For many Americans, whose ancestors migrated lawfully to the U.S., it is extremely frustrating that so many immigrants come today outside of lawful channels. Why don’t they just come the legal way, the way that my ancestors did?
Many immigrants do come lawfully, of course, but there are an
estimated 10.8 million undocumented immigrants currently in the U.S. who either entered unlawfully or, after entering lawfully on a temporary visa, overstayed. Why don’t they just come the legal way?
Those are good and reasonable questions. We have to understand both a bit about our country’s history and something of how current U.S. immigration law to answer them.
The reason that my ancestors migrated lawfully to the U.S.—mine came in the mid-19th century from Holland—is that there was no illegal way for them to come. You see, until 1882, there basically was no federal immigration law
: anyone who arrived was welcome to make their life in the U.S.; there were no visas necessary, no consulting with a U.S. consulate before you departed; you boarded a boat and you built your new life in the U.S. That began to change in 1882, with the Chinese Exclusion Act, when the Congress decided that immigrants from China—who some argued were biologically inferior to Europeans—should be kept out altogether. Over the next four decades, we gradually restricted further groups—the poor, the sick, the uneducated, those suspected of holding questionable ideologies—until in 1924, Congress enacted a new immigration quota system that drastically limited immigration. It became extremely difficult to migrate, especially if you were from a country outside of the Northern and Western European countries that were granted the vast majority of the limited number of visas made available.
That changed again in 1965, when President Johnson signed into law a dramatic overhaul of the U.S. immigration system again. America could not and would not go back to an era of open borders, Johnson said as he signed the law, but the new law would base eligibility to immigrate not primarily on race or country of origin, but rather on family connections and employability.
In the nearly fifty years since that last overhaul, that system has worked fairly well for some people-spouses, minor children, and parents of adult US citizen and highly skilled workers with advanced degrees who could find an employer sponsor, for example-but, particularly as our economy has grown but visa quotas have not, the system is not working very well today. Because the quota numbers are much lower than demand, family members can wait up to twenty years to be reunited through the proper legal channels in some cases. The employment-based system is equally dysfunctional, particularly for “low-skilled” workers: under the law, a maximum of
5,000 permanent visas are available per year for employer-sponsored workers other than those who are “highly skilled” or “holding advanced degrees.” The problem is that our economy produces many, many times more jobs for people considered “low-skilled”–jobs that require little to no education, but a willingness to do very hard work–than there are visas. To put things in perspective, back in 1910,
5,000 individuals, most of whom would today be classified as “low-skilled,” entered through Ellis Island in an average
day.
We can tell people to wait their turn in line, but, for example, for a Mexican (or a Guatemalan, a Filipino, a Pole, or folks from many other countries) who does not have a college degree and has no close relatives who are U.S. citizens or green card-holders, there is almost certainly no line for them to wait in: without reform to the legal system, they will not be able to migrate “the legal way” to the U.S., not if they wait ten years, not if they wait fifty years. But if they manage to come unlawfully—and historically we have not made it so difficult to do so, though our borders are much more secure now than they have ever been—they will almost certainly find work—because even in a time of high unemployment, there are certain jobs that most Americans have not proven willing to do. For individuals living in poverty, desperate to support their families, that has been an attractive option. Everyone would prefer to pay a reasonable fee and be granted a visa, but that has not been an option for most of those presently here unlawfully. That, in short, is how we got into this mess, and why so many immigrants—most of them family-oriented people—have ended up undocumented in the shadows of our society.
For a more thorough answer to these questions, we recommend reading chapters 3 and 4 of Welcoming the Stranger: Justice, Compassion & Truth in the Immigration Debate by Matthew Soerens and Jenny Hwang (InterVarsity Press, 2009). To go even deeper in understanding how history and policy relate to this topic, check out the resource page for further book recommendations.
[…] of the myths that prevent practical and comprehensive immigration reform. Here’s a sample of some text I found particularly interesting: We can tell people to wait their turn in line, but, for example, for a Mexican (or a Guatemalan, a […]
[…] right now might be granted lawful permission to resettle in the United States. The most common possibilities for lawful migration, overall, are through being a close relative of a US citizen or being sponsored by an employer as a […]
[…] immigrants that I know—both those who are naturalized citizens and those who, under current law (drastically different than the federal immigration laws of Mr. Roosevelt’s era) are ineligible for legal status—remind me of the best of our American ideals: they are […]
[…] Un-Documented.tv […]
[…] Un-Documented.tv For many Americans, whose ancestors migrated lawfully to the U.S., it is extremely frustrating that so many immigrants come today outside of lawful channels. Why don’t they just come the legal way, the way that my ancestors did? […]
[…] to return to their country of origin without any hope of return (contrary to popular misconception, there's not a "line" in which most would-be immigrants are eligible to wait under current […]
[…] those who are “waiting their turn in line” (most of those who are currently undocumented were not eligible to even get in that line, since they did not have a family sponsor, but the bill wants to ensure fairness to those who are […]
[…] broke a law, he isn’t a criminal. There simply was and is no legal pathway for them. There is no line for them to wait in. If they had an immediate family member who had legal permanent residency or […]
Did your ancestors have to wait 12 years to get a GC, don’t think so. I’ve been in the country legally, paying taxes and contributing to your social security fund for years and nothing. There is no pathway to citizenship if you come here legally.
