Undocumented immigration

Undocumented immigration, refers to the act of crossing into a country without the proper legal paperwork, in violation of that nation's laws. It can also refer to the act of maintaining residence in a country with expired paperwork, also in violation of that nation's laws. This is commonly referred to as illegal immigration, although the term is less accurate as crossing a border without proper documentation with the intention of handing oneself over to the authorities to request refugee status or protection is an internationally recognized right and therefore legal.Asylum-seekers United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. While undocumented immigration frequently involves crossing the border in violation of immigration laws, most cases in the United States occur when people enter the country legally and remain after their visas expire.Where Does Illegal Immigration Mostly Occur? Here's What The Data Tell Us by Sean McMinn and Renee Klarr (10 January 2019) NPR. The people who commit such acts are known as undocumented immigrants, or, to wingnuts, "illegal aliens" or simply "illegals". Undocumented immigrants tend to face a variety of challenges in the country in which they have arrived. These include discrimination, lack of legal protections, lack of access to services, and limited ability to speak the local language. 
Many countries have seen a rise in the undocumented immigrant population in recent decades, but this statement should be qualified with the fact that detailed identification and tracking of undocumented immigrants has only been possible in most countries for the last 40 years or so. Immigration laws are also a relatively new phenomenon. In the United States, prior to the passage of the first national immigration law in 1924, everyone (except for certain excluded racial groups) who made it to America got to stay.Undocumented migrants have come to the U.S. for centuries. Why do we treat them differently today? (March 26, 2021) CBS News.. Undocumented immigration occurs due to the same push-and-pull factors that cause legal immigration. People leave poor and oppressive countries and seek to enter wealthier and more peaceful countries.
Undocumented immigration is a worldwide phenomenon. India, for instance, passed a law in 2024 that established a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants but purposefully excluded Muslims.India’s new citizenship law excludes Muslims. Here’s what to know by Sheikh Saaliq (March 15, 2024) Associated Press.. In 2019, India also ruled that almost 2 million people were living in its state of Assam illegally, prompting its home secretary to declare the government "will not allow a single illegal immigrant to stay".Modi Says No ‘Illegal Immigrants’ Can Stay in India (September 9, 2019) Agence France-Pressd via Courthouse News Service. Angola also expelled over 400,000 undocumented migrant workers in a violent purge in 2018.Angola: Stop Abusive Expulsions of Migrants (November 15, 2018) Human Rights Watch. The Philippines deported about 3,000 undocumented immigrants in 2021, most of whom were from China.BI deports over 3,000 illegal aliens in 2021 by Zacarian Sarao (December 29, 2021) Inquirer.net. Also in 2021, Colombia granted legal status to over 1 million undocumented immigrants from Venezuela who had fled Nicolás Maduro's misrule.Colombia will legalize undocumented Venezuelan migrants by Manuel Rueda (February 8, 2021) Associated Press. The Dominican Republic implemented harsh deportation measures against undocumented immigrants from Haiti in 2024.Fear and chaos await Haitian migrants forced back over border by Will Grant (14 March 2024) BBC News. So, as one can see, undocumented immigration impacts a variety of countries, which respond in a variety of ways.
==Terminology==
The term "illegal immigration", and especially "illegal immigrant" have seen pushback from people and organizations who find the terms dehumanizing and less fully correct. Title 8 of US Code defines "alien" as "any person not a citizen or national of the United States," 8 U.S. Code § 1101 - Definitions Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute. which amusingly puts Canadians and Mexicans in the same category as Spock and ET. However, the term "illegal alien" appears infrequently in US laws and agency regulations as of 2018.Steve McCraw: Says the term "illegal alien" is "a legal term, it’s in statute, it’s a federal term." (May 9, 2018) PolitiFact. Additionally, in the United States, entering the country without authorization is a civil offense rather than a criminal one.Are undocumented immigrants committing a crime? Not necessarily by Laura Jarrett (February 24, 2017) CNN. Civil removal proceedings, otherwise known as deportation, are the primary penalty for immigration offenses. Only "illegal re-entry" after deportation is classified as a criminal offense related to undocumented immigration.
