tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/undocumented-migrants-16612/articlesUndocumented migrants – The Conversation2024-03-19T20:42:27Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2262022024-03-19T20:42:27Z2024-03-19T20:42:27ZTexas immigration law in legal limbo, with intensifying fight between Texas and the US government over securing the Mexico border<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582914/original/file-20240319-18-3mjl2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=502%2C0%2C5479%2C3970&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Texas National Guard soldier watches over a group of migrants who crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Dec. 18, 2023. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/texas-national-guard-soldier-watches-over-a-group-of-more-news-photo/1865364688?adppopup=true">John Moore/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The U.S. Supreme Court <a href="https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4542285-supreme-court-texas-law-state-police-to-arrest-migrants/">issued an opinion on March 19, 2024, that Texas can</a> – at least for now – have <a href="https://www.keranews.org/texas-news/2023-12-18/gov-abbott-signs-bill-that-makes-unauthorized-entry-a-state-crime">state authorities</a> <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2024/02/15/texas-immigration-law-sb4-border-court-hearing/">deport undocumented migrants</a>, which has traditionally been the federal government’s responsibility. </p>
<p>Three liberal judges dissented from the opinion that temporarily backed Texas’ controversial new law, known as Senate Bill 4. </p>
<p>“That law upends the federal-state balance of power that has existed for over a century, in which the national government has had exclusive authority over entry and removal of noncitizens,” Supreme Court justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote in their dissent.</p>
<p>The Biden administration had tried to block Texas’ enforcement of SB 4, maintaining that the state law is “flatly inconsistent with federal law,” <a href="https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4540053-supreme-court-pause-texas-law-migrants/">according to a letter</a> U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar wrote to the Supreme Court justices. </p>
<p>The Supreme Court’s decision <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/19/us/supreme-court-texas-immigration.html">tossed the question of SB 4</a> to an appeals court for a ruling. With this 6-3 ruling, the justices also foreshadowed how they could ultimately rule on SB 4 if a ruling by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals is itself appealed to the Supreme Court in the near future. Late on March 19, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-supreme-court-wont-halt-texas-law-illegal-border-crossings-2024-03-19/">the 5th Circuit barred enforcement</a> of the law until it heard arguments in the case.</p>
<p>This decision follows shortly after a failed Senate proposal to tighten border security and make it tougher for people to get asylum in the U.S. It also coincides with Americans’ rising <a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/02/27/immigration-americans-top-problem-us-poll-election">concern about immigration</a>.</p>
<p>Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has been battling with the Biden administration since 2021 over the state’s ability to secure its border with Mexico. Under Abbott’s leadership, <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/republicans-governors-national-guard-and-the-texas-border-what-to-know-/7467727.html">Texas has sent Texas National Guard</a> troops and state troopers to its 1,254-mile-long border with Mexico. Texas is the only border state that has built its own wall, partially dividing itself from Mexico. Texas has also constructed <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/02/09/news/texas-on-track-to-build-more-border-wall-in-state-than-trump-gov-abbotts-says/">more than 100 miles</a> of other barriers along the border.</p>
<p>I <a href="https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/mark-p-jones">am a scholar</a> of Texas politics and government at Rice University’s Baker Institute. Texas’ attempts to control its border with Mexico and intervene on immigration issues – historically both the responsibility of the federal government – derive in part from the fact that many Texans believe that their Lone Star State is unique. </p>
<p>Texas, for starters, is the largest U.S. state among the lower 48, geographically speaking, and the second-most populous after California. It has a distinct state culture and the history of being an independent republic. </p>
<p>Today, Texas is the most powerful and influential red state, pushing back against the Biden administration on many policy issues. It is also home to a small but growing political movement advocating for Texas to secede from the U.S. and become an independent country.</p>
<p>There is a great deal of truth to the popular saying that everything is bigger in Texas.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578708/original/file-20240228-28-ctnbfw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man is seen from the side, holding both an American flag and a Texas flag, which is red and blue with one white star." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578708/original/file-20240228-28-ctnbfw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578708/original/file-20240228-28-ctnbfw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578708/original/file-20240228-28-ctnbfw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578708/original/file-20240228-28-ctnbfw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578708/original/file-20240228-28-ctnbfw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578708/original/file-20240228-28-ctnbfw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578708/original/file-20240228-28-ctnbfw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People protest Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s immigration and border policies in Eagle Pass, Texas, in February 2024.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/counter-protesters-wave-flags-across-the-street-from-local-news-photo/1978653675?adppopup=true">Michael Gonzalez/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<h2>Border security battles</h2>
<p>Over the past several months, Texas has become increasingly enmeshed in a series of skirmishes with the Biden administration over border security and immigration. Abbott, bolstered by <a href="https://uh.edu/hobby/txprimary2024/">Republican voters</a> and the unanimous support of Texas Republicans who dominate the state Legislature, has made Texas more involved in day-to-day border security and immigration enforcement than any state in recent history. </p>
<p>In December 2023, Abbott signed SB 4, which made it a state crime to cross the border illegally and also gives Texas judges the power to deport undocumented migrants. SB 4 will now be implemented, at least until the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals reaches a decision in April.</p>
<p>Abbott’s border security interventions are funded by a 2021 state initiative called <a href="https://gov.texas.gov/operationlonestar">Operation Lone Star</a>. During the program’s first two years, Texas spent <a href="https://www.governing.com/now/2-years-and-4b-later-what-we-know-about-operation-lone-star">US$4.4 billion</a> on a multifaceted strategy that includes, for example, sending Texas <a href="https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/governor-abbott-expands-border-security-operations-in-eagle-pass#:%7E:text=The%20Texas%20Military%20Department%20acquired,created%20by%20the%20Biden%20Administration.">National Guard troops</a> to the border. In some cases, these National Guard <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/4416126-texas-us-legal-standoff-eagle-pass-border/">troops have blocked U.S. Border Patrol agents</a> from patrolling the border. </p>
<p>Now, Texas is spending <a href="https://everytexan.org/2023/10/27/third-special-spending-updated-spending-limits-mean-more-options-for-lawmakers/">$5.1 billion</a> on trying to patrol the border from 2023 through 2025. </p>
<p>This doesn’t include the additional $1.5 billion Texas has allocated for expansion of its <a href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/border-wall-deportation-bills-18480062.php">border wall</a> over the next few years. </p>
<p>Since 2022, Texas has sent more than 100,000 immigrants who arrived in Texas to <a href="https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/texas-transports-over-100000-migrants-to-sanctuary-cities">liberal cities such as New York and Chicago</a>. </p>
<p>And in 2023, Texas constructed a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-buoys-border-immigration-12bc8abddef1c9384b25222b92d0840b">buoy barrier in the middle of the Rio Grande</a>, although a federal appeals court ruled in December that Texas must <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/01/politics/federal-appeals-court-orders-texas-to-remove-controversial-border-buoys-from-rio-grande/index.html">remove those barriers</a> from the river. </p>
<p>The Biden administration has <a href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/biden-lawsuit-border-law-18588009.php">challenged</a> virtually all of these actions in court.</p>
<p>The federal government argues that Texas’ border and immigration activity is unconstitutional, since only the federal government can enforce immigration law. The <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/4416126-texas-us-legal-standoff-eagle-pass-border/">federal government maintains</a> that the new Texas immigration law that allows state authorities to deport migrants also would interfere with the federal asylum process. </p>
<p>In response, Texas says that its border and immigration work is legal, in part because the federal government cannot adequately secure the border. Abbott and other Republicans characterize migrants crossing into Texas as an “invasion,” which they say gives Texas the right to defend itself, as <a href="https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/governor-abbott-issues-statement-on-texas-constitutional-right-to-self-defense">they say the U.S. Constitution allows</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578723/original/file-20240228-24-kgno9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A middle aged white man in a white shirt sits in a. wheelchair and shakes the hand of a soldier who wears a camo uniform, in a row of other people in camp." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578723/original/file-20240228-24-kgno9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578723/original/file-20240228-24-kgno9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578723/original/file-20240228-24-kgno9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578723/original/file-20240228-24-kgno9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578723/original/file-20240228-24-kgno9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578723/original/file-20240228-24-kgno9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578723/original/file-20240228-24-kgno9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tours the U.S.-Mexico border in Eagle Pass in May 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/texas-governor-greg-abbott-tours-the-us-mexico-border-at-news-photo/1240862283?adppopup=true">Allison Dinner/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>What’s unique about Texas</h2>
<p>Understanding Texas’ particular history and Texans’ sense of pride for their state helps to better understand the context behind this current conflict. </p>
<p>In Texas, you can’t travel far without seeing the Texas flag fluttering outside of houses and business storefronts. It is quite common to see people carrying Texas flag-themed Koozies, or wearing Texas flag shirts and hats. </p>
<p>Texas is one of the only U.S. states that went directly from being an independent republic – from 1836 to 1845 – to getting statehood. More than <a href="https://www.tshaonline.org/texas-day-by-day/entry/220">nine out of 10 Texans</a> voted for Texas to become part of the U.S. in 1845. </p>
<p>Texas has also been led continuously by a Republican governor since 1992, when George W. Bush was first elected. No Democrat has won any statewide race in Texas since 1994. </p>
<p>Today, Texas’ executive branch, led by Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton, is the country’s most powerful and vocal opponent of the Biden administration. </p>
<h2>A push to secede</h2>
<p>While the Texas state government is challenging the federal government’s immigration and border powers, there has also been a <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2023/11/15/texas-secession-texit/">rise in support for</a> a political group called the <a href="https://tnm.me/">Texas Nationalist Movement</a>, which since 2005 has been advocating for Texas to secede from the U.S.</p>
<p>Texas’ Republican political leaders have not embraced this secession movement, often called “TEXIT.” Recently, Matt Rinaldi, the ultra-conservative chair of the Texas Republican Party, kept a Texas secession proposition <a href="https://www.tpr.org/government-politics/2023-12-28/texas-gop-rejects-ballot-question-asking-if-state-should-secede">off the Republican primary ballot</a>. </p>
<p>Abbott and other Texas Republican politicians agree with former conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who <a href="https://www.politico.com/blogs/ben-smith/2010/02/scalia-no-to-secession-025119">wrote in a letter in 2006,</a> “If there was any constitutional issue resolved by the Civil War, it is that there is no right to secede.”</p>
<p>But these same Republicans still want Texas to have greater state autonomy from the federal government. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578703/original/file-20240228-22-c5eetx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The words 'Greetings from Texas' are seen on a colorful illustration, with a large red star, blue bulls and smaller images of fruit and flowers." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578703/original/file-20240228-22-c5eetx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578703/original/file-20240228-22-c5eetx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578703/original/file-20240228-22-c5eetx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578703/original/file-20240228-22-c5eetx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578703/original/file-20240228-22-c5eetx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578703/original/file-20240228-22-c5eetx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578703/original/file-20240228-22-c5eetx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A vintage postcard from the 1950s offers greetings from Texas, often known as the Lone Star State.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/vintage-illustration-of-greetings-from-texas-the-lone-star-news-photo/583785842?adppopup=true">Found Image Holdings/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Texas pride</h2>
<p>Abbott and other Texas Republicans continue to assert their right to secure the border and deport undocumented immigrants because they say the federal government is failing to do either effectively. </p>
<p>In addition, Republicans continue to use immigration and border security as a top issue to rally Republican and independent voters heading into the 2024 election. </p>
<p>And, while TEXIT is not going to happen, Texas Republicans will continue to vigorously promote Texas autonomy, appealing to their voters’ Texas pride. </p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of an <a href="https://theconversation.com/military-drones-are-swarming-the-skies-of-ukraine-and-other-conflict-hot-spots-and-anything-goes-when-it-comes-to-international-law-205898">article originally published on Feb. 29, 2024</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/226202/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark P Jones does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Supreme Court announced that Texas can have state authorities arrest and deport undocumented migrants. A lower court has temporarily blocked the law.Mark P Jones, Joseph D. Jamail Chair in Latin American Studies & Baker Institute Political Science Fellow, Rice UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2235202024-02-29T13:42:41Z2024-02-29T13:42:41ZThis is Texas hold ‘em – why Texas is fighting the US government to secure its border with Mexico<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578702/original/file-20240228-28-s1zpjo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Texas National Guard troops try to untangle a migrant caught in razor wire along the Texas-Mexico border on Jan. 31, 2024. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/texas-national-guard-troops-try-to-untangle-an-immigrant-news-photo/1976393392?adppopup=true">John Moore/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are both traveling to Texas border towns on Feb. 29, 2024, and are <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/02/26/biden-trump-border-immigration/">expected to fault each other</a> for chaos in border enforcement and the <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/02/15/migrant-encounters-at-the-us-mexico-border-hit-a-record-high-at-the-end-of-2023/">high number of undocumented migrant crossings</a>.</p>
