In the US, an unauthorized immigrant is defined as a foreign-born person who does not possess a valid visa or any other legal immigration documentation, because they entered the US without inspection, stayed longer than their temporary visa permitted, or otherwise violated the terms under which they were admitted.
As per the Center of Immigration Studies, the total immigrants (both legal and illegal) grew to 46.7 million in early 2022, an increase of 1.7 million since January 2021, of which there were an estimated 11.35 million illegal immigrants in the country — a 1.13 million increase since January 2021. According to the Pew Research Center, 60% of these immigrants are from Mexico, 20% are from other Latin American countries, 11% comes from South and East Asia. Geographically, within the US, in 2017, California had 2 million and Texas had 1.6 million undocumented immigrants. Additionally, New York, Florida, Illinois, and several states along the eastern border have a large population of undocumented people.
A reason for many unauthorized immigrants who come through the southern US border is that they often do not have options for lawful entry because they do not have any family relationship that can sponsor them: the majority of them do not have advanced degrees or work in high-skilled professions, and therefore don’t qualify for work sponsored lawful residency. They also don’t qualify as asylees because of economic hardship, which is instead available for people fleeing persecution. Immigrants fleeing persecution or fearing future persecution can seek political asylum, but even they have to prove it with lot of documentation; there is a cap on refugees – between 70,000 to 80,000. People from the Northern Triangle countries (El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras) are subjected to unprecedented level of violence and atrocities in their home countries. They are unprotected and insecure, and hence resort to cross border immigration to save their lives from violence. However, this does not apply to many unauthorized immigrants, who are usually fleeing poverty and striving for better economic opportunity and a better future.
Per the Pew Research Center, unauthorized workers play a large part in the US economy/workforce, comprising more than 5% of the workforce. 96.7% of Mexican unauthorized workers/immigrants are working and making vital contributions to the US economy. In 2019, unauthorized immigrants earned almost $92 billion in household income and contributed almost $9.8 billion in federal, state, and local taxes. Additionally, they made $11.7 billion of contributions to Social Security and $2.8 billion to the Medicare. After taxes, they held more than $82.2 billion in spending power (the money they are able to spend on housing, consumer goods, and services, to name a few). A relatively high share of unauthorized immigrants works in industries/sectors such as agriculture (14%), construction (12%), leisure and hospitality (8%), personal and other services (7%), and manufacturing (6%).
Unauthorized immigrants who make it to the US face difficulty in navigating their life, along with the looming fear of deportation. They are unable to get a driver’s license, health coverage, Social Security Number, and have no financial footprint, resulting in them remaining underserved and unbanked. They therefore remain both socially and financially excluded/ignored. Per the American Immigration Council, as a part of an effort to provide financial services to unauthorized immigrants and increase financial inclusion, some banks are allowing certain individuals to open checking/saving accounts, credit cards, and home mortgages without the need of a Social Security Number, instead allowing the use of an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) issued by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) or an identification card issued by a foreign consulate in U.S. For example, in February 2007, Bank of America announced a pilot program in Los Angeles, California, offering credit cards to individuals without a Social Security Number or credit history, instead using ITINS. Unfortunately, many financially inclusive efforts such as these, aiming to increase financial inclusion and reach underserved communities, have been met with lot of opposition and public hostility. This has been an issue for quite a long time – about 62% of unauthorized immigrants have stayed in the US for more than 10 years, and about 20% have for 20 years or more. Many unauthorized immigrants now have families, own homes, have children born in the US, and are working to integrate themselves within the broader US society.
Over the past couple of decades, there have been multiple attempts through public policies and legislations with regards to unauthorized immigration in the US. For example, the Dream Act, which aimed to grant temporary residency, with the right to work, to illegal immigrants who entered the United States as minors, and if they satisfy further qualifications, potentially attain permanent residency, has been introduced multiple times in Congress with an aim to recognize increased rights and opportunities for unauthorized immigrants. Additionally, the American Dream and Promise Act of 2021 (which has passed the House of Representatives) and the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021 have been introduced to provide a path to legal residence and eventual citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants in the US. It is clear that as a country, we need to work together to identify and implement an equitable national solution/approach, since unauthorized immigrants have become an integral and valuable part of the economy and communities across the country.