Human Rights Watch discourages the use of "illegal immigrants" (or anything similar) on the basis that the term is dehumanizing, it implies that a human person can be made inherently "illegal" due to a simple action, and that it supports the view that such people have limited or no rights.Human Rights Watch Guidelines for Describing Migrants (June 24, 2014 5:55PM EDT) Human Rights Watch. In 2013, the Associated Press (AP) changed its stylebook to clarify that "illegal" should only be applied to actions rather than people.‘Illegal immigrant’ no more by Paul Colford (April 2, 2013) Associated Press. In 2021, US president Joe Biden sent memos to immigration enforcement agencies clarifying that "undocumented noncitizen" should be used in place of "illegal immigrant."Immigration Agencies Ordered Not To Use Term 'Illegal Alien' Under New Biden Policy by Joel Rose (April 19, 2021) NPR. 
Many American conservatives have been dismayed that "illegal immigrant" has gradually fallen out of use. In 2018, Attorney General Jeff Sessions sent memos to US attorneys offices demanding that "undocumented immigrant" be dropped in favor of "illegal alien".Justice Department: Use ‘illegal aliens,’ not ‘undocumented’ by Tal Kopan (8:12 PM EDT, Tue July 24, 2018) CNN. The same year, the Heritage Foundation threw a hissy fit, whining that "'undocumented immigrant' is a politically correct, made-up term adopted by pro-illegal alien advocacy groups and liberal media outlets"."Undocumented Immigrant" Is a Made-Up Term That Ignores the Law by Hans A. von Spakovsky (Jul 30, 2018) Heritage Foundation.
==By country/region==
===The United States===
For much of its history, the United States had extremely lax immigration laws. Of the people who passed through the famous Ellis Island, 98% were allowed to settle in the United States. This changed in 1924 with the passage of the Johnson-Reed Immigration Act, which imposed harsh quotas based on national origin.The 1924 Law That Slammed the Door on Immigrants and the Politicians Who Pushed it Back Open. Anna Diamond. Smithsonian Magazine. May 19, 2020. In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act to overhaul the system and abolish the quotas, having long argued that the draconian old immigration system was an embarrassment during the Cold War and the era of civil rights.
Title 8, Section 1325 of the US Code makes an immigrant's first unauthorized crossing of the US border a Class B misdemeanor subject to a maximum six months in prison, maximum $5,000 fine, or both. Repeat offenses are class E felonies subject to a maximum 2 years in prison, maximum $250,000 fine, or both.8 U.S. Code § 1325 - Improper entry by alienCornell Law School Legal Information Institute.18 U.S. Code § 3559 - Sentencing classification of offenses Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute.18 U.S. Code § 3571 - Sentence of fine Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute.
Article 1, Section 8 of the United States Constitution states that the U.S. Congress has the power "to establish a uniform Rule of Naturalization", or in layman's terms, laws governing the granting of citizens' privileges to foreign-born people.Immigration vs Naturalization by Michael Boldin (April 28, 2010) Tenth Amendment Center. Federal courts have interpreted that clause as meaning that immigration is the right of the federal government to control, not the purview of individual states.Report on the Constitutionality of Arizona Immigration Law S.B. 1070 by Mark R von Sternberg & Ana Pottratz Acosta (July 2010) New York City Bar. However, since the Republican Party have turned "illegals" into one of their main political scapegoats to scaremonger about, many states have gotten into the business of regulating undocumented immigration.
====Statistics====
Based on a national survey from 2022, the Pew Research Center estimated that the United States had a population of 11.0 million undocumented immigrants in a 2024 report. Immigrants made up 14.3% of the nation’s population in 2022, and undocumented immigrants were 23% of that number and 3.3% of the entire national population.
