Underground On American Soil: Undocumented Workers and US Immigration Policy.

• Author: RIVERA-BATIZ, FRANCISCO L.

"The stereotypical image of the illegal immigrant, as an unskilled, logy income worker surreptitiously crossing the Rio Grande is not an accurate one...."

Concerns over illegal immigration have dominated some major American policy debates in recent years. Fears of an uncontrollable number of immigrants crossing through American borders have spawned a number of immigration policy initiatives. Both the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), and the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act have an array of provisions intended to control illegal immigration. Perceived as a rapidly growing mass of unskilled, low-income migrants, undocumented workers are accused of coming to the United States to take advantage of welfare and public assistance programs. It is this view that led to the 1994 enactment of Proposition 187, in which Californians sought to deny public sector benefits to illegal immigrants.

This paper demonstrates that there is no massive "alien invasion" facing the United States and that, if anything, the influx of immigrants through American borders slowed down in the 1990s. Furthermore, the ,stereotypical image of the illegal immigrant, as an unskilled, low-income worker surreptitiously crossing the Rio Grande is not an accurate one. The image presented in the popular media often ignores the great diversity present among immigrants in the US. In reality, a large portion of the illegal immigrant population consists of individuals with higher educational attainment than the average American. Furthermore, low-income immigrants are generally not seeking welfare or other public assistance benefits and, on the contrary, are intensely participating in the labor market.

Why is the public perception of illegal immigrants so far from the truth? The fact is that undocumented workers in American society go largely undetected, living in an underground world that protects their illegal immigration status. It is for this reason that there is comparatively little information about them. Popular views emerge mostly from journalistic accounts, or from case studies carried out by social scientists. These accounts and studies, which are

not representative of the overall illegal immigrant population, have produced a set of stereotypes that are challenged in this article.

The analysis provided here is in part based on data recently released by the US Department of Labor. This data provides an extensive, nationally representative profile of undocumented immigrants residing in the US. We find these data contradict many of the traditional views toward undocumented workers.

AN ALIEN INVASION?

The bashing of undocumented workers often starts with alarmist concerns that the US border is out of control. For instance, in a popular, recent book on immigration, George J. Borjas notes that "any serious reform of immigration policy ... is doomed to failure unless the problem of illegal immigration is also resolved."(2) California Governor Pete Wilson fueled this perception in the mid-1990s, when he declared that the nation was "under siege" from illegal aliens. Many in the press and the government have vociferously complained about the "rising tide of illegals." The figures quoted about the number of undocumented workers flooding the country each year are indeed impressive. For instance, Peter Brimelow, author of Alien Nation, states that in 1993 alone "two to three million illegal immigrants may have succeeded in entering the country."(3) He concludes that "by allowing its borders to vanish under this vast whirling mass of illegal immigrants, the US is running on the edge of a demographic buzz saw. One day, it could suddenly look down to find California or Texas cut off."(4)

Where do these numbers come from? Since the entry of illegal immigrants into the US is undocumented, we cannot count it precisely and it must be based on statistical estimates. The perception of unbridled immigration is often based on the growth in the number of undocumented workers apprehended by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) each year. This number is used to imply that there is a corresponding increase in the flow of those who cross the border undetected. Table 1 shows data on the illegal aliens apprehended in the US every other fiscal year from 1961 to 1997. There has been a sharp surge in the number of apprehensions at the border throughout at the time period. In the 1960s, the average annual number of apprehensions was approximately 160,000. By the 1970s, this figure had grown to about 832,000 and in the 1980s to 1,188,000. In the 1990s, the average annual number of apprehensions rose even more to about 1,351,342.

Table 1 Illegal Aliens Apprehended in the U.S. (1961-1997)

Year Apprehensions 1961 88,823 1963 88,712 1965 110,371 1967 161,608 1969 283,557 1971 420,126 1973 655,968 1975 766,600 1977 1,042,215 1979 1,076,418 1981 975,780 1983 1,251,357 1985 1,348,749 1987 1,190,488 1989 954,243 1991 1,197,875 1993 1,327,259 1995 1,394,554 1997 1,536,520 Source: Immigration and Naturalization Service, Statistical Yearbook, various years.

Although impressive, the rise in illegal alien apprehensions does not necessarily reflect an increase in the number of illegals attempting to cross into the country The number of apprehensions is also related to enforcement expenditures and the efficiency of the INS. When the border patrol works more, and the amount of equipment available to the Patrol--such as infrared sensing devices or motor vehicles--increases, there are more apprehensions. This is independent of the illegal immigrant flow seeking entry into the US.(5)

Government spending on border control has exploded over the last 15 years. INS and border patrol expenditures have more than doubled (in real terms) since 1985, such that today, the border patrol spends over half a billion dollars on its operations. It is not surprising, therefore, that more people seeking illegal entry into the US in the 1990s have been apprehended. This does not mean, though, that there are more people attempting to cross the border illegally. It simply suggests that more of them are being apprehended. Indeed, if one estimates the rise in the number of people apprehended by the additional border enforcement efforts each year, and substracts this figure from the total number of apprehensions, one obtains that the number of apprehensions in the late 1990s (adjusted for enforcement effort) is significantly lower than in the 1980S.(6) From this point of view, the number of people attempting to cross the US border illegally may, in fact, be subsiding, not increasing.

Still, the inflow of undocumented workers is massive. Even with the increased INS activity, it is estimated that perhaps one out of two people seeking to cross the border illegally makes a successful crossing.(7) With over a million people apprehended each year, as many as two million may be crossing the US border undetected. This is the source of many of the alarmist cries that there is an "illegal alien invasion" facing the US. It is, however, a fundamentally flawed view.

Many of the illegal immigrants crossing through the US border checkpoints are transients. Surveys show that the majority of undocumented workers entering the country do not come here to seek welfare payments, health care or other government handouts, as has been suggested by some. They come to work for short periods of time to earn quick money that they can then use to supplement the meager income of their households at home.(8) Undocumented workers see their move to the US as an investment, working long hours to accumulate enough funds with which to quickly return home to anxiously awaiting family members. A huge outflow of illegals is thus taking place in parallel to the huge inflow of people crossing the border.(9) To estimate the number of illegals who are residing in the country at any given time, one must consider the net balance of the inflows and outflows. Simply looking at the inflows is misleading.

HOW...