<p>Their dueling visits follow a failed Senate proposal to tighten border security and make it tougher for people to get asylum in the U.S. They also coincide with Americans’ rising <a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/02/27/immigration-americans-top-problem-us-poll-election">concern about immigration</a>.</p>
<p>Texas Governor Greg Abbott has been battling with the Biden administration since 2021 over the state’s ability to secure its border with Mexico. Under Abbott’s leadership, <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/republicans-governors-national-guard-and-the-texas-border-what-to-know-/7467727.html">Texas has sent Texas National Guard</a> troops and state troopers to its 1,254-mile-long border with Mexico. Texas is the only border state that has built its own wall, partially dividing itself from Mexico. Texas has also constructed <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/02/09/news/texas-on-track-to-build-more-border-wall-in-state-than-trump-gov-abbotts-says/">more than 100 miles</a> of other barriers along the border.</p>
<p>I <a href="https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/mark-p-jones">am a scholar of</a> Texas politics and government at Rice University’s Baker Institute. Texas’ attempts to control its border with Mexico and intervene on immigration issues – historically both the responsibility of the federal government – derive in part from the fact that many Texans believe that their Lone Star State is unique. </p>
<p>Texas, for starters, is the largest U.S. state among the lower 48, geographically speaking, and the second-most populous after California. It has a distinct state culture and the history of being an independent republic. </p>
<p>Today, Texas is the most powerful and influential red state pushing back against the Biden administration on many policy issues. It is also home to a small but growing political movement advocating for Texas to secede from the U.S. and become an independent country.</p>
<p>There is a great deal of truth to the popular saying that everything is bigger in Texas.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578708/original/file-20240228-28-ctnbfw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man is seen from the side, holding both an American flag and a Texas flag, which is red and blue with one white star." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578708/original/file-20240228-28-ctnbfw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578708/original/file-20240228-28-ctnbfw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578708/original/file-20240228-28-ctnbfw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578708/original/file-20240228-28-ctnbfw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578708/original/file-20240228-28-ctnbfw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578708/original/file-20240228-28-ctnbfw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578708/original/file-20240228-28-ctnbfw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People protest Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s immigration and border policies in Eagle Pass, Texas, in February 2024.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/counter-protesters-wave-flags-across-the-street-from-local-news-photo/1978653675?adppopup=true">Michael Gonzalez/Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Border security battles</h2>
<p>Texas is now enmeshed in a series of skirmishes with the Biden administration over border security and immigration. Abbott, bolstered by the unanimous support of Texas Republicans who dominate the state legislature, and <a href="https://uh.edu/hobby/txprimary2024/">Republican voters</a>, has made Texas more involved in day-to-day border security and immigration enforcement than any state in recent history. </p>
<p>In December 2023, Abbott signed controversial new state legislation that makes it a state crime to cross the border without a visa. This legislation, which goes into effect in March 2024, also gives <a href="https://www.keranews.org/texas-news/2023-12-18/gov-abbott-signs-bill-that-makes-unauthorized-entry-a-state-crime">Texas authorities</a> the <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2024/02/15/texas-immigration-law-sb4-border-court-hearing/">right to deport undocumented migrants</a> – which is generally considered the federal government’s responsibility. </p>
<p>Abbott’s border security interventions are funded by a 2021 state initiative called <a href="https://gov.texas.gov/operationlonestar">Operation Lone Star</a>. During the program’s first two years, Texas spent <a href="https://www.governing.com/now/2-years-and-4b-later-what-we-know-about-operation-lone-star">US$4.4 billion</a> on a multifaceted strategy that includes, for example, sending Texas <a href="https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/governor-abbott-expands-border-security-operations-in-eagle-pass#:%7E:text=The%20Texas%20Military%20Department%20acquired,created%20by%20the%20Biden%20Administration.">National Guard troops</a> to the border. In some cases, these National Guard <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/4416126-texas-us-legal-standoff-eagle-pass-border/">troops have blocked U.S. Border Patrol agents</a> from patrolling the border. </p>
<p>Now, Texas is spending <a href="https://everytexan.org/2023/10/27/third-special-spending-updated-spending-limits-mean-more-options-for-lawmakers/">$5.1 billion</a> on trying to patrol the border from 2023 through 2025. </p>
<p>This doesn’t include the additional $1.5 billion Texas has allocated for expansion of its <a href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/border-wall-deportation-bills-18480062.php">border wall</a> over the next few years. </p>
<p>Since 2022, Texas has sent more than 100,000 immigrants who arrive in Texas to <a href="https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/texas-transports-over-100000-migrants-to-sanctuary-cities">liberal cities like New York and Chicago</a>. </p>
<p>And in 2023, Texas constructed a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-buoys-border-immigration-12bc8abddef1c9384b25222b92d0840b">buoy barrier in the middle of the Rio Grande</a>, although a federal appeals court ruled in December that Texas must <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/01/politics/federal-appeals-court-orders-texas-to-remove-controversial-border-buoys-from-rio-grande/index.html">remove those barriers</a> from the river. </p>
<p>The Biden administration has <a href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/biden-lawsuit-border-law-18588009.php">challenged</a> virtually all of these actions in court.</p>
<p>The federal government argues that Texas’ border and immigration activity is unconstitutional, since only the federal government can enforce immigration law. The <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/4416126-texas-us-legal-standoff-eagle-pass-border/">federal government maintains</a> that the new Texas immigration law that allows state authorities to deport migrants also would interfere with the federal asylum process. </p>
<p>In response, Texas says that its border and immigration work is legal, in part because the federal government cannot adequately secure the border. Abbott and other Republicans characterize migrants crossing into Texas as an “invasion,” which they say gives Texas the right to defend itself, as <a href="https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/governor-abbott-issues-statement-on-texas-constitutional-right-to-self-defense">they say the U.S. Constitution allows</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578723/original/file-20240228-24-kgno9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A middle aged white man in a white shirt sits in a. wheelchair and shakes the hand of a soldier who wears a camo uniform, in a row of other people in camp." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578723/original/file-20240228-24-kgno9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578723/original/file-20240228-24-kgno9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578723/original/file-20240228-24-kgno9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578723/original/file-20240228-24-kgno9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578723/original/file-20240228-24-kgno9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578723/original/file-20240228-24-kgno9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578723/original/file-20240228-24-kgno9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Texas Governor Greg Abbott tours the U.S.-Mexico border in Eagle Pass in May 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/texas-governor-greg-abbott-tours-the-us-mexico-border-at-news-photo/1240862283?adppopup=true">Allison Dinner/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What’s unique about Texas</h2>
<p>Understanding Texas’ particular history and Texans’ sense of pride for their state helps to better understand the context behind this current conflict. </p>
<p>In Texas, you can’t travel far without seeing the Texas flag fluttering outside of houses and business storefronts. It is quite common to see people carrying Texas flag-themed koozies, or wearing Texas flag shirts and hats. </p>
<p>Texas is one of the only U.S. states that went directly from being an independent republic – from 1836 to 1845 – to getting statehood. More than <a href="https://www.tshaonline.org/texas-day-by-day/entry/220">nine out of 10 Texans</a> voted for Texas to become part of the U.S. in 1845. </p>
<p>Texas has also been led continuously by a Republican governor since 1992, when George W. Bush was first elected. No Democrat has won any statewide race in Texas since 1994. </p>
<p>Today, Texas’ executive branch – led by Abbott, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton – is the country’s most powerful and vocal opponent of the Biden administration. </p>
<h2>A push to secede</h2>
<p>While the Texas state government is challenging the federal government’s immigration and border powers, there has also been a <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2023/11/15/texas-secession-texit/">rise in support for</a> a political group called the <a href="https://tnm.me/">Texas Nationalist Movement</a>, which since 2005 has been advocating for Texas to secede from the U.S.</p>
<p>Texas’ Republican political leaders have not embraced this secession movement, often called “TEXIT.” Recently, Matt Rinaldi, the ultra-conservative chair of the Texas Republican Party, kept a Texas secession proposition <a href="https://www.tpr.org/government-politics/2023-12-28/texas-gop-rejects-ballot-question-asking-if-state-should-secede">off the Republican primary ballot</a>. </p>
<p>Abbott and other Texas Republican politicians agree with former conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who <a href="https://www.politico.com/blogs/ben-smith/2010/02/scalia-no-to-secession-025119">wrote in a letter in 2006,</a> “If there was any constitutional issue resolved by the Civil War, it is that there is no right to secede.”</p>
<p>But these same Republicans still want Texas to have greater state autonomy from the federal government. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578703/original/file-20240228-22-c5eetx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The words 'Greetings from Texas' are seen on a colorful illustration, with a large red star, blue bulls and smaller images of fruit and flowers." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578703/original/file-20240228-22-c5eetx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578703/original/file-20240228-22-c5eetx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578703/original/file-20240228-22-c5eetx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578703/original/file-20240228-22-c5eetx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578703/original/file-20240228-22-c5eetx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578703/original/file-20240228-22-c5eetx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578703/original/file-20240228-22-c5eetx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A vintage postcard from the 1950s offers greetings from Texas, often known as the Lone Star State.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/vintage-illustration-of-greetings-from-texas-the-lone-star-news-photo/583785842?adppopup=true">Found Image Holdings/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Texas pride</h2>
<p>Abbott and other Texas Republicans continue to assert their right to secure the border and deport undocumented immigrants because they say the federal government is failing to do either effectively. </p>
<p>In addition, Republicans continue to use immigration and border security as a top issue to rally Republican and independent voters heading into the 2024 election. </p>
<p>And, while TEXIT is not going to happen, Texas Republicans will continue to vigorously promote Texas autonomy, appealing to their voters’ Texas pride. </p>
<p><em>This article was updated to reflect that Texas is one of the only states to have first been a republic.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223520/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark P Jones does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Texans’ belief in their state’s exceptionalism has helped fuel support for the Republican state government trying to take border security and immigration enforcement into its own hands.Mark P Jones, Joseph D. Jamail Chair in Latin American Studies & Baker Institute Political Science Fellow, Rice UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2229482024-02-09T16:50:24Z2024-02-09T16:50:24ZModern slavery: how the UK government’s 2023 reforms made it harder for victims to prove they are being exploited<p>As many as <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/modern-slavery-commissioner-home-office-b2491348.html">130,000 people</a> in the UK are trapped in modern slavery, according to the recently appointed independent anti-slavery commissioner, Eleanor Lyons. These people are forced to work in a variety of <a href="https://www.antislavery.org/slavery-today/slavery-uk/#:%7E:text=Criminal%20exploitation%20is%20often%20driven,forced%20labour%20in%20cannabis%20production.">exploitative situations</a>, ranging from cannabis farms to building sites to sex work. </p>
<p>Lyons has been <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/modern-slavery-commissioner-home-office-b2491348.html">raising concerns</a> that the government has cut her budget by almost a fifth, but there have also been serious issues with the system for assessing modern-slavery complaints. Known as the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/human-trafficking-victims-referral-and-assessment-forms/guidance-on-the-national-referral-mechanism-for-potential-adult-victims-of-modern-slavery-england-and-wales">national referral mechanism</a>, it was reformed by the government in <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/modern-slavery-how-to-identify-and-support-victims/modern-slavery-statutory-guidance-for-england-and-wales-under-s49-of-the-modern-slavery-act-2015-and-non-statutory-guidance-for-scotland-and-northe">January 2023</a> to try and take some administrative pressure away from the Home Office and speed up decision-making. </p>
<p>From <a href="https://business.leeds.ac.uk/research-innovation/dir-record/research-blog/2213/an-update-on-modern-slavery-trends-in-the-uk-analyses-of-uk-national-referral-mechanism-nrm-statistics">our analysis</a> of the data, however, these reforms made the situation for potential victims considerably worse. </p>
<h2>The reforms</h2>
<p>The referral process begins when a potential victim notifies an authority, such as a police force or a charity, that they are in an exploitative work situation. The authority makes an online referral to the Home Office, which then decides whether there are reasonable grounds to believe modern slavery is taking place. </p>
<p>If so, the victim becomes entitled to things like financial assistance and temporary protection from deportation, while the Home Office also instructs the relevant police force to take appropriate action against those being accused of exploitation. </p>
<p>It used to be that the authority, known in <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/modern-slavery-how-to-identify-and-support-victims/modern-slavery-statutory-guidance-for-england-and-wales-under-s49-of-the-modern-slavery-act-2015-and-non-statutory-guidance-for-scotland-and-northe">the guidance</a> as the “first responder”, made the referral purely based on a victim’s story. But following the reforms, they additionally had to provide “objective evidence” such as other eyewitness testimonies or findings from a police investigation. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://nwgnetwork.org/nrm-newsletter-nationality-and-borders-act-2022/">government’s thinking</a> was that this would mean the Home Office wouldn’t need to keep going back to first responders for more information. However, we see several concerning trends. </p>