Due to its proximity and relative poverty, Mexico is the most common country of origin for undocumented immigrants, although the total number of undocumented immigrants from there has declined to 4.0 million from a peak of 6.9 million in 2007. This is the lowest number since the 1990s, and it happened due to a general decline in the number of people leaving Mexico as well as increased opportunities for legal immigration. Other regions, particularly Central America and the Caribbean, saw increases in undocumented immigrants to the US during this time. After Mexico, the most common countries of origin for undocumented immigrants are: El Salvador (750,000), India (725,000), Guatemala (675,000), and Honduras (525,000).
====Political debate====
A 2022 report from Pew Research indicates that far more Republican voters favor increasing deportations (R+40) and increasing border security (R+32), while far more Democratic voters support taking in civilian refugees (D+27), allowing children of undocumented immigrants to stay legally (D+34), and establishing a pathway to legal residence for undocumented immigrants (D+43). In short, immigration issues are extremely polarizing for voters. 
The Republican Party's harsh line against undocumented immigration from the southern border, most exemplified today by Donald Trump's proposals for a border wall and to use the National Guard to deport between 15 million and 20 million people (a number that is notably greater than the actual undocumented immigrant population), is a relatively recent phenomenon. While President Dwight Eisenhower implemented a mass deportation program called "Operation Wetback", Republicans such as Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush took a softer approach. Reagan ruled out "putting up a fence", and Bush said he didn't want undocumented immigrant children "made to feel that they're living outside the law." Reagan went on to sign the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, which offered amnesty to all 2.9 million undocumented immigrants who entered prior to 1982 (and thereby a path to citizenship), an action that would be unheard of from a Republican president today, and certainly would be worthy of excommunication from the Party since Trump took office. George W. Bush also attempted to overhaul the immigration system to make it easier for noncitizens work legally in the United States. The legislation died in Congress. 
Ari Fleischer, former press secretary for George W. Bush, stated his belief that the Republican backlash against immigration intensified due to the Great Recession, saying conservatives were worried about "a surge of people coming through illegally, a lower-priced labor force that would squeeze Americans." On the other hand, Mark Krikorian, the head of the Center for Immigration Studies (and an anti-immigrant advocate himself) said that Republican voters were just always harder on immigration than past presidents from the party. Regardless of why, harsh Republican measures against undocumented immigration intensified during the presidency of Barack Obama. 
One headline-grabber was Arizona's S.B 1070, which famously authorized police to check the immigration status of anyone they suspected to be undocumented. Legal racial profiling, in other words. Obama tried to have the bill ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court on the basis that only the federal government could set immigration policy. This was only partially successful; SCOTUS struck down aspects related to border policy but left the infamous racial profiling part. In 2013, Republicans in the House of Representatives refused to act on a bipartisan immigration overhaul bill which had recieved support from Senators like Marco Rubio, John McCain, and . 
President Donald Trump ordered the Justice Department to implement a "zero tolerance" policy, meaning that immigration offenses would be referred and prioritized for rapid prosecution. People crossing the border without documentation were imprisoned in poor conditions, and officials confiscated their children. Trump's tough policies successfully made the United States a less attractive place to attempt to enter (he made the US a less attractive place in general), and border apprehensions declined to their lowest level in 17 years by 2017. Border encounters with people attempting illegal entry then increased again during the COVID-19 pandemic and increased still further after Joe Biden took office, hitting a record high at the end of 2023. As Democrats were becoming more open to cracking down on the border in 2024, House Republicans squandered the opportunity by refusing an offered bill which had many items on their wishlist such as more funding for border security, restrictions on asylum seeking, and other policies to crack down on undocumented immigrants. Biden later issued an executive order to bar migrants from being granted asylum any time the southern border had too much activity from undocumented people.
