Yet every wave of immigration has faced fear and hostility, especially during times of economic hardship, political turmoil, or war:. The situation today differs little from that of years past. Fanned by anti-immigrant extremists, and based largely on myths about immigration's effects on the nation's economy, a virulent anti-immigrant movement has been seeking to curtail the rights of many individuals living in the United States. In , President Clinton signed into law the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of the new welfare law , which took a wide range of federal benefits and services away from both undocumented and legal immigrants, including food stamps and Supplemental Security Income.
SSI benefits were later restored, but only for those immigrants who entered the country before August 22, , the day the law went into effect. It is true that the Constitution does not give foreigners the right to enter the U.
But once here, it protects them from discrimination based on race and national origin and from arbitrary treatment by the government. Immigrants work and pay taxes; legal immigrants are subject to the military draft. Many immigrants have lived in this country for decades, married U. Laws that punish them violate their fundamental right to fair and equal treatment. The Immigrants' Rights Project of the ACLU was established in to challenge unconstitutional laws and practices, and to counter the myths upon which many of these laws are based.
The Project has become one of the nation's leading advocates for the rights of immigrants, refugees and non-citizens. Fact: Much of the anti-immigrant sentiment in this country is based on the unfounded fear that illegal immigrants are pouring over our borders in unprecedented numbers.
In fact, the vast majority of immigrants in our country have entered legally under the strict standards imposed by the Immigration and Nationality Act. Department of Labor has determined no American workers are available; about , refugees who have proven their claims of political or religious persecution in their homelands; and about 55, who are admitted under a "diversity" lottery, begun in , that mainly benefits young European and African immigrants.
It is impossible to determine with any precision how many immigrants take up residence in the U. During his presidential bid, for example, Patrick Buchanan claimed that the undocumented Mexican population was growing by a million or more a year. But according to the report issued by the Binational Study on Migration and commissioned by the U.
The total number of people from all countries who entered illegally or overstayed their visas in was estimated by the INS to be ,, again a fraction of Buchanan's claim, and less than one-tenth of one percent of the U.
Fact: Most economic experts who have studied the relationship between immigration and U. They do this by forming new businesses, raising the productivity of already established businesses, investing capital and spending dollars on consumer goods. A study by Ohio University researchers, for example, found "no statistically meaningful relationship between immigration and unemployment For example, an undocumented man in the state of Texas has access to his local district court to file suit for custody of his children.
Or an undocumented woman arrested and charged with a crime has a right to defend herself in criminal court. Similarly, immigrants facing deportation before the immigration court benefit from the protections of due process. More specifically, a respondent the designation given to a defendant in immigration court has a right to have his or her defense heard before the immigration judge. If the immigrant lives in the U. The rules regarding detention are different for undocumented immigrants facing serious criminal charges or undocumented immigrants who have very recently crossed the border without proper documentation.
Right to Legal Counsel. Under this protection, an accused can obtain representation from a private attorney, if they can afford it, or from a court-appointed attorney to represent them in their defense.
Even an undocumented immigrant facing a criminal charge can receive representation from an attorney, by his or her own means, or through an attorney appointed by the judge. Unless the defendant chooses to represent him or herself, it is unconstitutional to prosecute a defendant, regardless of legal status, without being offered the right to an attorney. When arrested, any individual has the right to remain silent, regardless of their immigration status.
Simply do not give in, and request to have an attorney present. A court-appointed attorney will come free of charge. However, the quality of representation from a court-appointed attorney is something to consider as well.
As the saying goes, you get what you pay for. If arrested, just remember that it may be worthwhile to have your family seek out private counsel for your defense. The right to legal counsel, however, is limited to criminal cases. An undocumented immigrant facing deportation before the immigration court is not granted the right to legal counsel. This is not intended to relay that undocumented immigrants enjoy the same rights and privileges as citizens or legal residents of the United States.
That would be false because the enjoyment of certain rights, such as the rights to vote, run for office, and hold certain federal jobs , are reserved exclusively for United States citizens.
These also happen to be the only rights exclusively enjoyed by U. Constitution by virtue of being physically present in the country. For instance, here is a non-exhaustive list of some rights undocumented immigrants may enjoy stemming from the United States Constitution:.