<p>Until 2022, the number of “reasonable grounds” decisions by the Home Office was steadily increasing. During 2023, it is on course to have declined, as shown by the the chart below (only the first three quarters are available so far). </p>
<p><strong>‘Reasonable grounds’ decisions per year, 2014-23:</strong></p>
<p>The proportion of positive decisions has fallen after years of holding steady, particularly in relation to adult claims, though children are down too. </p>
<p><strong>Positive ‘reasonable grounds’ decisions by age group (%), 2014-23:</strong></p>
<p>The lead time for positive decisions has greatly increased. Decisions previously took four to six days, roughly in line with a Home Office <a href="https://www.local.gov.uk/publications/council-guide-tackling-modern-slavery">target commitment</a> of five working days. It rose to 21 days in the second quarter of 2023 and then 47 days in the third quarter. </p>
<p>This seriously affects potential victims, because without a positive decision, they can only access limited support like emergency accommodation and emergency medical assistance. Managing these increased emergency requirements has also been an added burden for first responders and councils. </p>
<h2>Final-stage decisions</h2>
<p>Once a positive “reasonable grounds” decision has been made, the Home Office needs to make a final decision on a claim. Over the past decade, these “conclusive grounds” decisions have been far slower than initial decisions. In 2019, for instance, there were 9,290 “reasonable grounds” decisions but only 3,615 final decisions (including pending decisions from previous years). The average decision time increased from 105 days in 2014 to 369 days in 2018, then 539 days in 2022. </p>
<p>To reduce the backlog, the Home Office has hired extra staff. This has led to a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/modern-slavery-national-referral-mechanism-and-duty-to-notify-statistics-uk-january-to-march-2023/modern-slavery-national-referral-mechanism-and-duty-to-notify-statistics-uk-quarter-1-2023-january-to-march">significant increase</a> in the number of final-stage decisions since 2022.</p>
<p><strong>Final-stage decisions 2014-23:</strong></p>
<p>The Home Office <a href="https://nwgnetwork.org/nrm-newsletter-nationality-and-borders-act-2022/">has also blamed</a> decision speed on “timely sharing of information” by first responders and potential victims. The 2023 reforms sought to address this not only by increasing the initial referral threshold but also by setting a deadline of 14 days for responders and potential victims providing additional information. </p>
<p>It’s unclear whether this has helped. The average decision time was 566 days in the first quarter of 2023, 451 days in the second quarter and 530 days in the third quarter. That looks like a stabilisation, though we’re still far from the Home Office’s <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/modern-slavery-how-to-identify-and-support-victims/modern-slavery-statutory-guidance-for-england-and-wales-under-s49-of-the-modern-slavery-act-2015-and-non-statutory-guidance-for-scotland-and-northe">30-day target</a>. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, the proportion of positive final decisions dropped. It’s unclear whether this is due to the higher referral threshold, the 14-day deadline or because first responders don’t have the capacity to help victims. </p>
<p>Whatever the case, it’s particularly bad news for immigrant victims, since they can only be given temporary leave to remain in the UK if they have a positive final decision.</p>
<p><strong>Positive final decisions 2014-23 (%)</strong></p>
<h2>Reforms to the reforms</h2>
<p>Within months of the reforms, the government faced <a href="https://hopeforjustice.org/news/uk-home-office-withdraws-harmful-reasonable-grounds-rules-after-legal-challenge/">several legal challenges</a> by slavery claimants who had received negative decisions. The claimants argued that this was despite having made credible cases.</p>
<p>The government responded by agreeing with the legal challenge and <a href="https://www.helenbamber.org/resources/latest-news/new-test-reasonable-grounds-decisions-modern-slavery-guidance-withdrawn">clarifying its guidance</a> in July 2023, in what amounted to a partial U-turn. It emphasised that the Home Office could consider all forms of evidence including the victim’s account, and that in some cases there would be no need for additional evidence. It also made clear that it is the Home Office and not the first responder’s responsibility to collect all available information.</p>
<p>The clarifications probably mean that the lead times for initial and final decisions has peaked. However, a major reversal seems unlikely, and time will tell whether the rate of positive final decisions will return to previous levels. </p>
<p>The government also climbed down over an additional rule introduced as part of the reforms that potential victims with convictions for murder, manslaughter or terrorism-related activities couldn’t benefit from a slavery decision. Instead they were to receive a Home Office <a href="https://nwgnetwork.org/nrm-newsletter-nationality-and-borders-act-2022/">public-order disqualification</a>, terminating <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/63d7ab6fe90e0773d50c752e/Adults_at_risk_Detention_of_victims_of_modern_slavery.pdf">their needs-assessment process</a>. </p>
<p>Between January and September 2023, 334 disqualifications were issued. Again, the policy became the subject of a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/jul/26/home-office-ordered-to-change-rules-that-restrict-help-for-trafficking-victims">judicial review</a>, amid concerns that potential victims <a href="https://www.matrixlaw.co.uk/news/high-courts-orders-no-public-order-disqualifications-of-slavery-victims-may-take-place-without-a-risk-assessment-pending-trial/">might have been</a> forced by their exploiter to commit the crimes in question. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/modern-slavery-national-referral-mechanism-and-duty-to-notify-statistics-uk-july-to-september-2023/modern-slavery-national-referral-mechanism-and-duty-to-notify-statistics-uk-quarter-3-2023-july-to-september">government duly stopped</a> issuing disqualifications, though it didn’t help the 334 people excluded under the reforms. The government has also <a href="https://modernslaverypec.org/assets/downloads/Modern-Slavery-PEC-Explainer-Illegal-Migration-Act-v.2.pdf">since introduced</a> new grounds for disqualifications for illegal immigrants. </p>
<p>To see how these changes affect modern slavery decisions in the UK, we’ll be watching the new data closely as it becomes available. In the meantime, the 2023 data reveals the price that potential victims of modern slavery paid for the government’s reforms. It was clearly a policy that did much more harm than good.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222948/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In early 2023 the evidence threshold for making complaints about modern slavery increased. New findings show how it has affected victims’ chances of success.Ying Zhang, Research Assistant in Human Rights, University of LeedsChee Yew Wong, Professor of Supply Chain Management, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2016952023-05-04T16:13:05Z2023-05-04T16:13:05Z‘I’m always delivering food while hungry’: how undocumented migrants find work as substitute couriers in the UK<p>Luca* had not been working long as an online food courier when we met him on a cold winter’s day in a square in the city centre. This was where many food couriers waited for orders to “drop” into their mobile phones.</p>
<p>The 42-year-old husband and father of one was a recently arrived migrant but <a href="https://www.jcwi.org.uk/who-are-the-uks-undocumented-population">not qualified to work in the UK</a>. Luca spoke little English, rented a room with three other people, and earned some money by informally renting food delivery accounts from other couriers as a “substitute” rider. He said this was his first chance of regular paid work since arriving in the UK, adding:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In this square, I could point you to who is renting an account from other people because they cannot register using their own details.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Opportunities to rent someone else’s official account can arise through word of mouth, family members, social media and other community websites. Mario, another undocumented migrant in his late 20s, explained that he would constantly browse different social media platforms to identify new courier accounts to rent, in case his existing ones suddenly became inoperable:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The way I started working was to search on Facebook for ads offering accounts – it’s pretty impressive how these people have all this set up. They asked me if I needed a bike, gear and helmet for an extra fee.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Our <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/irel.12320">research</a> into food couriers in one English city highlights the daily challenges facing undocumented migrant workers in this sector. Despite past <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/deliveroo-and-uber-eats-takeaway-riders-rent-jobs-to-illegal-immigrants-ml36gvp93">news reports</a> highlighting this issue, it was not hard to find and talk to such people about their experiences.</p>
<p>During 2021 and 2022, we got to know seven undocumented migrants who worked as food delivery riders by renting accounts from other riders. We also interviewed 25 documented account holders, of whom three rented their accounts to undocumented couriers for anything from a few hours to weeks at a time.</p>
<hr>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><strong><em>This article is part of Conversation Insights</em></strong>
<br><em>The Insights team generates <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218">long-form journalism</a> derived from interdisciplinary research. The team is working with academics from different backgrounds who have been engaged in projects aimed at tackling societal and scientific challenges.</em></p>
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<p>This is by no means a representative sample – undocumented riders represent a tiny fraction of the UK’s rapidly expanding food courier population. But their experiences are important to understand. Often desperate to secure waged work but with no options for lawful employment, they are willing to accept pay standards well below the UK’s <a href="https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates">national minimum wage</a> and put up with stressful working conditions.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ive-worked-in-precarious-jobs-for-more-than-10-years-heres-what-unions-should-do-to-support-migrant-workers-205309">I've worked in precarious jobs for more than 10 years – here's what unions should do to support migrant workers</a>
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<p>The undocumented couriers we spoke to typically said they struggled to make enough money to pay off their debts and support their families, despite often working seven days a week. Mario, who was single and lived with friends, linked his long hours and the physical nature of his work with sustaining various injuries as well as mental stress:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I can take some money home but at very high costs: long hours on the bike, aching knees and joints, back problems from carrying the thermal bag – [and then] dealing with the account broker … They are such a pain, and you are always like: “Yes, sir.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Some couriers also described receiving abuse from other riders on social media – for example, in response to their posts looking for accounts to rent. The documented couriers regard this activity as harming their prospects of securing decent pay and working hours.</p>
<h2>‘A choice between eating or getting documents’</h2>
<p>The undocumented couriers we interviewed were aged between 20 and 40, and possessed little or no English. They had arrived from different parts of the world, incurring loans and other debts to enter the UK – which were then added to by the need to buy or rent the bicycles, helmets, thermal bags and other gear to start working as a food delivery rider.</p>
<p>Edu, who was in his mid-30s, told us that before making any money for himself or his family back home, he first had to put money aside to pay off the debts he had incurred to get to the UK. He had arrived with a tourist visa nearly a year earlier, helped by an “agency” back in his home country. He said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I earn money for me and my family, but first and foremost to pay off any debt … I work every day to try to earn as much as possible. Money is tight, but somehow I am managing.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Poignantly, he told us that he often goes short of food himself while working as a delivery rider:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’m always delivering food while hungry … I will only bring my family [to the UK] when I’m debt-free and I get my documents – but this day may never come. Until then, I work and work and work.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Edu said he relied on other couriers to rent him food delivery account details for a weekly fee that was deducted directly from his wages. Social media and chat groups are ripe with posts offering accounts for rent. Typically, they ask for weekly fees of between £55 and £100.</p>
<p>Edu no longer had his tourist visa and was in the process of securing approval for his right-to-work documentation when we spoke. This presented a daily dilemma for him:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I am dealing with the paperwork and on the phone trying to sort things out, or I am out on the bike trying to earn some money. It’s a choice between eating or getting the [legal] documents.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>On average, our undocumented interviewees earned between £900 and £1,500 a month, after deducting their account and gear rental costs. Working weeks of 80 to 115 hours were common, meaning that they earned well below the UK’s <a href="https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates">national minimum wage</a> (at the time of our interviews, £9.50 per hour for workers aged 23 and over).</p>
<p>The insecure and informal nature of this work results in hyper-precarious lives. The prohibitive costs of city accommodation in the UK, for example, are often minimised by renting rooms with other migrants. Interviewees described sharing a single bedroom with up to three other people.</p>
<p>Body aches and extreme fatigue were part of life for Edu as he tried to overcome the low pay by working long hours every day:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The way I see it is, on weekdays I work to pay off my debts from back home, plus the bike and account rental. Weekends, when I work the most hours, are for me and my family … On Fridays and weekends, I sometimes work over 15 hours each day to compensate for the little money I take home during the week.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>‘Easy to cut through the red tape’</h2>
<p>The UK online food ordering and delivery industry is currently valued at <a href="https://www.ibisworld.com/united-kingdom/market-size/online-food-ordering-delivery-platforms/">£2.75 billion</a>, having grown almost 30% each year since 2018. The number of public users of these food delivery services is currently put at 12.7 million – equating to almost one in four UK adults.</p>
<p>Riders who deliver for online food platforms are self-employed, with flexibility a key selling-point for these <a href="https://theconversation.com/ken-loachs-new-film-on-the-gig-economy-tells-exactly-the-same-story-as-our-research-125743">“gig economy” jobs</a>. This includes the ability to ask a substitute to deliver on the rider’s behalf if he or she is unavailable. But our research confirms that some people, usually couriers themselves, use the substitution rule to rent out multiple accounts in different food delivery apps to supplement their income. As Anthony, a 30-something “courier-broker”, observed:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I know that some [account holders] run real businesses here by renting multiple accounts, gear, the lot … This means that the demand [for accounts] is there … but it also tells you how easy it is to cut through the red tape.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The online food platforms all have strict regulations regarding who is allowed to work as a delivery courier. For example, both <a href="https://riders.deliveroo.co.uk/en/support/new-riders/what-documents-do-i-need">Deliveroo</a> and <a href="https://www.uber.com/gb/en/deliver/">Uber Eats</a> – two of the <a href="https://medium.com/edison-discovers/in-uk-food-delivery-battleground-just-eat-takes-1-spot-with-45-market-share-e81f79f7133b">UK’s largest food delivery companies</a> – make clear on their websites that all couriers must be able to prove their right to work in the UK, including as a <a href="https://riders.deliveroo.co.uk/en/substitution">substitute</a> <a href="https://www.uber.com/gb/en/deliver/basics/before-you-start/staying-safe-with-the-uber-app/#substitute">rider</a>. When approached for comment about the issues raised in this article, both companies stressed that this policy is strictly enforced at all times.</p>