====Effects====
Republican politicians like to highlight cases in which Americans were killed by undocumented immigrants, as they did during President Biden's 2024 State of the Union with Laken Riley, a 22 year-old nursing student from Georgia who was killed by an undocumented Venezuelan. This is intended to create a narrative that undocumented immigration is flooding the US with criminals. But data consistently shows otherwise. Stanford economist Ran Abramitzky published an in-depth research paper in 2023 showing that, since 1960, immigrants are 60% less likely to be incarcerated for crimes than native-born US citizens (and 30% less likely if just compared to white citizens).Law-abiding Immigrants: The Incarceration Gap Between Immigrants And The US-born, 1870–2020. (Abramitzky et al., 2023). National Bureau of Economic Research. In 2020, the Cato Institute looked at Texas and found that criminal conviction rates of undocumented immigrants was 45% lower than that of native-born American citizens. The most commonly suggested reason behind this is that undocumented immigrants fear being caught and deported and therefore do their best to avoid engaging in criminal activity that would catch the attention of the law. 
Undocumented immigrants also benefit the US economy by participating as consumers and workers. They also have the effect of reducing goods and services, which is a positive for American consumers. In 2016, the National Bureau of Economic Research published a paper indicating that implementing a pathway to legal residency would increase this economic contribution by at least 20%, which would form 3.6% of private sector GDP. Legalization is also likely to reduce untaxed labor in the informal economy.
Another common myth is that undocumented immigrants get special benefits that US citizens don't because the government somehow cares more about them than American citizens.4 myths about how immigrants affect the U.S. economy by Gretchen Frazee (Nov 2, 2018 6:48 PM EDT) PBS. (The reality, of course, is that the government cares about neither). In reality, undocumented immigrants aren't eligible for welfare due to being unlawful residents, and they still pay many forms of tax regardless. Undocumented immigrants also tend to fill jobs (such as field hands) that native-born Americans are reluctant to apply for due to low pay and hard physical labor.
===United Kingdom===
====Statistics====
A 2019 Pew Research Report estimated, based on 2017 data, that the United Kingdom had between 800,000 to 1.2 million undocumented immigrants living within its borders. About half (52%) were from countries in Asia, while 20% were from sub-Saharan African countries, 11% were from the Middle East, and the remaining 16% were either from the Americas or other countries in Europe. The UK has also been swamped with asylum-seekers who live in legal limbo while their claims are slowly processed; over 56,000 people were being housed in random hotels in 2023. The government was also using ex-military sites and barges to house people. 
As of 2023, 52% of British citizens believed that immigration levels should be reduced, and 37% believed that the arrival of asylum seekers should be made more difficult. 
====Political debate====
Backlash against immigration in general as well as undocumented immigration contributed to voters supporting the Brexit referendum. In a post-referendum survey, 33% of voters said they voted in favor of Brexit because they thought leaving the European Union "offered the best chance for the UK to regain control over immigration and its own borders."
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak placed undocumented immigration at the center of his promises to the British people, saying in his first major speech that "We will pass new laws to stop small boats, making sure that if you come to this country illegally, you are detained and swiftly removed". This was in reference to undocumented immigrants entering the United Kingdom by crossing the English Channel in small watercraft. Crossing this way is extremely dangerous, and the International Organization for Migration estimated that at least 177 migrants died attempting the journey between 2018 and mid-2024. Since 2018, nearly 120,000 people entered the UK using this method, with 29,437 of them arriving in 2023. Meanwhile, Rishi had gotten himself a stupid-looking podium branded with a "stop the boats" logo. Good progress there, buddy. 
Sunak's push against "boats" backfired when the public realized that his policies hadn't actually decreased Channel crossings. Legal and illegal immigration had actually skyrocketed post-Brexit, a contributing factor being that the UK was no longer covered by an EU agreement that would return migrants to the first country they entered. While 96% of immigrants arrived legally, messaging from the Conservatives convinced voters that undocumented immigration was a much greater problem than it actually was.