Upon reflection, public awareness of the constitutional rights of undocumented immigrants does not appear to be widespread knowledge. This leads me to a further reflection as to the possible ignorance of undocumented immigrants of the rights they possess fundamentally and constitutionally. This increased human capital in turn increases productivity at established businesses and in local economies. It will also stimulate investments in new businesses and increase productivity and wages of other workers as well as generate permanent new jobs.
Under this scenario, all undocumented immigrants would be eligible for immediate legalization and a five-year path toward naturalization. The model includes all undocumented workers along with Dreamers, regardless of work status. The authors estimate that 7. Under this scenario, all undocumented immigrants working in essential jobs, as defined by the U. Department of Homeland Security DHS , would be eligible to legalize immediately and access a pathway to citizenship after five years.
Undocumented immigrants are considered eligible for a conditional permanent resident status under the Dream provisions of the law if they arrived in the United States prior to at the age of 18 or younger and have a high school diploma or are enrolled in high school. They are eligible for permanent residency after completing any of the following three criteria: two years of study toward an advanced degree or technical training; two years of military service; or three years of employment, 75 percent of which must be performed while work authorized.
Undocumented immigrants are considered eligible under the Promise provisions of the law if they were eligible for either TPS as of September or Deferred Enforced Departure as of January Undocumented immigrants who were either employed as essential workers or eligible for the American Dream and Promise Act are eligible for legalization and a pathway to citizenship.
Undocumented immigrants are longtime members of their communities, and the nation as a whole, and have made significant economic contributions. As Congress debates further recovery and immigration reform legislation, it must include legalization in those discussions. His research focuses on the economic determinants and consequences of international migrations. Reem Zaiour is a Ph. Her research interests lie at the intersection of migration, labor, and public economics. They would also like to thank Nicole Prchal Svajlenka for her work bringing this report to fruition.
While undocumented individuals are not explicitly identified in U. Census Bureau surveys, researchers have developed methodologies to identify likely undocumented immigrants in these datasets. This analysis uses one such method applied to CPS data. Among adults in the United States, undocumented immigrants represent 3. Their employment rates, average age, and average level of schooling indicate that they are more likely to work in lower-wage jobs than other immigrants or U.
For more detailed summary statistics comparing characteristics of the adult U. Researchers have found that undocumented immigrants, especially undocumented men, have a very high propensity to work and are overrepresented in essential occupations. However, with high levels of employment in more precarious and lower-paying jobs, they can be more vulnerable to an economic slowdown and recession.
Research on undocumented immigrants during previous periods of economic peril, including the Great Recession, supports this, particularly for undocumented immigrants with lower levels of educational attainment and for undocumented immigrants from Mexico. Unfortunately, the picture looked similar for undocumented immigrants in The coronavirus pandemic and ensuing economic crisis confirmed such volatility.
Likely due to the precarious and less protected nature of their employment, the undocumented were among the first workers to lose their jobs when states began stay-at-home efforts to contain the pandemic. Figure 1 shows the employment rate of the U. The data are indexed to December —just before the impacts of the coronavirus would appear in the workforce.
For all groups of workers, the employment rate is relatively steady though February All three groups experienced sharp declines beginning in March , with undocumented immigrants experiencing the most severe drops. Between December and April , the employment-to-population ratio for undocumented immigrants dropped by 16 percent, compared with 13 percent for the U.
Though millions in the United States remain unemployed and the employment rate continues to be well below that of December , to an extent, it has recovered since April Just as is true for the U.
As of December , the employment rate for both undocumented immigrants and the U. A crucial component of estimating the economic outcomes that result from putting undocumented immigrants on a pathway to legal status or citizenship is assessing the impact in two areas: their wages and education attainment or specialized on-the-job training and skills.
The impact of legalization and citizenship on the wages and productivity of undocumented workers has been studied extensively in the field, particularly after the Immigration Reform and Control Act of IRCA —the last major overhaul of the U.
That said, the economy and U. The authors used a Mincerian regression, one in which individual log wages are regressed on a large set of control variables to estimate this wage penalty on data from the and CPS. This method allows for researchers to control for certain characteristics. The largest contributor to the wage penalty for undocumented immigrants is productivity or efficiency differences—mostly that undocumented workers have limited access to certain types of jobs and activities that are considered, in the economic sense, more productive.
Given this wide range, then, what is the best wage increase rate to include in a model projecting the benefits of legalization for undocumented immigrants? Informed by both the traditional IRCA-based estimates and the more recent evaluation of the penalty, this analysis uses a 10 percent wage increase, which is an average of those estimates, as a result of legalization.
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