Government Immigration Policies

Most countries, including the United States, have adopted legal restrictions and selective immigration policies that admit some types of immigrants but not others (Figure 3-46). Policies toward immigrants and refugees are influenced by a number of factors: public opinion (for or against admitting migrants), economic (positive and negative impacts of newcomers on the local economy), resources (ability of the country to accommodate newcomers), and international relations (perception of humanitarian responsibility among the family of nations). The weight given to each of these factors can determine how countries address immigration.

The U.N. classifies countries according to four types of immigration policies: (1) maintain the current level of immigration, (2) increase the level, (3) reduce the level, (4) no policy. Similarly, emigration policies are identified by the same four classes. According to the U.N., 24 countries seek more immigrants, 25 want fewer immigrants, 120 wish to maintain the current level, and 27 do not have a policy. Fourteen of the 24 countries with policies to encourage more immigration are in Europe, including most of the former Communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The 25 countries with policies to reduce immigration include 11 in Asia and 7 in Africa.

Immigration Policies As of 2015

The distribution of emigration policies is different. The U.N. found policies to increase emigration in 18 countries, to decrease emigration in 46 countries, to maintain the current level in 43 countries, and 88 with no policy. The 18 countries wishing to increase emigration include 5 each in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the South Pacific. Sub-Saharan Africa had the most countries seeking to lower emigration.

Pause & Reflect 3.4.1

Summarize the factors that influence whether a country opts to encourage, maintain, or reduce its level of immigration.

Unauthorized Immigration

The number of people allowed to immigrate into the United States is at a historically high level, but the number who wish to come is even higher. Many who cannot legally enter the United States immigrate illegally. Those who do so are entering without proper documents and thus are called unauthorized immigrants. The principal reason for unauthorized immigration to the United States is to seek a job.

Unauthorized immigrant is the term preferred by academic observers, including the authoritative Pew Hispanic Center, as a neutral term. Undocumented immigrant is the term preferred by some of the groups that advocate for more rights for these individuals.

The Pew Hispanic Center estimated that 11.0 million unauthorized immigrants lived in the United States in 2015. The number increased rapidly between 1990 and 2005. After hitting a peak of 12.2 million in 2007, the number declined because of reduced job opportunities in the United States during the severe recession in 2008—09. The number of unauthorized immigrants entering the United States has not returned to the pre-recession level, and it is now less than the number leaving.

Unauthorized Immigrants In The United States

Other information about unauthorized immigrants, according to the Pew Hispanic Center:

• Source country. Around 5.9 million of the 11 million unauthorized immigrants came from Mexico. The remainder were about evenly divided between other Latin American countries and other regions of the world.

• Destination. An estimated 2.4 million lived in California and 1.7 million in Texas (Figure 3-49). In 2017, around 300,000 people were apprehended trying to enter the United States from Mexico without authorization.

• Children. The 11 million unauthorized immigrants included 1 million children. In addition, while living in the United States, unauthorized immigrants have given birth to approximately 4.5 million babies, who are legal citizens of the United States. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) was a policy that President Obama established by Executive Order in 2012 and President Trump rescinded in 2017 that permitted 690,000 individuals brought to the United States as children to remain in the United States legally.

• Years in the United States. The duration of residency in the United States has been increasing for unauthorized immigrants. In a 2013 Pew survey, 61 percent of unauthorized adult immigrants had resided in the United States for 10 years or more, 23 percent for 5 to 9 years, and 16 percent for less than 5 years. A similar survey in 2003 showed a different distribution: 38 percent had been in the United States for less than 5 years, compared to 37 percent for more than 10 years.

• Labor force. Approximately 8 million unauthorized immigrants were employed in the United States, accounting for around 5 percent of the total U.S. civilian labor force. Unauthorized immigrants were much more likely than the average American to be employed in construction and hospitality (food service and lodging) jobs and less likely to be in white-collar jobs such as education, health care, and finance.

Distribution of Unauthorized Immigrants

The largest numbers are in California and Texas.

1.Why might California and Texas be home to the largest number of unauthorized immigrants?

2. Why might the northern plains states have relatively few unauthorized immigrants?