<p>However, responsibility for checking that substitute riders are qualified to work ultimately lies with the account holders themselves, and our research found multiple examples of undocumented migrant workers, as well as other documented but ineligible or banned riders, working informally as substitute couriers.</p>
<p>Sam, another courier who was renting out his accounts, told us he was “constantly looking out for potential new rentals” (individuals who are looking to rent accounts), but that “where I dedicate more time is in setting up new accounts”. These may come via friends and family members who are willing to register new accounts on multiple platforms for him, so he can rent them out to other couriers.</p>
<p>Sam, in his late 30s, had been renting out accounts to both documented and undocumented workers for three years, charging a weekly fee of £70. He added:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s not like I’m expecting to get rich from this. But it gives me some pocket money to be more comfortable.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>One of the documented couriers we met during an earlier round of interviews also worked for a union that supports food couriers. Mark, who was in his mid-20s, said it was increasingly common to see undocumented couriers engaging in food delivery because platform companies were “pretty much passing the legal responsibility and costs on to the rider who is renting out the account”.</p>
<p>If you are a legitimate account holder, Mark explained:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>You’re supposed to do a criminal record, right-to-work check on whoever you’re handing the account to. But we all know that is not going to happen because it’s too much hassle.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As well as the initial checks, couriers then receive regular prompts to submit a <a href="https://riders.deliveroo.co.uk/en/news/facial-verification">selfie</a> through the account app to verify their identity. Sam explained how he gets round this identity-checking system when renting the account to an undocumented or disqualified rider:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If you’re using the account and the photo [prompt] comes up, you can message me, and I will log in [to the app] and take a selfie … I just need to verify my identity this way. Then you log back in, and that’s it.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Deliveroo stressed that it operates a zero-tolerance policy towards riders who fail to meet their obligations when they appoint another person to complete orders. It added that it conducts regular sweeps of its riders to search for any indication of suspicious or illegal activity, and is rolling out new identity verification technology to further strengthen its system of ID checks. A spokesperson said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Deliveroo riders are self-employed and those who work with us must have the right to work in the UK. Riders have these checks completed before signing up with Deliveroo, and riders who engage substitutes – for example lending accounts to friends or family to do deliveries – are contractually responsible for doing the same. Should a rider subcontract to an individual without right-to-work status, Deliveroo would end their contract immediately. These obligations are clearly and consistently communicated to all riders.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Uber Eats stated that it takes immediate steps to deactivate an account if any breach is found to have taken place, and that it carries out regular identity verification on account holders to ensure that the owner retains control of their account. A spokesperson said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>All couriers who use the Uber Eats app are required to pass a criminal background check, be over the age of 18, and hold a valid right to work in the UK. Any courier that fails to meet these criteria will have their access to the app removed.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Living ‘in constant anxiety’</h2>
<p>The nature of food courier work, with pay per delivery and high workforce competition, means the riders – whether using bicycles, ebikes or mopeds – can be exposed to <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2022/nov/road-collisions-more-likely-takeaway-delivery-riders-working-gig-economy">health hazards and safety risks</a>, in some cases resulting in <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0950017020969593">serious injury</a>.</p>
<p>As well as accidents with cars and road rage incidents with drivers, our interviewees also highlighted the dangers from “cutting corners” – for example, running red lights and riding on pavements. However, both Deliveroo and Uber Eats stressed that they do not have strict delivery deadlines, and that riders are encouraged to adhere to the rules of the road at all times.</p>
<p>While some food platform companies, including both <a href="https://riders.deliveroo.co.uk/en/support/insurance/what-is-covered-by-deliveroo-insurance">Deliveroo</a> and <a href="https://www.uber.com/gb/en/drive/insurance/">Uber Eats</a>, offer their riders insurance while delivering, many documented couriers feel the need to buy more comprehensive coverage.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-heroes-left-behind-the-invisible-women-struggling-to-make-ends-meet-198210">COVID heroes left behind: the 'invisible' women struggling to make ends meet</a>
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</em>
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<p>But this option is not available to undocumented riders. Accidents can make them “visible”, jeopardising both their immediate ability to work and any future prospect of securing legitimate right-to-work status. This may lead them to avoid seeking treatment if an injury is sustained, instead continuing to work and thereby risking doing further damage to their physical and mental health.</p>
<p>Undocumented riders must also deal with the constant stress of being “shopped” for their lack of qualifications, or of losing their income stream if an account owner suddenly stops renting it to them or the food platform shuts it down. As a result, these riders usually access accounts from multiple sources to protect their income stream – including renting from family members or tight networks they may have built up before arriving in the UK.</p>
<p>Mario talked of living “in constant anxiety” about suddenly finding he cannot access his rented account:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I get so distressed because then I have to spend hours looking for a new [account], which obviously means I’m not making any money … It can be that the account expired, or simply that the broker rented to someone else who’s willing to pay more money.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Another hurdle can be how undocumented migrants receive their wages, since all payments go to the account holder in the first place. Money exchanges rely on a high degree of trust, as Sam explained:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>All details associated with the account are mine, apart from the mobile number. I just transfer the money but keep the [account rental] fee. They can cash out daily or weekly.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Deliveroo highlighted that it carries out “systemic bank account checks” to verify the account holder is also the owner of the bank account.</p>
<p>Our interviewees told us that the account brokering system can, in some cases, lead to abusive and coercive behaviour towards undocumented couriers. Some described working in a perpetually hostile environment amid the twin threats of not being paid and of being exposed for their undocumented activity. We also saw numerous social media posts and chat rooms in which documented food couriers threatened to expose undocumented couriers.</p>
<p>A spokesperson for Deliveroo stressed that all forms of harassment or discriminatory behaviour are completely unacceptable, and that specific harassment claims are immediately investigated.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Food couriers outside a McDonald's restaurant" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523807/original/file-20230502-3336-l8bw6m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523807/original/file-20230502-3336-l8bw6m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523807/original/file-20230502-3336-l8bw6m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523807/original/file-20230502-3336-l8bw6m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523807/original/file-20230502-3336-l8bw6m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523807/original/file-20230502-3336-l8bw6m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523807/original/file-20230502-3336-l8bw6m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Undocumented couriers interviewed for this study worked long hours for well below the national minimum wage.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/leicester-united-kingdom-september-4-2021-2053381370">SMC Photo/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Informal work across the UK</h2>
<p>The number of undocumented couriers working in app-based food delivery throughout the UK is unclear. But <a href="https://www.accaglobal.com/content/dam/ACCA_Global/Technical/Future/pi-shadow-economy.pdf">studies</a> <a href="https://labordoc.ilo.org/discovery/fulldisplay/alma994951689602676/41ILO_INST:41ILO_V1">show</a> there has been a recent increase in informal work and employment practices in many UK sectors. Since 2016, businesses using undocumented workers – those without residence status or visas – are estimated to have generated between <a href="https://www.accountancydaily.co/acca-estimates-shadow-economy-value-ps223bn">10% and 12%</a> of the UK’s annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP).</p>
<p>We know from our <a href="https://www.ntu.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0034/1782295/WIP_GLAA_RCWS-Report-CAN-HAND-CAR-WASHES-BE-IMPROVED.pdf">wider research</a> that undocumented workers are a growing presence in a number of UK sectors. For example, at hand car washes, undocumented labour from Albania, sub-Saharan Africa, Iraq, and Kurdistan now competes with documented workers from eastern Europe. This has pushed day wage rates down to subsistence levels, with workers in some cases forgoing wages in favour of food and shelter.</p>
<p>In cash-only nail bars, a sector that has witnessed exponential growth in England and Wales, <a href="https://www.antislaverycommissioner.co.uk/media/1160/combating-modern-slavery-experienced-by-vietnamese-nationals-en-route-to-and-within-the-uk.pdf">most workers are inappropriately documented</a>. For example, they may be students who have remained in the UK beyond the terms of their student visa, or undocumented migrants who have entered the UK with the help of a “travel courier” – more commonly referred to as a trafficker. If you look in a nail bar you will typically see generous staff levels, but there are few, if any, adverts for technician jobs.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/its-like-youre-a-criminal-but-i-am-not-a-criminal-first-hand-accounts-of-the-trauma-of-being-stuck-in-the-uk-asylum-system-202276">'It’s like you’re a criminal, but I am not a criminal.' First-hand accounts of the trauma of being stuck in the UK asylum system</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Both cash-only nail bars and hand car washes frequently fail to comply with regulations regarding health and safety and planning permission. Because they are unregulated, the status of those engaged (workers, contractors, or employees) is invisible to enforcement agencies, which <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bjir.12286">our research</a> found are typically more interested in patterns of ownership, the potential for money laundering, and migrant dissemination than labour rights.</p>
<p>In contrast, online food platform companies such as Deliveroo and Uber Eats abide by all UK laws and regulations. But our research supports <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/deliveroo-and-uber-eats-takeaway-riders-rent-jobs-to-illegal-immigrants-ml36gvp93">previous reports</a> that have shown the sector’s rider substitutes system is being misused by some account holders, putting undocumented migrants who take advantage of this system at risk of harm and abuse. We believe stronger oversight on the part of the UK authorities is needed, if informal working in the food delivery sector is not to grow further and put more vulnerable people at risk.</p>
<p>In its response, Deliveroo stressed that it is constantly working to improve oversight of its riders, including by introducing new technology and working collaboratively with the relevant authorities. It added that riders’ use of substitutes is a legitimate right of the self-employed workforce, and rejected any comparison with other labour markets.</p>
<p><em>*All names of interviewees have been changed to protect their identities</em></p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>For you: more from our <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">Insights series</a>:</em></p>
<ul>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/its-like-youre-a-criminal-but-i-am-not-a-criminal-first-hand-accounts-of-the-trauma-of-being-stuck-in-the-uk-asylum-system-202276?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">‘It’s like you’re a criminal, but I am not a criminal.’ First-hand accounts of the trauma of being stuck in the UK asylum system
</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/a-toxic-policy-with-little-returns-lessons-for-the-uk-rwanda-deal-from-australia-and-the-us-201790?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">‘A toxic policy with little returns’ – lessons for the UK-Rwanda deal from Australia and the US</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-heroes-left-behind-the-invisible-women-struggling-to-make-ends-meet-198210?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">COVID heroes left behind: the ‘invisible’ women struggling to make ends meet
</a></em></p></li>
</ul>
<p><em>To hear about new Insights articles, join the hundreds of thousands of people who value The Conversation’s evidence-based news. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/the-daily-newsletter-2?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK"><strong>Subscribe to our newsletter</strong></a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201695/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pedro Mendonça receives funding from the Royal Society of Edinburgh.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Clark receives funding from The Art's and Humanities Research Council/Modern Slavery Policy and Evidence Centre, the Home Office Modern Slavery fund and the National Crime Agency. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nadia Kougiannou does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Our study of food delivery workers in one English city highlights the daily challenges facing undocumented migrants in this sector.Pedro Mendonça, Associate Professor of Work and Employment, Heriot-Watt UniversityIan Clark, Professor in Work and Employment, Nottingham Trent UniversityNadia Kougiannou, Associate Professor of Work and Employment, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1902572022-09-09T08:23:32Z2022-09-09T08:23:32Z5 essential reads on migrant access to healthcare in South Africa<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483525/original/file-20220908-24-jfkrlw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Members of Operation Dudula sing and chant slogans during their protest outside the Kalafong Hospital in Atteridgeville township, west of Pretoria, restricting undocumented migrants from accessing healthcare.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Phill Magakoe/ Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The hostility against foreign nationals that has been <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-09-01-operation-dudula-calls-off-protests-at-kalafong-hospital-after-fruitful-meeting-with-health-minister/">displayed</a> outside some of South Africa’s hospitals is not new or isolated. South Africa is home to <a href="https://www.sahrc.org.za/index.php/sahrc-media/opinion-pieces/item/1422-ensuring-health-and-access-to-health-care-for-migrants-a-right-and-good-public-health-practice">about 2 million</a> immigrants, many of whom struggle to access a variety of public services, including healthcare. </p>
<p>The question of whether migrants place unnecessary pressure on the health system must be put into perspective. Two realities need to be highlighted. </p>
<p>The first is that South Africa’s health system has been plagued by problems and it functions poorly as a result of poor governance. It is a highly unequal system which places significant pressure on public healthcare. There are general shortages of nurses and doctors, high workloads, low morale among staff and multiple burdens of disease. Corruption also plays a role.</p>
