Illegal immigration

[5] An analysis by PolitiFact, however, concluded that the term illegal alien "occurs scarcely, often undefined or part of an introductory title or limited to apply to certain individuals convicted of felonies".

[44] According to economist George Borjas, immigrants may have caused the decline of real wages of US workers without a high school degree by 9% between 1980 and 2000 due to increased competition.

[46] Douglas Massey argues that developed countries need unskilled immigrant labor to fill undesirable jobs, which citizens do not seek regardless of wages.

[46] The majority of new blue-collar jobs qualify as Massey's "underclass" work and suffer from unreliability, subservient roles and, critically, a lack of potential for advancement.

Support for this claim can be seen in a Pew Hispanic Center poll of over 3,000 undocumented immigrants from Mexico in the US, which found that 79% would voluntarily join a temporary worker program that allowed them to work legally for several years but then required them to leave.

[47] Evidence for this may be seen in the average wages of illegal day laborers in California, which was between $10 and $12 per hour according to a 2005 study, higher than many entry-level white-collar or service jobs.

The 1994 economic crisis in Mexico, after the start of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), was associated with widespread poverty and a lower valuation for the peso relative to the dollar.

In practice, however, many asylum seekers are subjected to exceedingly long waiting periods, isolated and unsafe detention facilities, and a high probability of being denied.

In a 2012 news story, the CSM reported, "The estimated 750,000 Rohingya, one of the most miserable and oppressed minorities in the world, are deeply resentful of their almost complete absence of civil rights in Myanmar.

Those trafficked in this manner often face additional barriers to escaping slavery, since their status as undocumented immigrants makes it difficult for them to gain access to help or services.

For example, Burmese women trafficked into Thailand and forced to work in factories or as prostitutes may not speak the language and may be vulnerable to abuse by police due to their undocumented immigrant status.

[73] Additionally, if an employer does not maintain proper safety standards, refuses to pay, or creates overall precarious working conditions, looking for remedies or redress would also mean the risk of having to disclose their status.

Would-be immigrants have been known to suffocate in shipping containers,[85] boxcars,[86] and trucks,[87] sink in shipwrecks caused by unseaworthy vessels, die of dehydration[88] or exposure during long walks without water.

[121] In January 2009, Malaysia banned the hiring of foreign workers in factories, stores and restaurants to protect its citizens from mass unemployment amid the late 2000s recession.

The five largest immigrant groups in Pakistan are in turn Afghans,[124] Bangladeshi,[125] Tajiks, Uzbeks, Turkmens, Iranians, Indians, Sri Lankan, Burmese[126][127] and Britons[128] including a sizeable number of those of Pakistani origin.

Migrants from different countries of Arab world specially Egypt, Iraq, Palestine, Syria, Kuwait, Libya, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen are in the thousands.

That same year, the National Congress of Brazil approved an amnesty, opening a six-month window for all foreigners to seek legalization irrespective of their previous standing before the law.

[139] A Federal Police operation investigated Chinese immigrants who traveled through six countries before arriving in São Paulo to work under substandard conditions in the textile industry.

An October 2009 piece from O Globo, quoting a UNDP study, estimates the number of illegal immigrants at 0.7 million,[141] and points out to a recent wave of xenophobia among the general populace.

In 2007, President George W. Bush called for Congress to endorse his guest worker proposal, stating that illegal immigrants took jobs that Americans would not take.

[169] In 2016, the Library of Congress announced it would substitute "noncitizens" and "unauthorized immigration" for "illegal aliens" as a bibliographic retrieval term, saying the once common phrase had become offensive, and was not precise.

[181] There has been a significant influx of ethnic Georgians, Armenians, Azerbaijanis, Tajiks, and Uzbeks into large Russian cities in recent years, which has been viewed very unfavorably by many citizens and contributed to nationalist sentiments.

Russia's main Pacific port and naval base of Vladivostok, once closed to foreigners, today is bristling with Chinese markets, restaurants and trade houses.

[192] The main causes for this increase are the conflicts that followed the Arab Spring; in particular, the civil war in Syria has driven millions of people from their homes, and the disintegration of the Libyan government removed a major barrier for the African migrants.

[198] In the summer of 2015, Hungary started building a 4m high fence along its 175 km border to neighbouring Serbia to keep out the tens of thousands illegal immigrants from the Middle East and migrants trying to reach the European Union.

The United Kingdom is a difficult country to reach as it is mostly located on one island and part of another, but traffickers in Calais, France have tried to smuggle illegal immigrants into the UK.

According to the study these children are at risk of destitution, exploitation and social exclusion because of contradictory and frequently changing rules and regulations which jeopardize their access to healthcare, education, protection by the police and other public services.

[208] On 11 August 2020, the Government of the United Kingdom and France worked together on a single channel to finalize a new plan for blocking illegal migrant route.

Many of the migrants who aimed to emigrate to the United Kingdom came from Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria and countries in Africa, fleeing poverty, persecution or war.

[218][219][220] Iran plans to remove two million undocumented Afghan migrants by March 2025, with authorities reporting a rise in arrests and voluntary returns.