Why undocumented immigrants
don’t just get to the ‘back of the line’
The
widening gap between rich and poor at the national level is largely a myth that
is fuelled by political propaganda, fake news and conspiracy theories. Rather
than a widening gap between individuals in the same country, the gap is only
widening between rich and poor countries. No one understands this better than
those living in poor countries. That is one reason so many people want to start
a new life in a new country.
But
their dream is rarely realized. They must overcome restrictive laws and often
racial and/or religious prejudice, and the myth that they will take work away
from the locals, increase crime rates, or become terrorists, that is, if they
can afford to get themselves to the border.
These
days, the cheapest way to get anywhere is to fly with an airline, which
explains why most immigrants enter at airports rather than land borders. They
also understand that they are more likely to be caught and turned back if they
try to sneak across a land border undetected. They can enter legally as visitors
through an international airport, and just stay on, building a new life.
Nadia
Y Flores-Yeffal, an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology,
Anthropology and Social Work at Texas Tech University, sums it up perfectly
writing for Express News:
“Why don’t they do it the right way, like my
ancestors?” is a common refrain heard from many European-origin Americans when
they’re talking about immigration.
This is
easily explained. Let’s start with the history.
When the
Europeans came to the U.S at the turn of the 20th century, they just had to go
through Ellis Island. More than 15 million immigrants were inspected and
processed at Ellis Island, and the majority were allowed to stay. Only those
with mental problems, those with sickness, those who were too weak to work, or
those who were considered a danger to society were sent back — a mere 2 percent
of all immigrants.
Immigrants
at that time — the ancestors of most Americans — didn’t have to face numerical
limitations or the need to have a visa to enter the United States.
This was
true until 1924, the year in which the border patrol was established.
Immigrants were then required to process a visa at an American consulate before
entering the U.S. In 1924, the U.S. also decided to change the immigration law
to mostly favor immigration from Western Europe because those from Eastern and
Southern Europe were considered “undesirables.”
After
World War II, the Bracero Program was implemented. It brought up to 5 million
Mexican immigrants who came to do the hard work in the fields, as there was a
labor shortage.
This
program lasted 22 years and ended in 1964.
In 1965,
for the first time, the U.S. had a restriction on visas for the Western
Hemisphere. This was the beginning of undocumented immigration. In other words,
our laws created this undocumented migration flow by making it exceedingly
difficult for many immigrants to come legally to the U.S.
Today,
we need immigrants to work in unskilled occupations — jobs that Americans don’t
want to do. Would Americans want to pick the grapes in California under a hot
sun all day? Or would they want to work in poultry processing industries inside
refrigerators for entire shifts?
But our
immigration laws only allow for 60,000 temporary visas and only 5,000 visas for
unskilled workers annually to fulfill the demand for unskilled labor. All of
the rest of the work-related visas are for those who are professionals and
those who possess extraordinary abilities.
OK, so
what about entry through refugee status? Or family reunification?
Let’s
take refugees first. Unfortunately, refugees — particularly those from Central
America and Mexico — are less likely to get their cases approved in immigration
courts. Only 3 percent of Salvadorans applying for refugee status were
approved, compared to 14 percent of all applicants.
Family
reunification? People seeking entry through family reunification typically have
to wait extremely long periods — often up to 15 years or longer. And the
Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) of 1996
made this even more difficult. This law says that those who entered without
inspection, regardless of whether they are married to a U.S. citizen and/or
have U.S. born children, cannot apply for Legal Permanent Residency (LPR)
without first being banned from the country for 10 years.
Beginning
to understand why undocumented immigrants risk being suffocated inside a cargo
truck or dying of dehydration while trying to get across the desert to here?
If there
was a way to “do it the legal way,” believe me, they would have at least tried.
There isn’t.
DACA
(Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) provided a lifeline for Dreamers, who
did not have any other option for gaining a path to legalization. The same is
the case with Salvadorans who recently lost their Temporary Protected Status
(TPS). Most of them have been living in the U.S. for more than 20 years.
Why would
they continue to renew their TPS every two years and pay about $500 in
processing fees per person each time if there was another way for them to apply
and become legal permanent residents?
Right,
you’re probably now saying this is a country of laws, and these must be obeyed.
By everyone.
OK, but
employers are giving jobs to undocumented workers. So, of course, immigrants
come to fill those jobs. And the effects of the free market economy also
displace workers from jobs in developing nations.
For
example, after the elimination of tariffs due to NAFTA, agricultural workers in
Mexico suddenly found themselves unable to sell their crops because the corn
exported from the U.S. was selling for a cheaper price. So, people suddenly
found themselves without jobs and no way to survive — due to U.S. policy.
These
countries don’t have effective safety nets, such as unemployment benefits.
Others face deep levels of poverty. Others need to emigrate to save their lives
due to the high levels of violence from or extortion by drug dealers and gangs.
Yes,
part of the IRCA law in 1986 included employer sanctions, making it illegal to
knowingly hire undocumented workers. But, guess what? There has been very
little enforcement of that in the last 32 years.
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If this is a country of laws, why don’t employers set the example and follow the law?
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If All the Illegals Left
The Politics of Immigration
Immigrants and Crime
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Immigration and Economics
If this is a country of laws, why don’t employers set the example and follow the law?
These
employers are hiring millions of undocumented immigrants and nobody calls them
lawbreakers, much less “illegal employers.” That adjective — “illegal” — is
reserved only for immigrants in the harsh anti-immigrant environment we now
find ourselves in.
People
who believe that today’s immigrants are lawbreakers because their ancestors
followed the law and came legally should consider what would have happened if
the current U.S. laws had existed when their ancestors wanted to come.
As with
many immigrants today, back then many came without skills, were poor, and were
escaping punishing economic conditions and war. They also would not have been
able to qualify for legal documents.
So,
please, stop asking, “Why don’t they just go to the back of the line?”
Let’s
make it simple. Practically speaking, there is no line! Which is to say, there
is mostly no way most undocumented immigrants can qualify for legal entry. They
can’t successfully do it “the right way.”
The last
time we had an amnesty program was through IRCA (the Immigration Reform and
Control Act) of 1986.
I, along
with another 3.5 million immigrants, was able to regularize my immigration
status then. After that, a lot of wonderful life opportunities opened up for
me. I was able to get my General Education Diploma (GED), attend a community
college, transfer to a four-year university, and get my master’s and Ph.D. at
an Ivy League university.
Today,
I’m an assistant professor of sociology at Texas Tech University.
Without
IRCA, I would not have been able to do all these things.
So, why
not give the opportunity afforded by legalization — such as the one I had — to
all the immigrants who have been satisfying the huge demand in the U.S. for
unskilled labor?
The vast
majority of these immigrants have been law-abiding, have been working very
hard, and have already established their lives in the U.S.
Instead
of criminalizing immigrants, we need to understand how, through bad immigration
policy, the U.S. has created a huge population of second-class citizens who are
now being used by corporations, legislators and our president for political and
economic gain.
Nadia Y. Flores-Yeffal is the author of
the book, “Migration-Trust Networks: Social Cohesion in Mexican U.S.-Bound
Emigration.”