<p>The second is that migration – the movement of people into and across South Africa – is a reality and must be planned for.</p>
<p>Experts writing for The Conversation Africa have explored these issues in a number of articles: we’ve collected five of them here. </p>
<h2>Good relationships with migrants</h2>
<p>Small, organised groupings of South Africans have pushed an anti-migrant sentiment which is closely linked to the country’s dire economic situation, partially caused by increased poverty, scarcity of resources and high unemployment rates. </p>
<p>There is evidence that the statements that fuel these sentiments are false and that South Africans and migrants can live together in good relationships. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/xenophobia-does-not-tell-the-full-story-of-migration-in-south-africa-182784">Xenophobia does not tell the full story of migration in South Africa</a>
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</p>
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<h2>Medical xenophobia</h2>
<p>The health minister for South Africa’s Limpopo province was recorded on video berating a Zimbabwean woman for crossing the border to access healthcare in South Africa.</p>
<p>This is not the only case. There are often reports of healthcare providers indiscriminately practising “medical xenophobia”. But this dominant, single narrative around migrants and health care is misleading.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/telling-the-complex-story-of-medical-xenophobia-in-south-africa-127040">Telling the complex story of 'medical xenophobia' in South Africa</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<h2>Better system design</h2>
<p>The public health system isn’t engaging adequately with migrants and this has an effect on the way the system operates.</p>
<p>What South Africa needs is a health system that considers population movement in the way that policies and interventions are designed.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-healthcare-system-cant-afford-to-ignore-migration-120797">South Africa's healthcare system can't afford to ignore migration</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The law allows migrants access</h2>
<p>South Africa has a collection of laws that set out exactly how healthcare services should be provided. This includes the constitution, the National Health Act and the Refugee Act. </p>
<p>The state must provide free care to everyone, except for people covered by private medical aid schemes.</p>
<p>The blame on migrants is misplaced. The real issue is health system management and governance. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/migrants-in-south-africa-have-access-to-healthcare-why-its-kicking-up-a-storm-189574">Migrants in South Africa have access to healthcare: why it's kicking up a storm</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Healthcare at the border</h2>
<p>Although most immigrants come to South Africa in search of work opportunities and better living conditions, they inevitably need healthcare. </p>
<p>A study by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) around the South African-Zimbabwe border sets out what services foreign nationals seek most often, and how. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-migrants-who-move-between-zimbabwe-and-south-africa-access-healthcare-in-border-towns-189822">How migrants who move between Zimbabwe and South Africa access healthcare in border towns</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190257/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Small, organised groups of South Africans who are stopping undocumented foreigners from using hospitals bring the issue of migrants accessing healthcare into the spotlight.Candice Bailey, Strategic Initiatives EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1554482021-04-14T19:19:17Z2021-04-14T19:19:17ZColombia gives nearly 1 million Venezuelan migrants legal status and right to work<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394624/original/file-20210412-21-1bf4hu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5472%2C3637&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Venezuelans wait at the Colombian border to be processed and housed in tents in 2020. All Venezuelans now in Colombia will receive a 10-year residency permit.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/venezuelans-queue-as-they-are-being-transferred-from-the-news-photo/1219988930?adppopup=true">Schneyder Mendoza/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Colombia will <a href="https://idm.presidencia.gov.co/prensa/presidente-duque-anuncia-decision-historica-de-crear-estatuto-de-proteccion-210208">grant legal status</a> to all Venezuelan migrants who fled there since 2016 to escape their country’s economic collapse and political crisis. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/news/press/2021/2/60214cf74/unhcr-iom-welcome-colombias-decision-regularize-venezuelan-refugees-migrants.html">bold new policy</a> – which will give nearly 1 million undocumented migrants rights to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/03/11/columbia-is-letting-hundreds-thousands-venezuelans-stay-what-can-other-countries-learn/">legal employment, health care, education and Colombian banking services</a> for 10 years – is driven by both empathy and pragmatism, says Colombian president Ivan Duque.</p>
<p>“They’ll likely stay for more than a decade,” Duque <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/03/03/972907206/colombias-president-on-amnesty-for-venezuelans-we-want-to-set-an-example">told NPR on March 3, 2021</a>. “So it’s better to…open them the opportunity to contribute also to the Colombian economy.”</p>
<p>Venezuelan arrivals to Colombia are <a href="https://theconversation.com/refugees-from-venezuela-are-fleeing-to-latin-american-cities-not-refugee-camps-103040">not confined to refugee camps</a>, so they live scattered across the country. Documenting and absorbing so many migrants – who often arrive on foot, with only a handful of personal belongings and no valid ID – has been a challenge. Even rich countries like the U.S. struggle to handle mass migration. </p>
<p>But in some ways Colombia – itself no stranger to political strife and displacement – is uniquely prepared for this migration crisis.</p>
<h2>History of conflict</h2>
<p>Colombia has received the brunt of the exodus from neighboring Venezuela since 2015. </p>
<p>When many other South American countries <a href="https://theconversation.com/latin-america-shuts-out-desperate-venezuelans-but-colombias-border-remains-open-for-now-123307">closed their borders</a> with Venezuela, Colombia offered a series of two-year permits giving <a href="https://reporting.unhcr.org/node/2542#_ga=2.110002501.1926605164.1616027328-1253781668.1616027328">about 700,000 Venezuelans</a> the right to <a href="https://www.migracioncolombia.gov.co/venezuela/pep">work and access to health care</a> between 2017 and 2020. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394610/original/file-20210412-15-8g2ljo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Migrants in a line wearing face masks in a verdant, warm-weather climate" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394610/original/file-20210412-15-8g2ljo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394610/original/file-20210412-15-8g2ljo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394610/original/file-20210412-15-8g2ljo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394610/original/file-20210412-15-8g2ljo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394610/original/file-20210412-15-8g2ljo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394610/original/file-20210412-15-8g2ljo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394610/original/file-20210412-15-8g2ljo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Venezuelan migrants receive food and medicine from the Red Cross near the Colombia-Venezuela border, February 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/venezuelan-migrants-wear-a-face-masks-as-they-queue-to-news-photo/1230935924?adppopup=true">Schneyder Mendoza/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Together with the new legalization plan covering 1 million additional migrants, nearly all the roughly <a href="https://www.migracioncolombia.gov.co/infografias/distribucion-de-venezolanos-en-colombia-corte-31-de-enero-de-2021">1.7 million Venezuelans</a> who have come to Colombia since 2015 will have some form of legal status. New <a href="https://idm.presidencia.gov.co/prensa/abece-del-estatuto-temporal-de-proteccion-para-migrantes-venezolanos-210209">arrivals who are legally processed in the next two years</a> will also be covered.</p>
<p>Colombia is not wealthy. But Colombians understand better than many what it means to be <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/refugee-statistics/download/?url=gPQ6h6">driven from your home</a>. </p>
<p>Over 8 million of Colombia’s 50 million people have been <a href="https://www.unidadvictimas.gov.co/es/registro-unico-de-victimas-ruv/37394">displaced by ongoing civil conflict</a> since the 1990s. At least <a href="https://publications.iom.int/system/files/pdf/wmr_2018_en.pdf?language=es">1 million</a> moved into neighboring Venezuela, seeking safety and opportunity. A government <a href="https://theconversation.com/colombia-has-a-new-peace-agreement-but-will-it-stick-69535">peace agreement with the FARC guerrilla group</a> in 2016 quelled but <a href="https://theconversation.com/violence-and-killings-havent-stopped-in-colombia-despite-landmark-peace-deal-111232">did not end violence in Colombia</a>.</p>
<p><iframe id="Q3HnF" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Q3HnF/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Because of this history, international organizations such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and World Food Program have worked in Colombia for decades. Today, the <a href="https://www.acnur.org/colombia?gclid=CjwKCAjw9r-DBhBxEiwA9qYUpQuDbdwOF7khiSLdQlGTQQumhCQJmSy3QtNvypGkCYLloyeoSJ8KWBoCtaIQAvD_BwE">U.N.’s refugee agency</a> and <a href="https://www.iom.int/countries/colombia">International Organization for Migration</a> are leading <a href="https://r4v.info/en/situations/platform/location/10044">a group of 73 international organizations and agencies</a> to align their work with Colombia’s national humanitarian efforts. <a href="https://r4v.info/en/situations/platform/location/10044">The group</a> works in 14 states across Colombia, providing assistance that ranges from <a href="https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiY2M0Mjc1YjAtYWViNy00MTdlLTllNjgtODk5MTk1NTljMmJhIiwidCI6ImU1YzM3OTgxLTY2NjQtNDEzNC04YTBjLTY1NDNkMmFmODBiZSIsImMiOjh9">distributing COVID-19 hygiene kits to enrolling migrant children in school</a>.</p>
<h2>Humanitarian networks adapt</h2>
<p>The Colombian government also has some <a href="http://www.portalsnariv.gov.co/node/1000">50 agencies</a> dedicated to helping Colombians displaced by armed conflict. Now many are adapting that experience to help Venezuelan migrants.</p>
<p>Since 2019 we have interviewed over a dozen government officials, lawyers and civil society representatives in two Colombian “departments,” or states, that have received <a href="https://r4v.info/en/documents/details/85410">high numbers of Venezuelan migrants</a>: <a href="https://www.atlantico.gov.co/index.php/departamento">Atlántico</a> and <a href="http://www.nortedesantander.gov.co/">Norte de Santander</a>. This work was <a href="https://www.storymodelers.org/absorptivecapacity">part of a broader study</a> on how countries manage mass migration. </p>
<p>At the religious charity <a href="https://pastoralsocialbaq.org/">Secretariado de Pastoral Social-Cáritas</a>, part of the Catholic Archdiocese of the city of Barranquilla, in Atlántico, the longtime director said the migrant situation today looks a lot like it did decades ago when Colombia’s civil conflict peaked in the Atlántico region, with people wandering around, not knowing anyone and not sure what to do or where to go. Then as now, they slept in the parks and on the streets. </p>
<p>“We already lived it in the ‘90s,” said the director of Pastoral Social.</p>
<p>Back then, the group helped the Colombians displaced by fighting to find food and shelter. Now many of its clients are Venezuelan. </p>
<p>The nonprofit <a href="https://opcionlegal.org/">Opción Legal</a> – an umbrella organization that manages refugee programs for the U.N. – has a similar origin story. </p>
<p>At its start 21 years ago, staffers worked in some of the most difficult conflict regions in Colombia, training the nonprofits that help displaced Colombians in accounting and legal processes, among other technical functions.</p>
<p>Now Opción Legal offers Venezuelan migrants free legal advice about getting Colombian health care and education, <a href="https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature/2020/1/9/Venezuela-babies-Colombia-protection">among other services</a>. Using a nationwide network of 22 Colombian universities developed over many years, it trains students and professors to extend the reach of its legal support programs to Venezuelan migrants.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394613/original/file-20210412-23-ot4e2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A green hillside with shacks on it" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394613/original/file-20210412-23-ot4e2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394613/original/file-20210412-23-ot4e2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394613/original/file-20210412-23-ot4e2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394613/original/file-20210412-23-ot4e2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394613/original/file-20210412-23-ot4e2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394613/original/file-20210412-23-ot4e2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394613/original/file-20210412-23-ot4e2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An informal settlement housing many displaced Colombians, on the outskirts of Bogotá.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/general-view-of-the-improvise-settlement-at-the-paraiso-news-photo/1228425652?adppopup=true">Juancho Torres/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Troubles ahead</h2>
<p>In 2019, nearly <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/figures-at-a-glance.html">80 million people across the globe</a> – mostly Syrians, Venezuelans, Afghans and South Sudanese – were driven from their homes by crime, climate change, chronic poverty, war, political instability and disaster, according to the U.N. – <a href="https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/wmr_2020.pdf">an all-time high</a>. Many will spend <a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/dev4peace/2019-update-how-long-do-refugees-stay-exile-find-out-beware-averages#:%7E:text=%22The%20average%20length%20of%20time,are%20spinning%20out%20of%20control.">years or decades</a> waiting for a permanent solution, whether that be settling locally, returning home or finding a new country to make a life. </p>
<p>Colombia’s new legalization plan reflects an assessment that Venezuela’s collapse is a long-term challenge and that integrating migrants is a better solution, economically and socially, than trying to keep out or expel them.</p>
<p>[<em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklysmart">You can get our highlights each weekend</a>.]</p>
<p>Colombia is being <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/news/press/2021/2/60214cf74/unhcr-iom-welcome-colombias-decision-regularize-venezuelan-refugees-migrants.html">internationally applauded</a> for its humanitarianism. But equipping <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2331502419860138">hospitals</a> and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/imig.12839?casa_token=hJTDRD9tfEMAAAAA%3AuWzE3ohN--QrLpsKRfu2lBMGwVttuDh20GxwtB2d9sQN9j8MNNNV3FIjjmxg1JN2--NXtMoE02lspF2s">schools</a> to handle the needs of this rapidly growing and often very needy population will require a lot of money. And most of it will have to come from the international community, because Colombia does not have the money to do it single-handedly. Yet the Venezuelan migrant crisis is a <a href="https://r4v.info/en/situations/platform/location/10044">chronically underfunded</a> area of humanitarian work. </p>
<p>The legalization plan also risks inflaming anti-migrant sentiments in Colombia. Particularly in border areas, some <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/migration-crime-latam-eng-final.pdf">blame rising violence on migration</a> – though evidence shows <a href="https://theconversation.com/venezuelan-migrants-face-crime-conflict-and-coronavirus-at-colombias-closed-border-137743">Venezuelan migrants are more likely to be crime victims</a> than perpetrators. </p>
<p>And Colombia still has <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-colombia-violence/violence-in-some-areas-of-colombia-has-worsened-since-peace-deal-red-cross-says-idUSKCN1R926I">domestic migration problems of its own</a>. Dissident FARC members, other guerrilla groups, drug cartels and insurgencies <a href="https://theconversation.com/violence-and-killings-havent-stopped-in-colombia-despite-landmark-peace-deal-111232">continue to battle over territory and resources</a>, displacing <a href="https://data2.unhcr.org/en/country/col">70,865 more Colombians last year alone</a>. </p>
