Salem Press

	A good contribution to the study of immigration in the U.S. and is recommended for high school and public libraries. Even libraries that own some of the larger sets on which it is based will appreciate the convenience of having widely scattered material pulled together in two volumes.
Booklist Click here to read the entire review.

Immigration in U.S. History
Illegal Aliens

Definition
Colloquial term for foreign-born persons who enter the United States without legal authorization and those who enter legally but violate the terms of their admission or fail to acquire permanent residence status Immigration issues: Border control; Economics; Illegal immigration; Law enforcement; Mexican immigrants

Significance
The steady increase in the population of undocumented aliens in the United States presents a variety of challenges to the American criminal justice system. In addition to the federal government's monumental problem of enforcing the nation's immigration laws, state and local lawenforcement agencies face a growing problem of criminal activities by illegal aliens. In 1994, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) produced the first detailed national estimates of the numbers of illegal aliens in the United States. The INS estimated that 3.4 million unauthorized residents were in the country in October, 1992. Later, the INS estimated the number to be about 7 million in the year 2000. The U.S. Census Bureau's estimate for that same year 8 million. Since the early 1990's, the annual growth rate of the illegal alien population has ranged between 350,000 and 500,000. At that rate, the number of illegal residents in the United States was about 9 million 334 in 2004. That figure is roughly equivalent to the combined populations of the eleven smallest U.S. states, and some researchers believe that the actual number of illegal aliens is even significantly higher.

The southern neighbor of the United States, Mexico is the single largest source of illegal immigrants. Of the more than 8 million illegal aliens residing in the United States in 2004, about 5.3 million-well over half-came from Mexico. Undocumented Mexican workers in the United States are an important part of the Mexican national economy. They send home an estimated $20 to $30 billion a year.

An additional 2 million illegal aliens were born in other parts of Latin America, primarily Central American nations. Taken together, Mexicans and other Latin Americans make up more than three-fourths of all illegal aliens in the United States. About 10 percent of illegal aliens originate in Asia, while Europe and Canada supply about 5 percent. The rest come from Africa and other parts of the world.

The U.S. Criminal Justice System
The standard American response to illegal immigration has been increased border enforcement through the authority of the federal government. Throughout the 1990's, the numbers of both illegal border crossings and illegal aliens in the United States increased incrementally. Among the strategies to stem illegal immigration were Operation Gatekeeper in California, Operation Hold-the-Line in Texas, and Operation Safeguard in Arizona. All were attempts to deter illegal border crossings. The U.S. Department of Justice allocated unprecedented resources to these innovative strategies, including additional Border Patrol agents, advanced computer systems, and improved security fences, lighting, and support vehicles. As a result, by 1998, the numbers of attempted border crossings and apprehensions dropped to their lowest levels in almost twenty years. However, human rights activists and researchers criticized these efforts and argued that increased surveillance along the border were not preventing illegal entries but were instead forcing undocumented immigrants to seek riskier methods of entering the United States. In response to these charges, U.S. president George W. Bush and Mexican president Vicente Fox later pledged to pursue immigration reform policies to address border enforcement and human rights concerns.

The fact that the terrorist attacks on the United States of September 11, 2001, were perpetrated by illegal aliens made countering illegal immigration a top priority of the Bush administration. After that date, new federal laws and policies were adopted, including the Patriot Act of 2001, the Homeland Security Act of 2002, and the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002. In March, 2003, the Immigration and Naturalization Service was divided into three bureaus within the newly created Department of Homeland Security: the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP); and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

Although the federal government is primarily responsible for securing the nation's borders, the impact of illegal aliens on the criminal justice system reaches far beyond the federal system. Indeed, the problem and its required solutions may have an even deeper impact on state and local jurisdictions. At state and local levels, the costs of arresting, prosecuting, sentencing, and supervising illegal aliens who commit criminal offenses have become a major issue. Some states have filed suits to force the federal government to reimburse them for the costs of criminal justice actions against aliens for whom the federal government is responsible.

