Undocumented Life

Why would someone leave their mother country to reach the shores of the United States? Where do they come from? Where do they live? Why is it hard for US Immigration & Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) to find and deport them? How do they find employment to make a living? Do they have a family? Do they pay state and federal taxes? How much they contribute to the economy of the US? Is it possible for them to get welfare from the government? What was the policy of Obama administration and how it is changed now under Trump administration?

Before even analyzing the above, we need to address a fundamental question. There is nothing wrong in people migrating to the United States as it is a land of opportunities. In fact, most here or their parents or their forefathers have migrated from many countries. I am a first-generation immigrant and so is my son. If he begets children, they will be second-generation immigrants and so on. But people like me have formally filled the necessary papers with ICE and migrated. I came under L1A visa known as inter-company multi-national executive visa and later filed the adjustment of status. Most professionals come under H1B requiring labor certification meaning no equivalent American worker is available to be employed. They are all people with educational background and majority of the undocumented workers are coming for jobs that don’t require too much education but skill-set to perform a job in a farm or as a construction worker or in a restaurant or in a hotel or on their own. Some have become an entrepreneur themselves. The real issue that is much debated in the country is when people are waiting in the line to get their immigrant status, is it fair for some to sneak into the country without waiting on the line? Unfortunately, most jobs secured by these undocumented workers are jobs that are not sought by the American workers.

According to the Pew Research released in February 2017, there are 11.1 million undocumented immigrants living in the US out of which 61% of them live in 20 big cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, Miami, Chicago, San Francisco, San Jose, San Diego and others. These cities are known as sanctuary cities as their local laws protect these undocumented immigrants from deportation by ICE unless they have committed a crime. Majority of them are Mexicans but there are immigrants from China, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Korea, Philippines, Venezuela, and many other countries.

They get employed by the employers who find it hard to find American workers for various positions, most involve working long hours and/or under a scorching Sun or in a kitchen. There is a federal law that requires employers to perform employment eligibility verification which they outsource to other companies. e-Verify is not made mandatory in most states for the employers and it is applicable only if the employer engages in the business of obtaining federal contracts. There is an immigration reform bill pending with the congress for a long period of time, if approved by both the House and the Senate, would make it mandatory for all employers to comply with the employment eligibility verification. Even then, it would be impossible for ICE to verify all employment eligibility verification documents as they don’t have enough human resources to do so. Most undocumented immigrants provide false social security number or someone’s social security number to get employment. Such false declaration itself is a misdemeanor. Most such undocumented have been working in the US for over 10 to 20 years and in some cases even longer. They have come into the US as a visitor and overstayed in some cases while in other cases crossed the border illegally. Most of them have children born in the US and have been paying state and federal taxes regularly. Barring a few (3%) who are engaged in terrorism and criminal activities, most of them stay away from trouble to conceal their identity.

These undocumented workers are not eligible for Social Security, Medicare benefits and most federal welfare programs and are not eligible to vote. They could obtain driver’s license in 12 states. As their children are mandatorily required to get educated until K-12 in public schools, the local and state governments fund their education. Besides they are eligible for school meal programs, special supplemental nutritional program for women, infants and children, Head Start and various in-kind emergency services. They are also eligible for emergency Medicaid such as child birth but not long-term treatment for chronic conditions, even if they are life-threatening.

As IRS doesn’t report undocumented immigrants to the ICE, approximately 6 million of them file individual income tax returns each year. Roughly 50% to 75% of the undocumented pay federal, state and local taxes. Approximately 5% of the US workforce, 3 million dwellings (roughly 4% of the total homes in the US) are occupied by them generating $150 billion of economic activity. They pay roughly $7 billion into Social Security and Medicare which they could never claim. Besides they spend most of what they earn contributing to the economic growth.

Obama Administration had a policy not to separate the families and worked towards finding a path to legalize these undocumented immigrants over 10 years. However, the new Trump Administration has mandated its Chief Law-enforcement Officer to find and deport every single undocumented immigrant in the US and defeat the laws enacted by the sanctuary cities to protect them.

In my personal view, illegally living in a country is outright wrong. However, if someone has lived for more than 10-20 years with their children studying in the US, it would be inhuman to enforce the law to deport them. With great difficulty, this country has eliminated slavery by fighting for the civil rights to clear its conscience. Now it is being replaced by undocumented immigrants and small crime incarceration. Frankly, deportation is used for political gains and no politician has the determination to do so as these undocumented immigrants contribute so much to the US. It is inevitable to liberate the undocumented immigrants from their fear of deportation by finding a path to make them live peacefully unless they have criminal or terrorism background. This can be done only if further illegal crossing of the border can be prevented completely through more resources recruited for ICE. While most countries are compassionately accepting Syrian refugees into their countries throughout the world, the US should not set the course for deporting undocumented immigrants already living in the US. Deporting them makes no sense from both humanitarian and economic point of view.

Note: This is written for the benefit of those who don’t live in the United States and are not already familiar with this issue.

 

Dear Smt. Srinivasan:

Thank you for your first response. It is just not a fear of deportation. It includes permanent separation from very young kids and spouse, deportation into the mother country where they fought for freedom and democracy earlier would land them in jail on their return, economic support to the family, and much more.

The jobs occupied by all these undocumented immigrants are mostly the ones that no American is interested in. They make major contribution in farming, hospitality, mining, automobile, oil and gas and many more industries. There are a few who are misguided and bring in drugs or involved in gang warfare or terrorism. With the intelligence capabilities of the country, finding them will never be a problem.

Viswa

 

@leena999,

Frankly, no politician is interested in deporting them but it is just a political stunt to get a group of people to support a particular party in the election. In fact, they themselves engage the undocumented immigrants for their business entities Sanctuary cities protect them well, give them work opportunities, medical care, driving license, etc. The new administration is trying to overrule the Sanctuary cities' laws through federal initiative to find and deport them.

Viswa

 

@UMAKUMAR,

It doesn't have any impact on children coming to study in the USA or adults employed in the US through formal immigration process. Unfortunate part, it affects people who came to the US with a dream to make it big working for jobs in the Farms, Hotels, Restaurants, Construction and so on hoping their children could be educated in the US and make it big. In fact, most immigrants who came earlier have successfully done that. But if the parents are not formally documented, when they grow old, the adult children worry about them. As some of them were born in the US, their stay in the US is unaffected but their parents stay is affected by immigration laws.

Hopefully, better sense will prevail not to separate families.

Viswa

 

@sindmani,

Unless they have criminal or terrorism background, they should be allowed to stay with a path to stay here permanently. Their contribution to the US is fairly significant and technically, they are not taking the job of the American workers. In fact, American workers are seeking very different jobs. The politicians bring this issue during every election knowing fully well deporting them is going to affect the US economy as much as affecting the personal life of such undocumented immigrants.

Viswa