<p>The Colombian government is betting that the U.N. and international agencies will help it fulfill its ambitious goal of welcoming 1.7 million Venezuelan refugees and migrants. </p>
<p>If it works, that money would improve government services for all Colombians, too. </p>
<p><em>Lia Castillo, Liss Romero and Lydia Sa conducted research, documentation and analysis for this story.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/155448/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Erika Frydenlund receives funding from the Office of Naval Research through the Minerva Research Initiative. None of the views reported in the study are those of the funding organization.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jose J. Padilla receives funding from the Office of Naval Research through the Minerva Research Initiative. None of the views reported in the study are those of the funding organization.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katherine Palacio receives funding as a consultant from the Minerva Research Initiative. None of the views reported in the study are those of the funding organization.</span></em></p>Though not a rich country, Colombia is unusually well equipped to handle mass migration because of its own history with political strife and displacement.Erika Frydenlund, Research Assistant Professor, Old Dominion UniversityJose J. Padilla, Research Associate Professor, Old Dominion UniversityKatherine Palacio, Assistant professor and data analyst, Universidad del NorteLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1295302020-06-09T12:14:20Z2020-06-09T12:14:20ZScientific fieldwork ‘caught in the middle’ of US-Mexico border tensions<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340154/original/file-20200605-176595-13headg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=215%2C0%2C4066%2C2773&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The political border cuts in two a region rich in biological and cultural diversity.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/group-of-young-men-walk-along-the-mexican-side-of-the-u-s-news-photo/107497219">John Moore/Getty Images News via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Imagine you’re a scientist, setting out camera traps to snap pictures of wildlife in a remote area of southern Arizona. You set out with your gear early in the morning, but it took longer than expected to find all the locations with your GPS. Now, on your hike back, it’s really starting to heat up.</p>
<p>You try to stick to the shaded, dry washes, and as you round a bend, you’re surprised to see several people huddled under a scraggly mesquite tree against the side of the steep ravine: Mexican immigrants crossing the border. They look dirty and afraid, but so do you.</p>
<p>“¿Tienes agua?” they timidly ask, and you see their empty plastic water containers.</p>
<p>This fictionalized scenario reflects a composite of real incidents experienced by U.S. and Mexican researchers, including me, on both sides of the border in the course of their fieldwork. While giving aid may be the moral thing to do, there can be consequences. Humanitarian aid workers in Arizona have been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/11/us/scott-warren-arizona-deaths.html">arrested for leaving food and water for migrants</a> in similar situations, and <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/05/28/725716169/extending-zero-tolerance-to-people-who-help-migrants-along-the-border">such arrests have risen</a> since 2017.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340340/original/file-20200608-176595-ekvapg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340340/original/file-20200608-176595-ekvapg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340340/original/file-20200608-176595-ekvapg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340340/original/file-20200608-176595-ekvapg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340340/original/file-20200608-176595-ekvapg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340340/original/file-20200608-176595-ekvapg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340340/original/file-20200608-176595-ekvapg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340340/original/file-20200608-176595-ekvapg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In the course of their fieldwork, researchers can encounter migrants, Border Control agents and drug traffickers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/border-patrol-agents-apprehend-illegal-immigrants-near-the-news-photo/938908426">Loren Elliott/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The U.S.-Mexico border is a region of <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/62085339">significant biological and cultural diversity</a> that draws <a href="https://careers.conbio.org/article/the-need-for-a-next-generation-of-sonoran-desert-researchers/">researchers from a wide variety of disciplines</a>, including geology, biology, environmental sciences, archaeology, hydrology, and cultural and social sciences. It is also an area of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/jsw.2018.0015">humanitarian crisis and contentious politics</a>.</p>
<p>Migrants have always been a part of this area, but dangerous drug cartels and increasing militarization have added additional challenges for those who live and work here. U.S. and Mexican researchers are faced with ethical and logistical challenges in navigating this political landscape. To better understand these complex dynamics, <a href="https://nextgensd.com/researchers/user/taylor-edwards/">my colleagues and I</a> conducted an anonymous survey among researchers who work in the border region to learn how border politics affect collaboration and researchers’ ability to perform their jobs.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340153/original/file-20200605-176538-1ly207h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340153/original/file-20200605-176538-1ly207h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340153/original/file-20200605-176538-1ly207h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340153/original/file-20200605-176538-1ly207h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340153/original/file-20200605-176538-1ly207h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340153/original/file-20200605-176538-1ly207h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340153/original/file-20200605-176538-1ly207h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340153/original/file-20200605-176538-1ly207h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Camera traps meant to take photos of wildlife also capture images of the people traversing this landscape.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Myles Traphagen</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Border fieldwork comes with complications</h2>
<p><a href="http://tumamoc.arizona.edu/about/researchers/benjamin-wilder">Our</a> <a href="https://buhos.uson.mx/PureXML/Investigador/Index/33678-HECTOR%20FRANCISCO%20VEGA%20DELOYA">binational</a>, <a href="https://nextgensd.com/researchers-id/user/michelle-maria-early-capistran/">multidisciplinary</a> <a href="https://wildlandsnetwork.org/person/myles-traphagen/">group</a> <a href="https://nextgensd.com/researchers/user/america-nallely-lutz-ley/">of concerned</a> <a href="https://carolynomeara.weebly.com/">scientists</a> <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/2034443586_Martha_M_Gomez-Sapiens">distributed</a> an anonymous, online survey to 807 members of the <a href="http://www.nextgensd.com">Next-Generation Sonoran Desert Researchers Network</a>. From this group of academic professionals, college students and employees of nonprofit organizations and federal and state agencies who work in the U.S.-Mexico border region, we received 59 responses. While not yet published in a peer-reviewed journal, a summary of our results can be found on the <a href="https://nextgensd.com/n-gen-border-survey/">N-Gen website</a>, and the <a href="https://doi.org/10.25422/azu.data.11977818">original data is available online</a>.</p>
<p><iframe id="nx7cb" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/nx7cb/4/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Researchers in our pre-pandemic study reported feeling safe for the most part while working in the U.S.-Mexico border region. However this may reflect the fact that they adjust their work to stay away from risky places.</p>
<p>Respondents noted the importance of knowing individuals and communities where they work. For instance, one U.S.-based researcher told us, “I feel safe in Mexico where I know landowners and they know me. I don’t feel safe in U.S. public lands due to Border Patrol’s extensive presence, their racial profiling ways and guns pulled on me.”</p>
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<p>Many respondents reported having encountered situations during fieldwork when they felt their security was threatened, occurring relatively equally on both sides of the border. Participants did not express safety concerns due to migrants themselves, but instead pointed to the militarization and criminal activity associated with the region.</p>
<p>Safety concerns on the Mexico side were primarily <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-00458-6">due to drug cartels</a> and other criminal activity. Concerns in the U.S. centered on direct intimidation or “uneasy” or threatening encounters with U.S. Border Patrol, private landowners or militias. </p>
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<p>As a result of safety concerns, many researchers from both countries reported their organization or employer had placed restrictions on working in the border areas of Mexico. In most cases, this meant limiting access to specific areas or requiring additional paperwork or approval through their institution.</p>
<p>Respondents reported logistical issues “altered or disrupted” their ability to perform fieldwork. These problems ranged from trouble crossing the border to difficulty obtaining necessary paperwork and permissions.</p>
<p><iframe id="9OCrG" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/9OCrG/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>One researcher reported that permit delays for shipping scientific equipment across the border had stalled their research for over a year. More than half of respondents said these issues had increased in frequency or caused greater disruption to their work within the last three years.</p>
<h2>Caught in the middle</h2>
<p>Unsurprisingly, most researchers surveyed (69%) said they’ve encountered undocumented migrants while conducting fieldwork in the border region, although infrequently.</p>
<p>In situations of contact, migrants asked for assistance, such as food, water or a ride, a little over half of the time. Researchers drew a clear distinction between their willingness to offer food or water versus providing transportation.</p>
<p>Despite concerns about recent prosecutions of humanitarian aid workers in the border region, the threat was not sufficient to stop most respondents from taking action they viewed as moral or ethical.</p>
<p>“I would have pause given legal ramifications,” one person told us, “But I do not think this would change how I would act.” Survey respondents commented that they felt “caught in the middle” of an “impossible situation,” where the fear of prosecution conflicts with their moral imperative to help people in need.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340152/original/file-20200605-176560-hoqvqm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340152/original/file-20200605-176560-hoqvqm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340152/original/file-20200605-176560-hoqvqm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340152/original/file-20200605-176560-hoqvqm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340152/original/file-20200605-176560-hoqvqm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340152/original/file-20200605-176560-hoqvqm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340152/original/file-20200605-176560-hoqvqm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340152/original/file-20200605-176560-hoqvqm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A volunteer collects data as part of an ongoing Borderlands Sister Parks project in Rancho San Bernardino, Sonora, Mexico.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sky Island Alliance</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Overall our results suggest that research is affected by border policies in myriad ways: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biy063">Restricted access</a> to areas <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biz029">reduces scientists’ ability to collect</a> comprehensive data, such as are necessary for conducting biodiversity inventories.</p>
<p>Restrictions directly affecting the ability of researchers to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aal0682">collaborate over international boundaries</a> can limit creativity and discovery. That can have long-term impacts, such as further separating countries’ ability to understand each other and foster <a href="https://theconversation.com/could-science-diplomacy-be-the-key-to-stabilizing-international-relations-87836">meaningful partnerships catalyzed by science</a>, including industrial innovation or ecological sustainability.</p>
<p>Societies have the right to <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/CulturalRights/Pages/benefitfromscientificprogress.aspx">enjoy the benefits of science</a>. This requires that scientists are able to collaborate internationally and to fulfill their functions without discrimination or fear of repression or prosecution.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/129530/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The views expressed are those of the author and do not represent the views of the N-Gen network or its members.</span></em></p>Government policies and dangerous conditions affect the ability of researchers working on both sides of the US-Mexico border to conduct scientific fieldwork.Taylor Edwards, Associate Staff Scientist, University of ArizonaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1332162020-04-06T19:11:40Z2020-04-06T19:11:40ZWhy Latino citizens are worrying more about deportation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320283/original/file-20200312-111300-1ucf47g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Rosa Gutierrez Lopez from El Salvador has been living in sanctuary in a church for a year due to a deportation order.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Immigration-Sanctuary/a606b88fb7684bdab1d0c693772e6273/56/0">AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>“You can’t deport a U.S. citizen,” said a friend recently. My friend is correct on the law. </p>
<p>But that doesn’t stop millions of U.S. citizens from fearing deportation anyway.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1915460117">In a study</a> published on April 6, I found Latino U.S. citizens’ deportation fears to be on the rise. Whereas 41% worried about deportation in 2007, 48% did in 2018. This amounts to about 13.6 million Latino U.S. citizens fearing deportation. </p>
<p>My research, and that of several other scholars, outlines several reasons why Latino U.S. citizens might increasingly fear a form of punishment thought to be reserved for people who lack citizenship. </p>
<h2>Deportation fears</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/hispanic/2018/10/25/views-of-immigration-policy/">Pew Research Center regularly surveys Latino adults</a> who are U.S. citizens and noncitizens. Six times between 2007 and 2018, they asked different survey participants the same question: “Regardless of your own legal status, how much, if at all, do you worry that you, a family member, or a close friend could be deported? Would you say that you worry a lot, some, not much, or not at all?”</p>
<p>My analysis of these people’s answers reveals a surprising pattern. Latino noncitizens, encompassing undocumented and documented immigrants vulnerable to deportation, report a high, but stable, level of fear. </p>
<p>But U.S. citizens, including naturalized immigrants and those born in the country who are ostensibly immune to deportation, report increasing fears. </p>
<p>These changes don’t reflect increasing deportation rates nationwide, which are <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/revving-deportation-machinery-under-trump-and-pushback">lower now</a> than they were for much of the Obama administration. Instead, U.S. citizens’ growing fears reflect heightened national attention to deportation policy and practice since the 2016 U.S. presidential election. </p>
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<h2>Deportable family members</h2>
<p>Deportation touches U.S. citizens through deportable family members and loved ones. An analysis I received from the <a href="https://dornsife.usc.edu/csii">University of Southern California’s Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration</a> reveals to what extent.</p>
<p>Almost 9 million U.S. citizens, most of them children, have at least one undocumented family member. Four out of five of these U.S. citizens are Latino.</p>