This is important information, that is not commonly talked about. Thank you.
Se le olvido nombrar el problema de las drogas en Colombia y México, La invasión de las multinacionales americanas a los países de Centroamérica y México, El plan Cóndor, El TLC. El intervencionismo americano a las políticas internas de países latinoamericanos que solo causan pobreza y falta de trabajo… Mire más allá de las fronteras de USA, estudie historia y ahí si encontrara la causa por la cual la gente migra a los Estados Unidos. Es tanta la miseria que a siembra USA que no queda de otra que dejar de comer m***** en la tierra donde se nació e ir a comer m***** en USA
You forgot to name the drug problem in Colombia and Mexico, Invasion of American multinationals to countries in Central America and Mexico, Condor Plan, The TLC. Interventionism American domestic policies of Latin American countries that only cause poverty and lack of work … Look beyond U.S. borders, study history and you can found the reason why people migrate to the United States. Such is the misery that sowing USA that there is no other to stop eating s*** in the land where they were born and go eat s*** in USA
[…] there was grain faraway in Egypt, economic refugees who’d heard there were jobs in America. Without papers, their future isn’t promised to them. Some of our kids are political refugees from Burma and […]
It is so unbelievably frustrating to hear people pose this question sometimes. I have no doubt that most would come legally if there were channels through which they could enter. However, as you mentioned, if you are an unskilled migrant with no family in that states, there is virtually no way to enter the States legally. What can be done to help those who are unskilled or semi-skilled and want to come to the States to give their family a better life?
Even as a “highly skilled individual” I don’t really see any opportunity to legally migrate to the USA. And why would I want to anyway, we “highly skilled individuals” actually tend to have lot of opportunities in our home countries and access to a better standard of living than we could probably get in the USA (since our foreign degrees tend to be ignored).
Jorge, I think a lot of people have the misconception that a) the legal path to migrate to the States is very easy and b) that everyone wants to come to the US. So thank you for sharing your experience and helping correct those assumptions!
But it wasnt just ancestors that migrated legally. People migrate to the US legally from overseas countries everyday. Why are Mexicans acting like their situation is different from every other countrymen on the planet? Or that their case should be treated differently? I live in Chicago, one of the most diverse cities in the US, with nonstop flights from every country imaginable, where over a hundred languages are spoken, where people have recently migrated legally from overseas that came from nothing (poor immigrants) to build a better life – that didnt have a college education, a job lined up, family already here, etc.
@ christine grace: The situation for those from overseas is different, they most likely have political refuge status.
Did you not read the entire article? Seriously, you must not have read the entire article and are commenting on something you are completely in the dark about. He specifically addresses why they CAN’T come legally even if they wanted to.
How the heck has it worked well for the spouses of US citizens and their foreign-born children? I am a US citizen born and bred, and I applied for my wife to come back in November of 2013, and she’s still not here! I have at least 6 more months, and possibly years more of waiting left! This article lies! US citizen spouses are a bottom priority for USCIS and the State Department now, helping illegal immigrants and keeping out “terrorists”, respectively, are higher priorities for both government agencies now.
Hey CJ, thanks for the comment – definitely hoping your wife’s situation gets expedited. I think that proves the point we’re trying to make honestly – the system works “best” and “fastest” for people like spouses of US citizens – and even that wait is pretty long. Certainly a lot longer than I’d ever want to be separated from my wife for sure. Thanks for pointing that out.
Hey, I wanted to know who the author of this article is, and when it was published. I’m writing a paper and need to cite some excellent points in this article.
Thankyou.
I study immigration and if you apply for a visa to come to the US to work or go to school, you can get it. People just want the fast and easy way and the world doesn’t work like that. If you file for a visa in your country, you can get status while here later. You guys have no idea what you’re talking about.
Kat, I would be extremely interested to hear a) where you’re getting your information from b) where you’re studying and c) what visas you’re talking about. Especially in light of the fact that my friend who’s been in the US legally since she was 1 year old, graduated college, then obtained her masters degree just had to leave the country because her employment visa application (filed on her behalf by her job) was denied. I’d like to hear more about your understanding of the visa process.
While this article has been very interesting, I do wish there was something that could be done to help my people (I’m Hispanic). My parents have been living here for almost 20 years and I’m proud of what they have created, a family (4 kids, 2 in college), a stable home, and income – something that they wouldn’t have been able to do in their homeland because of the poor region they used to live in. Sure they came here illegally, but they believed that there wasn’t any other way because they are un-educated about on how to come to the U.S. I’m sure if they had the money and knowledge, they both would have entered the United States legally. However, times have changed and all the government has done was shut the doors when either way, people from different countries have still been able to come through. My people truly believe that the U.S. is the place to find work and make something of themselves where they know they couldn’t have done in their homeland.
Research employement laws of Central America, how do they differ with U.S. Laws?
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