Illegal immigration to the US and misunderstandings

Migrants wait in line to check in with US border agents after crossing the barrier at the border between Mexico and Arizona (USA) – Photo: GETTY IMAGES

Illegal border crossing happens every day and is a “chronic headache” for US officials. In recent years, the number of people illegally crossing the southern border of the United States has increased. This trouble somewhat tarnishes the image of legal immigrants in the US.

Iconic wall

There is a misconception that many people think that the majority of illegal immigrants entering the US are Mexicans (referred to as Mexicans for short). In fact, Mexicans make up only a fraction of the total number of illegal immigrants. In addition to Mexicans, there are Asians, Africans, people from Central and South America.

The second thing that many people misunderstand is that the policies of the US presidents have an impact on the number of illegal immigrants. For example, many people still think that former President Donald Trump’s wall has helped push back the smuggled population without knowing that Mr. Trump has never built any more walls.

The border wall that he often mentioned while in office was actually built many years ago and has always been maintained over time. It belongs to the US Department of Homeland Security and is still seen as a symbolic tool but has never been effective in stopping the flow of people entering the country. illegal residence.

There is also a misunderstanding that the number of illegal immigrants under President Biden has increased sharply because of his perceived “easy” immigration policies. But in essence, Mr. Biden has kept the same policies dating back to the Trump era. Then the number of illegal immigrants increases for what?

In recent years, the number of illegal immigrants has increased sharply, especially in countries with many economic and political problems. Economy has always been the leading reason driving the flow of illegal immigrants. Number of immigrants from countries like Haiti, Venezuela, Nicaragua and African countries gradually become the majority.

Haiti is considered the poorest country in the Americas. Since the 2010 earthquake, Haiti’s economic situation has deteriorated and has never shown any sign of recovery. Meanwhile, Venezuela is a country with abundant petroleum, but because of weak economic policies and governance, Venezuela’s economy is in a serious recession.

Inflation in Venezuela peaked at 686% in 2021, causing many people to leave the country. In general, the majority of people immigrate to the US to find opportunities to live, work and take care of the economy for family.

Politics is also the reason why many people choose to migrate illegally. War and instability still occur every day in many countries, forcing millions of people to leave their homeland.

Will prevent from the outside?

If the above is the main reason why so many people venture across the border into the US, the COVID-19 pandemic has made things even worse. The epidemic raging in Latin American countries has made the economy plummet.

Famine, food shortages and unemployment have become severe just two years after the pandemic. According to statistics, people from Latin American countries are gradually making up the majority of the population border into the US.

To protect the interests and security of the United States, former President Donald Trump issued a Title 42 order, allowing the Department of Homeland Security to “arrest and release” illegal immigrants on the Mexican side of the border. It is worth mentioning that this order is still in effect under Mr. Biden.

Many in the legal and political circles argue that the Title 42 order goes against the international treaty on the admission and assistance of refugees. Second, releasing refugees back to the Mexican border does not solve the problem and is even more unnecessarily costly. Because the US-Mexico border is very long, refugees after being released back to Mexico will immediately find another way back to the US until they successfully cross the border.

There are also many people asking why people don’t cross the border from Canada to the US, but go from under Mexico. This is due to many factors, first of which is geography.

Although the US-Canada border is not strictly guarded, few people choose to cross the border because it is very cold. The harsh climate makes Canada a “natural wall” behind the US.

Second, Mexico is a country with an extensive tourism policy, so it is easy to get a visa. This makes many border crossing people choose to go to Mexico and from there cross the border into the US by land or waterway.

In general, the issue of security at the southern border has always been a headache for US presidents, as well as often become a main content of the election campaign. Recently, Vice President Kamala Harris said that to solve the problem of illegal border crossing, the first thing to do is to help neighboring countries solve the problems they are facing.