<p>But this count captures only a fraction of U.S. citizens with deportable relatives. Millions more have household members with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/lasr.12460">provisional statuses</a> like a visa or green card. Some 20.5 million U.S. citizens – or one of every 13 U.S. citizens – have a relative who is deportable. Sixty percent of these U.S. citizens are Latino.</p>
<p>These Americans are not immune to the effects of the laws and policies targeting their families and communities. When U.S. citizens fear for their loved ones’ safety, they are less likely <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.3102/0002831219860816">to go to school</a>, to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953617301508">get routine medical care</a> and to <a href="http://raceandpolicing.issuelab-dev.org/resources/15261/15261.pdf">call the police</a> in an emergency.</p>
<h2>Mistaken as deportable</h2>
<p>Immigration law does not mention race, but the way it is enforced has racially unequal consequences. </p>
<p>A disproportionate share of Latino U.S. citizens have deportable relatives. Latin American noncitizens <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/lst.2013.14">represent more than 90% of all deportations</a>, even though they account for 57% of all noncitizens. </p>
<p>When laws primarily affect a single racial group, federal immigration officials and everyday people can <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-long-running-immigration-problem-the-government-sometimes-detains-and-deports-us-citizens-119702">mistakenly recognize</a> U.S. citizens as deportable. For example, the federal government <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691160825/impossible-subjects">deported about 200,000 U.S. citizens of Mexican descent</a> during the Great Depression, under the assumption they were undocumented. </p>
<p>This mistaken recognition is happening today too. Between 2007 and 2015, <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/12/22/504031635/you-say-you-re-an-american-but-what-if-you-had-to-prove-it-or-be-deported">more than 1,500 U.S. citizens</a> – many Latino – were unlawfully detained for their suspected deportability. In a 2018 study, researchers found that <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0003122418794635">white Americans most suspected Salvadoran and Mexican immigrants</a> of being undocumented – and least suspected Italians and Canadians. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/07/23/francisco-erwin-galicia-ice-cpb-us-citizen-detained-texas/">Media reports</a> continue to depict cases of Latino U.S. citizens unlawfully detained for suspected immigration violations. </p>
<p>U.S. citizens are not deportable by law. But <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057%2Flst.2013.28">they still worry</a> about being misrecognized as deportable, given the racially unequal enforcement of contemporary immigration laws and policies. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320284/original/file-20200312-111223-ygldce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320284/original/file-20200312-111223-ygldce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320284/original/file-20200312-111223-ygldce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320284/original/file-20200312-111223-ygldce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320284/original/file-20200312-111223-ygldce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320284/original/file-20200312-111223-ygldce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320284/original/file-20200312-111223-ygldce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320284/original/file-20200312-111223-ygldce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Guatemalans who were deported from the United States arrive at La Aurora International airport in August 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Guatemala-Immigration/cc76cad23318461c92ea4d5a6cba2c69/13/0">AP Photo/Moises Castillo</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Mounting obstacles to citizenship</h2>
<p>Growing uncertainty about just how much citizenship shields against deportation also contributes to U.S. citizens’ fears. Two recent events help illustrate this point.</p>
<p>The first is the Trump administration’s <a href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-shift/2020/02/24/public-charge-rule-takes-effect-today-785601">“public charge” rule</a>, recently allowed to move forward by the Supreme Court. Noncitizens have long been ineligible to receive public assistance for themselves. The new rule penalizes noncitizens who receive public assistance to temporarily support their eligible U.S.-citizen children. The penalty is that noncitizens cannot get a green card, a precondition for citizenship. </p>
<p>Although the rule affects <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/news/public-charge-denial-green-cards-benefits-use">fewer than 1% of noncitizens</a>, the uncertainty it has created is already detaching fearful families, most of whom are low-income with origins in Latin America, from the social safety net. About one in seven adults in immigrant families – and one in five adults in poor immigrant families – <a href="https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/public-charge-rule-looming-one-seven-adults-immigrant-families-reported-avoiding-public-benefit-programs-2018">reported in a recent Urban Institute survey</a> that they or a family member avoided the social safety net for this reason. </p>
<p>Intensifying denaturalization efforts are also heightening fears. Denaturalization is the stripping of an immigrant’s acquired citizenship. Historically, it was <a href="https://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/15032.html">reserved</a> for immigrants who committed war crimes; today, it is increasingly used as a tool for federal immigration enforcement. </p>
<p><a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3463902">One study</a> counts 421 denaturalization cases filed against U.S. citizens between 2013 and 2018. This number of cases is small when compared to the population of 20 million naturalized U.S. citizens. But <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/7/18/17561538/denaturalization-citizenship-task-force-janus">ongoing efforts</a> that date back to the Obama administration risk adding to the number of denaturalization cases. The Justice Department <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/26/us/politics/denaturalization-immigrants-justice-department.html">recently created</a> an official section within its immigration office to facilitate this process, <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/department-justice-creates-section-dedicated-denaturalization-cases">due to</a> “the growing number of referrals anticipated from law enforcement agencies.”</p>
<p>Few naturalized citizens will ultimately lose their citizenship. But these publicized denaturalization efforts will <a href="https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/the-road-to-citizenship/9780813569536">exacerbate fears</a> that the rights and privileges of U.S. citizenship are tenuous for immigrants in the country. </p>
<p>In response to my friend’s reminder that U.S. citizens are not deportable by law, I say this: You’re right. But the law as it’s written doesn’t always match how it’s enforced. </p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/133216/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Asad L. Asad does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>About 48% of Latino US citizens fear deportation for themselves, their loved ones or their communities. That’s up from 41% in 2007.Asad L. Asad, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Stanford UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1276522019-12-05T12:42:56Z2019-12-05T12:42:56ZIndia’s plan to identify ‘illegal immigrants’ could get some Muslims declared ‘foreign’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/304998/original/file-20191203-67002-mqcwgz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C43%2C5760%2C3785&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">All voting-age Indians may soon be asked to submit government-issued ID to prove citizenship. That may be a challenge for women, religious minorities and members of oppressed castes.
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/APTOPIX-India-Elections/bab13a5bfac44e63a85c503f6ad3fcad/39/0">AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Indian government will <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/nrc-will-be-conducted-across-india-repeated-in-assam-shah/articleshow/72151491.cms">soon ask</a> its 870 million voting-age citizens for documentation that they are legal citizens with ancestral ties to India. </p>
<p>On Nov. 20, Indian Home Minister Amit Shah <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/nrc-process-to-be-carried-out-in-entire-country-says-amit-shah-in-rajya-sabha/article30027083.ece">announced</a> a plan to expand the National Registry of Citizens, a four-year documentation effort that recently <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-49520593">concluded in India’s northeastern state of Assam</a>, to the entire country. Shah claims that the effort will help identify illegal immigrants in a “<a href="https://time.com/5409604/india-aadhaar-supreme-court/">nondiscriminatory</a>” fashion. </p>
<p>The news was met with some dismay. After Assam finished tallying its 30.5 million people in August, about <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/columns/how-nrc-is-legitimising-exclusion/story-PsRyh4VZkYCPRhTFwUOthM.html">1.9 million were declared “foreign.”</a> Some were Bangladeshi immigrants living in Assam illegally. Others were refugees who <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/india/2015-09-22/when-refugees-were-welcome">migrated to India</a> after Bangladesh’s independence war in 1971. Most were women, members of oppressed castes, religious minorities or poor. </p>
<p>Even some people with paper ID were rejected from the register <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/in-indias-citizenship-test-a-spelling-error-can-ruin-a-family/articleshow/65434885.cms">because of misspelled names or incorrect formats</a>. </p>
<p>As a historian who studies <a href="https://ecommons.udayton.edu/hst_fac_pub/21/">identity and exclusion in India</a>, I know that when governments try to determine who belongs and who does not, the most marginal are inevitably left out. </p>
<h2>India’s many IDs</h2>
<p>India, which was under British rule from the 18th century until 1947, has seen many different governments try to define citizenship.</p>
<p>The British Indian Passport, implemented in the early 20th century, was the first large-scale attempt. The British used their passport to <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0019464613494621?journalCode=iera">give “respectable” Indians</a> the right to travel across British colonies and prevent travel by groups deemed “undesirable” by the colonial government – indentured and migrant workers, anti-colonial and communist dissidents, among others.</p>
<p>After the arbitrarily drawn partition of the British-ruled subcontinent into the sovereign nations of India and Pakistan in 1947, new systems of documentary control were invented to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00856401.2016.1164022">control the ensuing refugee flows</a> between two new countries. </p>
<p>Some of these would later come to serve as evidence of nationality in India. The India-Pakistan Passport, which enabled people to cross freely between the two countries, did double duty as a certificate of citizenship. India’s ration cards, which entitled Indians to welfare distribution in the post-colonial era, also served to verify residency and <a href="https://www.epw.in/author/tarangini-sriraman">allowing inclusion into electoral rolls</a>.</p>
<p>In 2009, India launched the ambitious <a href="https://time.com/5409604/india-aadhaar-supreme-court/">Aadhar project</a>. The goal of this project was to provide a biometric identity and unique identification number to all of India’s 1.3 billion people.</p>
<p>Though critics have raised concerns regarding privacy and surveillance, most Indians <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/99-of-indians-over-18-now-have-aadhaar/articleshow/56820818.cms">now have an Aadhar card</a>. </p>
<p>Yet, in Assam, this card was not considered valid for the state’s citizenship registry. Anyone who has been in India for six months can apply, so the state considered the Aadhar card insufficient proof of residency.</p>
<h2>‘Weaponization of paper’</h2>
<p>Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party have released few details about the planned national extension of the citizen registration process. It is unclear when it would begin, how long it would take and which government agency would lead the process.</p>
<p>But the Indian Ministry of External Affairs stated that it will follow the Assam method of determining citizenship. A spokesman says the state used a <a href="https://www.mea.gov.in/Speeches-Statements.htm?dtl/31782/Statement+by+MEA+on+National+Register+of+Citizens+in+Assam">“fair,” “nondiscriminatory” and “scientific”</a> way to identify illegal immigrants. </p>
<p>To register officially as an Indian citizen, people across the country will have to submit a combination of documents that confirm residence and establish links to India. These include birth certificates, land deeds, prior inclusion within electoral rolls or evidence of government service.</p>
<p>But documentary proof of identity requires access to state services and financial privilege. In India, <a href="https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/english/more-1-million-people-mexico-without-birth-certificate">as in</a> other <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3998/mpub.16208">emerging economies</a>, many people lack government-issued <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/25-of-Indian-births-not-registered/articleshow/12104158.cms">birth certificates</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/feb/25/land-grab-tribal-people-india-adivasi">land deeds</a>. </p>
<p>Traditionally, long-time residence, kinship, language and religion have been sufficient proof of belonging in India. </p>
<p>Critics call Assam’s citizen registry initiative a “<a href="https://thepolisproject.com/suddenly-stateless-conversation-series-refusing-citizenship/#.XdiljS2ZOL8">weaponization of paper</a>” that <a href="https://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/2019%20India%20Issue%20Brief%20-%20Religious%20Freedom%20Implications.pdf">targets religious minorities</a> and marginalized communities.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305011/original/file-20191203-67034-mup0z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305011/original/file-20191203-67034-mup0z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305011/original/file-20191203-67034-mup0z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305011/original/file-20191203-67034-mup0z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305011/original/file-20191203-67034-mup0z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305011/original/file-20191203-67034-mup0z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305011/original/file-20191203-67034-mup0z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305011/original/file-20191203-67034-mup0z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A protest organized by West Bengal activists in Kolkata, India, against Assam state’s citizen registry, Sept. 12, 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/India-Citizenship-Protest/dcc0b2d8a7ac48c0a68b8b443c4369f1/1/0">AP Photo/Bikas Das</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Religious discrimination</h2>
<p>Modi’s commitment to <a href="https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195399318/obo-9780195399318-0040.xml">Hindu nationalism</a> – a political stance that <a href="https://theconversation.com/indias-prime-minister-modi-pursues-politics-of-hindu-nationalism-what-does-that-mean-117794">promotes India as a Hindu nation</a> – has raised concern that any national citizen ID effort will target Muslims, India’s largest majority.</p>
