How Should America Deal With Undocumented Immigrants?

Two publications appeared recently dealing with the U.S. immigrant population that give us much-needed insights into the current state of U.S. immigration.

American Immigrant Council Map

The first was from the American Immigrant Council, an immigration advocacy group, that published an interactive map that can be found here. The map tells us that there are about 45 million immigrants in the United States at the moment. They are almost 14 percent of the population, spend about $ 1.3 trillion a year, pay about $ 500 billion a year in taxes, and include about 22 million eligible voters. The map enables readers to learn more about where immigrants are clustered, breaking down the population by states and even by cities and districts. The map clearly spells out the benefits associated with immigration. One thing to be found in this publication as a matter of interest here is the undocumented immigrant population. This leads us to the second publication.

Center For Immigration Studies Article

The second publication was by the Center for Immigration Studies, an organization that describes itself as “for low immigration, but is pro-immigration.” Their article to be found here is entitled Estimating the Illegal Immigrant Population Using the Current Population Survey and it finds that as of January 2022 there were just over 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country. The article also states that undocumented immigrants account for more than one million (about two-thirds) of the increase in the total foreign-born population since January of 2021 and that the number of such immigrants will soon surpass pre-pandemic totals.

One-Quarter Of U.S. Immigrants Are Undocumented

The most important thing that can be deduced from these two documents is that one quarter of the immigrants in the United States today are undocumented. Doesn’t that suggest that something needs to be done to address this question?

Background On Undocumented Immigrants

By way of background, it is generally known that most undocumented immigrants come here because life, where they have been living, has become intolerable. Whether for political, economic, social, cultural, or climate reasons, it is impossible for them to remain where they are. This country offers the best prospects for a good, stable, safe, and prosperous life for their children and of course for themselves. Note that most of these immigrants entered legally but overstayed their visas and have been resident here for over ten years. When compared to most other countries in the world, the United States offers better opportunities than elsewhere. Unfortunately, the U.S. immigration system does not provide much in the way of legal options for such immigrants to come to the U.S. Instead, with the way the U.S. immigration system is set up at the moment, it is easier for undocumented immigrants to come here outside of proper legal channels than through them.

Canada Uses Different Approach

By way of comparison, it is interesting to see what Canada is doing with its undocumented immigrants. The Toronto Star recently reported that Canada is working on a program to regularize the status of its 500,000 undocumented immigrants. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wants to, “build on existing pilot programs to further explore ways of regularizing status for undocumented workers who are contributing to Canadian communities.” The initiative follows a campaign by advocacy groups pressing the Canadian government to provide a pathway to residency for undocumented workers who, it was argued, are experiencing, “insecure housing, abuse at work, poverty, and fear.” They argued that such a proposal would lead to, “a life of dignity and safety.” Like is the case in the United States, most of those undocumented immigrants in Canada came legally but overstayed their visas. Most are long-term residents in Canada looking for a path to legalize their presence.

Brazil Uses Liberal Approach

Something similar exists in Brazil, That country adopted a program that is very liberal. Under their New Migration Law, someone in Brazil with irregular immigration status can apply for a residence permit if, for example, the individual has a job offer. Immigrants can regularize their immigration status, provided that they pay the fine for an irregular stay – 100 reais per day, up to a maximum of 10,000 reais.

Piecemeal Immigration Policy

The United States Approach to the problem of undocumented immigrants is more piecemeal.

For example, back in June of 2012, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it would no longer deport certain undocumented youth who came to the United States as children. Instead, they were allowed to get a type of temporary permission to stay in the U.S. called “deferred action.” The Obama administration called this program Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA. On September 7th, 2022, DHS issued a final rule that, with limited changes, continues the DACA policy, including the criteria for qualifying for DACA, as well as the existing process for DACA applicants to request work authorization.

As for certain adult immigrants, Congress created Temporary Protected Status (TPS) in the Immigration Act of 1990. It is a temporary immigration status provided to nationals of specifically designated countries that are confronting an ongoing armed conflict, environmental disaster, or extraordinary and temporary conditions.

In both these instances, portions of the undocumented population are being helped. The question is why couldn’t programs like these be expanded to help others? Are not undocumented immigrants in America just as vulnerable to “insecure housing, abuse at work, poverty and fear” as those in Canada? Should they not also have, “a life of dignity and safety?”

Other Options Tried

There are other ways to address the problem. For example, one way would be to move the Registry Date forward. This option merits further comment. Many years ago, Canada had a successful de facto resident program where undocumented residents could legalize their residence in Canada after ten years provided they could show good behavior otherwise. It was a great program and helped clear the deck of long-term unauthorized immigration by recognizing that at some point, at the ten-year mark specifically, their contributions to society outweighed their wrongs. This is in essence what the U.S. Registry Date does today, except instead of ten years of presence, it works with the date of 1972 as the date that makes it possible for an undocumented immigrant to be eligible to stay permanently. A more realistic time frame is needed.

There are of course other proposals for immigration reform. Unfortunately, however, it does not appear Congress will come up with something new soon. For this reason, it appears the expansion of the piecemeal approach is the only option for improvements and it will have to continue.