In July 2023, the Conservative government passed the contentious "Illegal Migration Bill", which sought to send asylum seekers and migrants to Rwanda (the only "safe third country" that agreed) while their claims were processed. The bill was actually dumb on its face, since only 10,000 people would be removed to Rwanda annually, leaving tens of thousands in legal limbo within the UK. The Tory-controlled Home Office also claimed the bill would make it "unambiguously clear that, if you enter the UK illegally, you should not be allowed to remain here" by making it easier to detain people for longer periods of time. Regardless, the UK's top court ruled the plan unlawful on the basis that Rwanda was, suprisingly, not safe. (Rwanda unsafe? Who could've seen that coming?) The Conservatives then lost the 2024 general election in a landslide, and incoming Prime Minister Keir Starmer ended all further consideration of the Rwanda plan.
===The European Union===
====Statistics====
Pew Research Center estimated that 3.9 million undocumented immigrants lived in the European Union in 2017, although it acknowledged that the number could have been as high as as 4.8 million. Either number still represents less than 1% of the EU's population, which is over 500 million. The number also includes asylum seekers waiting in the EU for a decision on their applications; these people have done nothing wrong. 
This high number of undocumented immigrants is the result of a surge in migration that peaked in 2015 with 1.5 million asylum applications to various countries in the EU. Germany was the primary intended destination country for migrants, having received 442,000 applications in 2015. After Germany were, Hungary (174,000 applications), and Sweden (156,000). Men and boys made up 54% of undocumented immigrants (60% in Germany), and 65% were younger than 35.
====Political debate====
Immigration in general has become a divisive topic in the EU. Pew Research Center explored the issue in 2019, finding that 53% of Europeans believe immigration makes their countries stronger, but also that 57% believed that immigration increased the risk of terrorism in the EU. In several countries, like France, Poland, and Hungary, younger generations are more likely to be anti-immigration than older generations. This contributed to the results seen in the 2024 European Parliament elections, in which far-right anti-immigrant parties like Germany's Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) make major gains and even outpace some traditional parties. It is clear that the immigration issue is fueling support for the far-right, creating an extremely dangerous situation for a continent that has a very bad history with the far-right.
The EU has taken a number of measures to slow down the pace of undocumented immigration, such as paying Turkey and Tunisia to prevent migrants from crossing the Mediterranean in small craft. The EU also paid Turkey to hold migrants within its own territory and prevent them from taking routes into Greece, but it isn't clear what Turkey was actually spending that money on. 
Member countries have implemented anti-migrant policies as well. In 2023, Italy implemented policies meant to slow down the pace of missions to rescue migrants stranded in the Mediterranean. In the same year, the Greek government put 24 foreign aid volunteers on trial for rescuing migrants, accusing them of human trafficking. There have also been numerous reports of Greek vessels abandoning migrants at sea. France passed a 2023 law to make it easier to reject asylum claims and streamline the deportation process, while Germany passed similar legislation that also granted police greater powers to search private residences for undocumented people. 
In 2024, the EU overhauled its asylum process by toughening pre-entry screening, speeding up deportations, and implementing speedy rejections for asylum claims with "low chances of being accepted". Human rights groups criticized the new policies, claiming they would result in more people being detained in poor conditions and sent back to unsafe countries.
====Effects====
Crime, and especially sexual assault, have been a major concern for European countries with large numbers of undocumented immigrants. The issue exploded into the mainstream during the 2016 New Year's Eve assaults in Cologne Germany, in which gangs of migrants from North Africa and the Middle East were responsible for 511 sexual assaults and 28 rapes. It was incident was widely publicized, creating a backlash against Germany's migrant acceptance policy and a new set of government procedures to make it easier to deport people. Overall, Germany saw consistent increases in crime rates since then, reaching a 15-year high in 2024. However, authorities attributed this trend not only to migration but also to a worsening economy, and rising antisemitism and xenophobia.. 2017 statistics, though, show that people classified as "asylum applicants or civil war refugees or illegal immigrants" were indeed responsible for a disproportionate amount of crimes, causing 8.5% of crime despite representing 2% of the German population. German criminologists believe this is because migrants are disproportionately young and male. Dr. Dominic Kudlacek from the Criminological Research Unit of Lower Saxony said, "Whether they're asylum seekers or EU migrants, they are younger than the average population and mostly male. Young men commit more crimes in every society. They have social deprivation, they are alone and they spend most of their time with other people suffering from these risk factors." He also pointed out that many migrant crimes are committed against other migrants.
