Recently President Donald Trump has put in motion his plans to build a wall on the Mexican border, a wall that he claims can cover 1,000 miles of territory. This wall is estimated to cost anywhere from $10 billion to $25 billion dollars.
But is the real problem here even Mexico?
Most of the debate on illegal immigration has focused on people entering the United States across the Mexican border. But what has been ignored is the fact that a large number of illegal immigrants are actually people who have come into the country legally, but have overstayed their work and study visas, and thus are now here illegally. Yet the number of people overstaying their visas has remained an unknown until very recently; which is surprising, because congress passed a law about 20 years ago calling for the federal government to find a way to track this information. This was the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996.
After the attacks of September 11th, 2001, the issue of an entry and exit tracking system became all the more vital as a tool of national security. So the 9/11 Commission recommended that the Department of Homeland Security create such a system as soon as possible. Two of the hijackers, Satam al-Suqami and Nawaf al-Hazmi, had overstayed their visas.
Since then, the federal government has poured millions of dollars into the effort (New York Times). But it wasn't until 2016 that the Department of Homeland Security finally produced a number of how many foreign visitors are overstaying their visa deadlines to leave the United States.
The Department of Homeland Security found that nearly half a million people in 2015 overstayed their visas.
Number of Visa Overstays in 2015: 482,781 (Department of Homeland Security)
The Department of Homeland Security also provided a breakdown of which countries these foreign visitors were from.
VISA OVERSTAYS EXCEED ENTRIES FROM MEXICAN BORDER
According to the Journal of Migration and Human Security, the number of immigrants who stayed beyond the period authorized by their temporary visas exceeded the number who entered across the southern land border without inspection in each year from 2008 - 2012. (Journal on Migration and Human Security).
Also, according to this same report, the unauthorized resident population was about one million lower in 2013 than in 2007, and that the unauthorized resident population has been in decline since 2000. From 2000-2012, arrivals from Mexico fell about 80 percent. In 2006, the number of arrivals from Mexico fell below the total number of arrivals from all other countries (combined) for the first time.
STILL NO COMPLETE SOLUTION FOR TRACKING ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION
While the Department of Homeland Security finally knows the number of visa overstays, there is still no completely reliable way to track the illegal immigrant population.
In 2004, lawmakers passed legislation requiring Homeland Security officials to accelerate the efforts to create an automated biometric entry and exit data system. This was demanded in the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (PDF).
The government currently gets data on foreigners who leave the U.S. from airlines and passenger vessels, which since 2005, have been required to collect it. The United States records all fingerprints and a picture of all foreign airline passengers visiting the U.S (except Canadians), and keep this information in a database for 75 years (ETN). The Department of Homeland Security is expanding the collection of biometric data, mainly fingerprints, to track foreign travelers' comings and goings by air and sea. But widespread implementation for outgoing flights has stalled. (Pew Research, 2016)
NATIONAL ID CARDS
Some say the only way to truly prevent illegal immigrant labor is the use of a national ID card. The "Legal Workforce Act" (H.R. 1147) is a piece of legislation that has called for such a thing. It is ostensibly aimed at preventing illegal immigrants from obtaining jobs in the United States. An element highlighted by critics, though, is that the bill would purport to mandate a national ID card for every American as a condition of working. It would require every employer in the United States to use an electronic employment eligibility verification system (EEVS) to verify employees. The EEVS would be based on the E-Verify system, and would replace the current I-9 form system which is paper-based and voluntary. The bill would allow employers to make a job offer only after a final verification has been granted by the EEVS.
It would also force every employer in America to purchase and use so-called “E-Verify technology” to check with Washington, D.C., as to whether potential employees have government permission to work. Finally, it would create a massive federal database containing sensitive data on virtually every person in the country — a database that could easily be expanded to include even more information. While such a system would be comprehensive, opponents have argued that at a price tag of $600 million, the bill might not be worth it.
REPORTS
Beyond DAPA and DACA: Revisiting Legislative Reform in Light of Long-Term Trends in Unauthorized Immigration to the United States (Journal on Migration and Human Security) This report discusses the number of illegal in the country, and which number of them are visa overstays.
PRESS RELEASE: CMS Releases Estimates from New Database on US Unauthorized Population (Center for Migration Studies)
A press release about the report that has data on the U.S. illegal immigrant population, and visa overstays.
Homeland Security produces first estimate of foreign visitors to U.S. who overstay deadline to leave (Pew Research Center, 2-3-16)
REPORT: Entry/Exit Overstay Report Fiscal Year 2015 (Department of Homeland Security)
New Pew Report Confirms Visa Overstays Are Driving Increased Illegal Immigration (Center for Immigration Studies, 9-24-13)
REPORT: Population Decline of Unauthorized Immigrants Stalls, May Have Reversed (Pew Research Center, 3-23-13)
Visa Overstays (2013) (Federation for American Immigration Reform)
MAPPING THE DATA OF THE UNAUTHORIZED POPULATION
Estimates of the Unauthorized Population for States (Center for Migration Studies)
THE ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION REFORM AND IMMIGRANT RESPONSIBILITY ACT OF 1996
This is the law passed by congress that required the federal government to find a way to track visa overstays.
Introduced in the House as H.R. 3610 by C. W. Bill Young (R-FL) on June 11, 1996
Committee consideration by House Appropriations,Senate Appropriations, House Judiciary
Passed the House on June 13, 1996 (278–126, Roll call vote 247, via Clerk.House.gov)
Passed the Senate on July 18, 1996 (72–27, Roll call vote 200, via Senate.gov, in lieu of S. 1894)
Reported by the joint conference committee on September 28, 1996; agreed to by the House on September 28, 1996 (370–37, Roll call vote 455, via Clerk.House.gov) and by the Senate on September 30, 1996 (Agreed voice vote)
Signed into law by President William J. Clinton on September 30, 1996
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP'S EXECUTIVE ORDERS
Joint Statement on U.S.-Mexico Relations (White House, 1-27-17)
Executive Order: Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements (White House, 1-25-17)
RELATED NEWS ARTICLES
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP'S PLANS FOR MEXICO
Trump orders construction of border wall, boosts deportation force (CNN, 1-25-17)
Trump’s secret plan to make Mexico pay for a border wall, revealed (Washington Post, 1-27-17)
VISA OVERSTAYS
U.S. Doesn’t Know How Many Foreign Visitors Overstay Visas (New York Times, 1-1-16)
Nearly 500K foreigners overstayed visas in 2015 (USA Today, 1-20-16)
99 percent of illegal immigrants who overstay visas aren’t investigated (Washington Times, 1-20-16)
Rubio says 40% of illegal immigrants stayed in the U.S. after their visas expired (Politifact, 7-29-15)