CH 8 Flashcards
Unauthorized Immigration: the issues
There is no accurate data since unauthorized immigrants seldom reveal their status, but different estimates permit some empirical work.
The motives to migrate are typically the same as those that lead immigrants to seek legal entry, but they do not enjoy the same legal and civil rights.
Employers also face punishment for hiring unauthorized migrants, which leads them to discount this from the perceived marginal productivity.
Consequently wages tend to be lower for undocumented workers
On the other hand countries implicitly accept many unauthorized immigrants.
There are seven principal ways in which non-nationals become unauthorized migrants:
Illegal entry (illegal border crossing)
Entry using false documents
Entry using legal documents, but providing false information in those documents
Overstaying a visa-free travel period or temporary residence permit
Loss of status because of nonrenewal of permit for failing to meet residence requirements or breaching conditions of residence
Being born into irregularity
Absconding during the asylum procedure or failing to leave a host state after a negative response
The most popular estimates of the US unauthorized immigration population are those published by the Pew Hispanic Center
They obtain the number of foreign-born from the Current Population Survey
They add the number of permanent visas
They estimate return migration (least reliable)
They finally estimate illegal immigrants by subtracting legal immigrants from total foreign-born population
Characteristics of unauthorized immigrants, US
According to the Pew Hispanic Center more than half of all unauthorized immigrants in the US were natives from Mexico and 20% from elsewhere in Latin-America
About 60% entered by crossing the border clandestinely and the rest through normal entry points and then overstayed visas
Unauthorized workers are highly concentrated in certain US industries like agriculture, construction, food processing and service.
Some methods used to estimate illegal migration are:
Snel et al. estimate the number of unauthorized immigrants in the Netherlands by examining police records of random identity checks
The US government has obtained information from data on the number of detainees apprehended by the US Border Patrol.
in Spain, Italy, Portugal and Greece records of recent legalizations of immigrants have been used. This method must make assumptions about the proportion of unauthorized immigrants that volunteer to legalize their status
Regardless of the method used, we have to treat the results with some skepticism
The Economic Analysis of Unauthorized Immigration
Hanson and Spilimburgo (1999) analyze the causes of unauthorized migration using the number of US Border Patrol apprehensions
They find that decreases in wages in Mexico sharply increase border apprehensions
US wages have less influence on unauthorized migration
Hanson (2006) concludes that income differences between source and destination countries are directly related to unauthorized migration flows
Unauthorized migration presents certain characteristics: (economic analysis)
On the one hand undocumented immigrants and natives cannot be perfect substitutes since they are not treated the same
They end up working for lower wages and benefits, and in poorer working conditions than legal workers
Moreover, they cannot find employment in all sectors. They tend to concentrate in certain occupations (see table)
Unauthorized Immigration and labor market
If unauthorized workers are willing to work for a salary below the minimum wage, natives and authorized migrants will not work in those jobs and the labor market will be perfectly segmented
Hillman and Weiss point out that in most European countries that attract unauthorized immigrants, foreign workers occupy jobs that natives are not interested in.
Moreover, vigilance is higher in the higher segments of the labor market
Oppression of Unauthorized Workers
The illegal status gives employers added labor market power
Unauthorized immigrants are in danger of being deported
Employers can dismiss the unauthorized workers by simply reporting them to the authorities
As a consequence, undocumented immigrants accept lower wages, poorer working conditions and more abuse in the workplace
On the other hand many employers may treat them on par with legal immigrants fearful of government punishment.
Fiscal Costs and Benefits of Unauthorized Migration
As mentioned in earlier chapters evidence in the US does not support the popular view that immigrants are a fiscal burden
Except for elderly and refugees, the remaining immigrants use government services to a lesser degree than natives
However, not all levels of government are affected the same way by immigrants
State and local governments feel most of the fiscal burden of immigrants since they are less educated and have a larger family
The federal government may even enjoy a net gain due to their contributions to Social Security
unauthorized migration is a result of
Unauthorized immigration is also a result of the destination country’s political process, not an unintended process
Authorities have some freedom to vary the enforcement of immigration laws and regulations
These include how to patrol borders, whether to pursue employers or whether to punish illegal immigrants…
Choices are often political decisions that reflect various interest groups and how they are able to translate their interest into political outcomes
The Fiscal Costs and Benefits of Unauthorized Migration more…
There is little evidence on the fiscal effects of unauthorized migrants
A special report by the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts finds that state government enjoyed a net gain of $425 from the presence of 1.4 million unauthorized immigrants in Texas
Because unauthorized immigrants do not have access to many government services and programs as legal immigrants do and they actually pay sales taxes, property taxes, income deductions from paychecks…in some cases governments may benefit from their presence
Unauthorized Immigration: Employer Sanctions
Probably the most effective way to stop unauthorized immigration
If employer sanctions are high, employers may refrain form hiring immigrants
Sanctions are not used more frequently because it confronts a domestic constituency in the destination country
Civil rights issues arise: non-discrimination checking all workers, mistakes could hurt legal workers
Some countries like Japan have used employer sanction successfully to keep unauthorized immigrant number low