Sweden has also seen a dramatic rise in crime and gang activity since 2013, although experts attribute this more to regional poverty and the availability of illegal guns from the Balkans. Between 2013 and 2018, 58% of men convicted in Sweden for rape or attempted rape were foreign-born, but in 2015, when Sweden took in its largest number of migrants, the number of rape cases went down 12%. These fears led to the rise of a right-wing government in Sweden in 2022, which pledged to make it easier to deport migrants for a greater variety of reasons.
On the other hand, migrants are important economically, as in the case of Germany, where a lack of workers contributed to a poor economic performance in 2023. Europe is plagued by the twin problems of an aging labor force and low birth rates, raising the specter of pensions collapse and total economic stagnation. Alexander Betts, Director of the Refugee Studies Centre at the University of Oxford, found in 2014 that introducing migrants to an area boosts the economy significantly due to the addition of workers and consumers. The Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) also found that refugees from the Yugoslav Wars benefited the economy of Denmark despite initially taking unskilled jobs. It also found in 2012 that foreign-born people in Germany paid far more in taxes than they received in state benefits, creating a surplus of €22bn ($27bn). Europe, in other words, is in a position where it's putting up "Help Wanted" signs while simultaneously trying to block people from moving in.
===India===
India's state of , on the northeastern side of the country, is hemmed in by Bangladesh and Myanmar. As a result, it frequently sees influxes of undocumented immigrants, primarily Muslims, fleeing worse conditions in those two countries. This problem was exacerbated when Burma's military began a campaign of genocide against the country's Rohingya Muslim minority, causing 770,000 people to flee Burma. Indian authorities persecuted Rohingya refugees by destroying their camps, threatening them with violence, and conducting mass arrests that included children. India has not signed the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention.
In 2019, India published its (NRC) and announced that anyone not on that list would be subject to detention and deportation on the basis that the government now considered them undocumented immigrants. The list also deliberately excluded Muslim families who had lived in Assam for many decades. This was enacted by India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is dedicated to Hindutva, or the idea that India should be a nation based on Hinduism at the exclusion of Muslims. India notably passed another law, the (CAA), excepting non-Muslim refugees from the harsh detention and deportation measures and making it easier for them to gain citizenship. As Gautam Bhatia, a lawyer in , says, the law divides migrants into Muslim and non-Muslim groups and "explicitly and blatantly seeks to enshrine religious discrimination into law".
In accordance with its new policies, the Indian government began construction on what were essentially 10 massive concentration camps intended to house people detained for being undocumented. The NRC branded 1.9 million people in Assam as noncitizens, and India says it plans to extend the detention and deportation policies across the entire country. After the publishing of the NRC, , India's , said the Indian government will not allow a single illegal immigrant to stay.
==See also==
*Britain is full, for British anti-immigrant nonsense
*The Great Replacement, a conspiracy theory about immigration
*Know Nothing Party
*Mass immigration
*Myths and facts about immigration to the United States
*US Immigration and Customs Enforcement
==External links==
*The Icing on the Cake
*"Illegal immigrant" no more, AP
*An animated series about a family dedicated to fighting illegal aliens.
*Border security – Illegal immigration issues in Europe, and the U.S.
==References==
Category:Conspiracy theorist scapegoats
Category:Immigration
Category:Mexico
Category:Moral panics
Category:Politics
Category:Racism
Category:Xenophobia