United States, Mexico and Immigration Concerns

• NCJ Number: 166243
• Author(s): W F McDonald
• Date Published: 1997
• Length: 13 pages
• Grant Number(s): 95-IJ-CX-0110
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Conference Material

Annotation

This paper views illegal immigration as a worldwide issue that must be addressed and particularly focuses on immigration in Europe, the United States, and Mexico.

Abstract

In 1993, interior ministers of 35 European countries agreed to crack down on the wave of illegal immigration, stipulating that the organized smuggling of illegal immigrants would be a criminal offense. They also agreed to establish special police units and mobile surveillance forces according to a standard model and to adopt a common code on border checks. There are approximately 5 million illegal immigrants in the United States, and this number increases by 420,000 percent each year; 54 percent are Mexicans and 40 percent live in California. Employer sanctions have been imposed to control illegal immigration, and States have expressed concern about the effect of Federal unfunded mandates related to immigration. Illegal immigration imposes enormous costs, and some States such as California bear more of the costs than others. The Federal Government has responded in two ways, payments to States for the costs of incarcerating illegal aliens and a program of expedited deportation of criminal aliens. The author believes, however, that employer sanctions and expedited removals are not sufficient to control the problem of illegal immigration and that more effective options should be explored. 18 endnotes