into immigration is where I see some major problems. According to the Washington Times, the United States spends an estimated $296 Billion on all of immigration every year (Dinan, Stephen). This is a combined state, federal, and taxpayers money. It seems that this incredible amount of money could be put to a lot better use such as assisting other countries in need or even allowing for larger numbers of immigrants to become legal U.S. citizens.
Those who argue in favor of Immigration control argue for the protection of our Nation and our people. But what they are neglecting to think about is the large number of immigrant families being put in physical, mental, and emotional danger.
With a thorough understanding as to why the U.S. has seen such a high growth of undocumented immigrants since the 90’s as well as an understanding about beliefs and claims regarding illegal immigration we must now look at today’s world regarding illegal immigration and what things will look like in the future. In 2008 when we saw our last major depression the number of illegal immigrants dropped dramatically because of the lack of jobs for immigrants. Now, with our current thriving economy we have begun to see the influx of illegal immigrants once again, coming for work and a better quality life. With Mr. Trump in office, we have seen a rapid change in immigration reform. Trump just recently repealed DACA which protected immigrant children’s rights that was put in place by President Obama. Trump has also continuously threatened the addition of a wall that is estimated by the Wall Street Times to cost over $21 Billion dollars (Chiswick, Barry). It is unsure how Trump plans to fund or build such a wall.
Moving forward we will likely see many more laws and regulations put forth by Mr. Trump regarding immigration and the deportation of these people. Even despite Trump’s crude actions, it is likely that we will continue to see the number of illegal immigrants stabilize and in some time decrease dramatically as jobs are created in Mexico (Chiswick, Barry).
Since the 1990’s we have seen a great influx of immigrants into the United States. With this great influx, came a large amount of undocumented immigrants, seeking a better way of life. Laws and regulations such as the Immigration Act of 1990 have sought to help immigrants coming into the United States. However, over and over we have seen these immigrants struggle to gain the legal status that they want and that many of the deserve. Whether they are coming Mexico, Asia, Iraq, it does not matter, the United States has long been seen as an opportunity for a better life. When the economy rises, so does the number of undocumented immigrants seeking work and financial stability. When the economy goes down and jobs decrease, so does the number of illegal immigrants in the U.S. For the large majority, it is not to sell drugs or rob banks, it is to be with their family and give them the opportunity for the best life possible. WE as a nation spend billions of dollars every year trying to keep these people out of our Country when in fact, many of them are here to help the lives of their loved ones while at the same time boosting our economy’s production as a whole. We will likely see a decrease in the number of illegal immigrants coming into the U.S. with the rise of jobs in places such as Mexico that will give them the ability to provide for their families. Decreasing number of undocumented immigrants or not, we must understand why these people flee to the United States and the important role that each and every one of them plays. All in all the United States has seen a dramatic increase in undocumented immigrants since the 1990’s due to the safe lifestyle and chance for economic prosperity.
References
- Briggs, Vernon. “Methods of Analysis of Illegal Immigration into the United States.” The International Migration Review, vol. 18, no. 3, 1984, pp. 623–641. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2545890.
- Chiswick, Barry R. “Illegal Immigration and Immigration Control.” The Journal of Economic Perspectives, vol. 2, no. 3, 1988, pp. 101–115. JSTOR, JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1942816.
- Dinan, Stephen. “Mass Immigration Costs Government $296 Billion a Year, Depresses Wages.” The Washington Times, The Washington Times, 21 Sept. 2016, http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/sep/21/mass-immigration-costs-govt-296-billion-year-natio/.
- Ethier, Wilfred J. “Illegal Immigration.” The American Economic Review, vol. 76, no. 2, 1986, pp. 258–262. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1818776.
- Ji, Qingqing and Jeanne Batalova. 2012. Temporary Admissions of Nonimmigrants to the United States. Migration Information Source, November 2012.
- Passel, Jeffrey S., and D’Vera Cohn. 2011. “Unauthorized Immigrant Population: National and State Trends, 2010.” Washington, D.C.: Pew Hispanic Center, February
- Planas, Roque. “These Are The Real Reasons Behind Illegal Immigration.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 25 Aug. 2014, www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/25/undocumented-mexicans_n_5709141.html.
History of Immigration 