The federal government does reimburse states for some costs associated with criminal acts by illegal aliens. Section 510 of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) authorizes the U.S. attorney general to reimburse states for the criminal justice costs attributable to undocumented persons. The Bureau of Justice Assistance, a branch of the Office of Justice Programs, administers the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP), in conjunction with ICE of the Department of Homeland Security. SCAAP provides federal payments to states and localities that incur correctional officer salary costs for incarcerating undocumented aliens who have committed at least one felony or two misdemeanor convictions for violations of state or local law and are incarcerated for at least four consecutive days during a reporting period. During the fiscal year 2004, the total appropriation was approximately $297 million. SCAAP payments are calculated with a formula that provides pro rata shares of the funds to jurisdictions that apply, based on the total number of eligible criminal aliens as determined by ICE. Criminal illegal aliens pose considerable challenges to law-enforcement efforts in part due to the highly criticized stance of many cities and counties that have adopted "sanctuary laws." Such laws are local ordinances adopted in attempts to reduce victimizations of aliens and to improve crime reporting rates among immigrant populations. The National Council of La Raza and other advocacy groups have defended sanctuary laws by arguing that they promote community-oriented policing efforts and protect against racial profiling, police misconduct, and civil rights violations. Critics against the policy contend that such laws allow illegal aliens who commit crimes to circumvent federal law and avoid identification and deportation.

Future Trends
The number of illegal aliens residing in the United States grew steadily throughout the 1990's. More than half of all unauthorized visitors in the country were born in Mexico. According to the Center for Immigration Studies, about 9 percent of living people born in Mexico now reside in the United States. Additional resources to deter illegal border crossings as a result of laws implemented following the September 11, 2001, attacks have done little to slow the influx of illegal aliens and there is no evidence to suggest that current levels of illegal entry into the United States will decrease significantly. Barring major changes in the nation's legal immigration policy or enforcement strategies it is likely that immigration will continue at roughly current levels. More and more people will continue to enter this country lawfully. At the same time, however, it can be expected that many will enter the United States illegally. Controlling the national borders, thwarting organized alien smuggling rings, and identifying and deporting people who are in the United States illegally, especially those who commit crimes, will be priorities.

Wayne J. Pitts

Further Reading
Ahmed, Syed Refaat. Forlorn Migrants: An International Legal Regime for Undocumented Migrant Workers. Dhaka, Bangladesh: University Press, 2000. An international perspective on the problem of illegal immigrants by a Bangladeshi scholar.

Bischoff, Henry. Immigration Issues.Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2002. Collection of balanced discussions about the most important and most controversial issues relating to immigration, including laws regulating undocumented workers.

Cull, Nicholas J., and David Carrasco, eds. Alambrista and the U.S.-Mexico Border: Film, Music, and Stories of Undocumented Immigrants. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2004. Collection of essays on dramatic works, films, and music about Mexicans who cross the border illegally into the United States.

Daniels, Roger. Guarding the Golden Door: American Immigration Policy and Immigrants Since 1882. New York: Hill &Wang, 2004. Study of the impact of ignorance, partisan politics, and unintended consequences in immigration policy during the post-Nine-Eleven war on terrorism.

Kretsedemas, Philip, and Ana Aparicio, eds. Immigrants, Welfare Reform, and the Poverty of Policy. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2004. Collection of articles on topics relating to the economic problems of new immigrants in the United States, with particular attention to Haitian, Hispanic, and Southeast Asian immigrants.

Nevins, Joseph. Operation Gatekeeper: The Rise of the "Illegal Alien" and the Making of the U.S.-Mexico Boundary. New York: Routledge, 2002. Critical history of federal efforts to control the influx of undocumented immigration across the border with Mexico.

Ngai, Mae M. Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2004. Scholarly study of social and legal issues relating to illegal aliens in the United States during the twenty-first century.

Staeger, Rob. Deported Aliens. Philadelphia: Mason Crest, 2004. Informative study of immigration of illegal aliens to the United States and Canada since the 1960's, with attention to changes in immigration law.

Yoshida, Chisato, and Alan D. Woodland. The Economics of Illegal Immigration. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. Analysis of the economic impact of illegal immigration in the United States.

See Also
Border Patrol, U.S.; Chinese detentions in New York; Coast Guard, U.S.; Florida illegal-immigrant suit; Green cards; Immigration and Naturalization Service; Immigration "crisis"; Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986; Justice and immigration; Operation Wetback; Plyler v. Doe; Proposition 187; Undocumented workers.