<p>Since entering office in 2014, Modi has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/08/world/asia/kashmir-india-modi.html">revoked the special status of Kashmir</a>, the only Muslim-majority state in India. He has overseen legislation that <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/on-religion/the-violent-toll-of-hindu-nationalism-in-india">economically and socially excludes Muslims</a> and watched silently as <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/12/09/blood-and-soil-in-narendra-modis-india">hate crimes against Muslims</a> surge.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305007/original/file-20191203-67017-1wsxkds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305007/original/file-20191203-67017-1wsxkds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305007/original/file-20191203-67017-1wsxkds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305007/original/file-20191203-67017-1wsxkds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305007/original/file-20191203-67017-1wsxkds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305007/original/file-20191203-67017-1wsxkds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305007/original/file-20191203-67017-1wsxkds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305007/original/file-20191203-67017-1wsxkds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An Indian woman displays her inclusion in Assam state’s final register of citizens, in Pabhokati village, Morigaon district, Assam, Aug. 31, 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/India-Citizenship-Assam/f981f4a4fbe148eebdcba880ab2c51a6/6/0">AP Photo/Anupam Nath</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A particular reason for concern about religious discrimination in the citizen identification process is a separate citizenship bill <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/winter-session-of-parliament-from-monday-govt-set-to-push-citizenship-bill/article29997970.ece">likely to be approved by the Indian Parliament</a>. </p>
<p>It promises to grant Indian citizenship to all Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs and Christians who have fled religious persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh or Afghanistan. Their citizenship would be automatic after a short residency in India and would require no documentary proof. </p>
<p>If that bill passes, the results of any future national citizen documentation process would in effect <a href="https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/the-nrc-is-part-of-the-bjp-s-attempt-to-redefine-india-s-identity/cid/1721784">apply solely to Muslims who cannot prove residency</a>. </p>
<h2>Trauma of exclusion</h2>
<p>Many countries have stumbled during efforts to identify all their citizens. </p>
<p>Periodic U.S. efforts to identify and expel undocumented migrants in the 20th century at times led the government to mistakenly <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-long-running-immigration-problem-the-government-sometimes-detains-and-deports-us-citizens-119702">detain and even deport American citizens</a> who lacked the proper ID.</p>
<p>The 1.9 million Assam residents unable to prove their Indian citizenship may now appeal to the Foreigners’ Tribunals, quasi-judicial bodies created by the Assam government for this purpose. </p>
<p>Those confirmed as “foreign” face potentially lengthy confinement in <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/assam-nrc-detention-camps-for-illegal-migrants-bangladeshi-1596968-2019-09-08">detention centers</a> now under construction to hold newly stateless people. </p>
<p>Deportation is not an option for the majority of people excluded from Assam’s citizenship rolls. They do not have residency elsewhere. Neighboring Bangladesh says it will not accept Assam residents declared to be Bangladeshi immigrants <a href="https://thewire.in/rights/bangladesh-border-assam-nrc">without proof of Bangladeshi citizenship</a>.</p>
<p>For many, the pain of not qualifying as Indian has started taking its toll. At least 30 people excluded from the Assam registry <a href="https://caravanmagazine.in/communities/nrc-exclusion-drove-teenager-suicide-video">have killed themselves</a> this year. </p>
<p>[ <em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=youresmart">You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/127652/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Haimanti Roy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Many women, Muslims and members of oppressed castes in India lack government-issued ID. Yet these documents may soon be required to prove their citizenship.Haimanti Roy, Associate Professor of History, University of DaytonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1268922019-11-12T19:20:44Z2019-11-12T19:20:44ZDACA argued at the Supreme Court: 6 essential reads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301362/original/file-20191112-178525-1r8ckri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People rally outside the Supreme Court as oral arguments are heard in the DACA case on Nov. 12.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Supreme-Court-Immigration/880613bc44b545ceb3bde29df9204638/7/0">AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The future remains uncertain for a group of young people who were brought from other countries to the U.S. as children without legal authorization.</p>
<p>Currently, these young people are protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA. This Obama-era program shields <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/10/6/16431524/daca-how-many">around 700,000 to 800,000 people</a> from deportation. On Nov. 12, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/12/us/supreme-court-dreamers.html">the Supreme Court heard arguments</a> on the Trump administration’s decision to end the program. </p>
<p>The hearing involves three separate cases challenging the Trump administration, brought by <a href="https://www.nilc.org/2019/06/28/scotus-grants-cert-in-daca-cases/">six New York DACA recipients and the advocacy organization Make the Road New York</a>, <a href="https://www.naacp.org/latest/federal-court-naacp-case-restores-daca/">the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People</a> and <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2019/11/12/trump-threatens-daca-youth-why-we-sued-janet-napolitano-column/2562708001/">the University of California</a>.</p>
<p>President Donald Trump first <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/05/us/politics/trump-daca-dreamers-immigration.html">announced he would</a> rescind DACA in 2017. However, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-ruling/second-u-s-judge-blocks-trump-administration-from-ending-daca-program-idUSKCN1FX2TJ">lower court</a> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/immigration/daca-injunction-what-a-federal-judges-ruling-means-for-dreamers/2018/01/10/ecb5d492-f60c-11e7-a9e3-ab18ce41436a_story.html">rulings</a> have blocked the administration from ending the program.</p>
<p>Here is a roundup of archival stories to help you follow along.</p>
<h2>1. DACA’s terms and conditions</h2>
<p>DACA came with a long list of terms and conditions. For example, to apply you had to be a certain age and meet certain educational requirements.</p>
<p>Immigration scholar <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/kevin-johnson-322147">Kevin Johnson</a> of the University of California, Davis, points out DACA offered protection for only about 1.8 million of the estimated 3.6 million people who were brought to the U.S. as children. </p>
<p>Of those 1.8 million who were eligible, only about 800,000 <a href="https://theconversation.com/trumps-path-to-citizenship-for-1-8-million-will-leave-out-nearly-half-of-all-dreamers-90899">actually applied and received protection through DACA</a>.</p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-230" class="tc-infographic" height="575px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/230/0383290ac53a9bb85bf4290bcbe95349d1676be3/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>2. DACA doesn’t cover unaccompanied minors</h2>
<p>It’s important to point out that DACA also does not apply to “unaccompanied minors.” You may have heard the term used especially in 2014, when unprecedented numbers of children traveling alone were arriving at the U.S. border with Mexico. Generally, these case are handled under a different set of laws and policies.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/stephanie-l-canizales-133281">Stephanie Canizales</a>, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Southern California, Dornsife, has spent time doing in-depth interviews and observational research on this group of migrants, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-unaccompanied-youth-become-exploited-workers-in-the-us-73738">who face a separate set of issues around labor exploitation</a>.</p>
<p>Canizales writes, “Undocumented working youth migrate to Los Angeles in hopes of working to support their families who remain in their home countries. … Much like with their adult coworkers, economic necessity and fear of removal from the workplace and the country keep undocumented migrant youth workers quiet in cases of exploitation, and docile and efficient on the job.”</p>
<h2>3. DACA improves mental health</h2>
<p>There is research that shows that DACA <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-daca-affected-the-mental-health-of-undocumented-young-adults-83341">has improved the mental health of those who received it</a>. </p>
<p>Scholars <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/elizabeth-aranda-334454">Elizabeth Aranda</a> of the University of South Florida and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/elizabeth-vaquera-405048">Elizabeth Vaquera</a> of George Washington University explain that being an undocumented immigrant in the U.S. carries severe mental health consequences. These include problems such as chronic worry, sadness, isolation and even suicidal thoughts.</p>
<p>Although DACA may offer only temporary protection, the relief recipients felt was significant. Aranda and Vaquera write, “These youth shared with us that they were more motivated and happy after Obama’s executive order. As Kate, one of our participants, told us, DACA ‘has gone a long way to give me some sense of security and stability that I haven’t had in a very long time.’”</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301363/original/file-20191112-178520-26v34k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301363/original/file-20191112-178520-26v34k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301363/original/file-20191112-178520-26v34k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301363/original/file-20191112-178520-26v34k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301363/original/file-20191112-178520-26v34k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301363/original/file-20191112-178520-26v34k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301363/original/file-20191112-178520-26v34k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301363/original/file-20191112-178520-26v34k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A legal immigrant reads a guide of the conditions needed to apply for DACA.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Trump-Immigration-Legal-Challenge/303a3b1bfcee41c68b62dbb1b844416f/11/0">AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File</a></span>
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<h2>4. Dreamers would boost US economy</h2>
<p>DACA critics have suggested that undocumented immigrants negatively impact the U.S. economy because they steal jobs from native-born people. In fact, there is growing evidence that shows how incorporating undocumented immigrants into the workforce actually boosts economic growth. </p>
<p>For example, take City University of New York sociologist <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/amy-hsin-437057">Amy Hsin</a>’s study that shows <a href="https://theconversation.com/daca-isnt-just-about-social-justice-legalizing-dreamers-makes-economic-sense-too-90603">what would have happened if the DREAM Act had passed</a> in 2017.</p>
<p>She found that it would have had no significant effect on the wages of U.S.-born workers. It would have created more economic opportunities by encouraging legalized immigrants to make education gains. Hsin wrote, “Overall, we estimate that the increases in productivity under the DREAM Act would raise the United States GDP by US$15.2 billion and significantly increase tax revenue.”</p>
<p>An updated version of the DREAM Act, called the American Dream and Promise Act,<a href="https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/dream-act-daca-and-other-policies-designed-protect-dreamers">passed the House on June 4</a>, but has <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/6">yet to be voted on by the Senate</a>.</p>
<h2>5. The moral argument for Dreamers</h2>
<p>Arguably, at the core of the effort to protect Dreamers is a belief that the U.S. has a tradition of embracing those who arrive at its shores seeking a better life. </p>
<p>However, a quick scan of history would reveal that the U.S. has not in fact always been so welcoming. As <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/carrie-tirado-bramen-438943">Carrie Tirado Bramen</a> of the University at Buffalo explains, many writers have described U.S. history as an “ongoing duel between generosity and greed.”</p>
<p>Bramen writes that <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-the-daca-debate-which-version-of-america-nice-or-nasty-will-prevail-90731">DACA gets at the core of American identity</a>: “At stake is not only the fate of the Dreamers, but also how the country and the rest of the world understands the idea of America.”</p>
<h2>6. What Americans think about immigration</h2>
<p>What do Americans make of the debate over DACA?</p>
<p>According to recent polls, “Americans have never felt warmer toward immigrants, nor have they ever been more supportive of immigration,” <a href="https://theconversation.com/americans-support-for-immigration-is-at-record-highs-but-the-government-is-out-of-sync-with-their-views-121215">writes Mariano Sana, a sociologist at Vanderbilt University</a>.</p>
<p>He finds that somewhere between <a href="https://immigrationforum.org/article/american-attitudes-on-immigration-steady-but-showing-more-partisan-divides/">62%</a> and <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/246455/solid-majority-opposes-new-construction-border-wall.aspx">81%</a> of Americans consistently support offering undocumented immigrants legalization with a path to citizenship. </p>
<p><iframe id="A11ib" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/A11ib/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of <a href="https://theconversation.com/trying-to-keep-up-with-the-dreamers-debate-here-are-6-essential-reads-91787">an article originally published on Feb. 14, 2018</a>, authored by Danielle Douez.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126892/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
On Nov. 12, the Supreme Court heard arguments on the Trump administration’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.Aviva Rutkin, Data EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1203222019-07-29T12:25:10Z2019-07-29T12:25:10ZHow ICE enforcement has changed under the Trump administration<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285152/original/file-20190722-11350-1titevm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer looks on during an operation in Escondido, California.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Immigration-Enforcement-Tactics/4a898a2308574fb9bc0d8fd0907944f8/48/0">AP Photo/Gregory Bull</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>President Donald Trump has <a href="https://perma.cc/Q649-FSPV">threatened nationwide mass raids</a> by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement. </p>
<p>While these mass raids have yet to happen, the specter of sweeping immigration raids have <a href="https://perma.cc/U3NE-XRC5">stoked fear among immigrants</a> and mobilized immigrant rights advocates across the country. </p>
<p>Threats of mass raids in communities at large are representative of how the Trump administration has shifted the focus of immigration enforcement since the Obama administration, making changes that could have significant implications for U.S. democracy and the rule of law.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=yx5zIeAAAAAJ&hl=en">I investigated</a> patterns of interior enforcement under the Trump administration <a href="https://americanimmigrationcouncil.org/sites/default/files/research/changing_patterns_of_interior_immigration_enforcement_in_the_united_states.pdf">in a report</a> published in July with the American Immigration Council’s <a href="https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/staff/guillermo-cantor">Guillermo Cantor</a> and the University of Southern California’s Reed Humphrey.</p>
<h2>Elimination of enforcement priorities</h2>
<p>President Obama was criticized by some in the immigrant rights community as the <a href="https://perma.cc/QFJ4-J7VW">“deporter-in-chief”</a>, given the high number of removals during his administration relative to preceding administrations. </p>
<p>However, the Obama administration’s approach to immigration enforcement was organized by a clear, hierarchical set of priorities. </p>
<p><a href="https://perma.cc/9JGH-T5AT">Enforcement</a> focused on people who posed a threat to national security, as well as those immigrants with serious criminal convictions and who recently crossed the border. Unauthorized immigrants who did not fall within these categories were not a priority for enforcement action. </p>
<p>President Trump overturned these enforcement priorities <a href="https://perma.cc/7YH3-JJYP">through executive order</a> during his first week in office. </p>
<p>The Trump administration’s stated policy is to target virtually any unauthorized immigrant – regardless of their length of residence in the U.S. or their social, economic and family ties to the U.S. </p>
<h2>An increase in encounters, arrests and removals</h2>
<p>Through a public records request of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, we obtained data on 1,199,026 ICE encounters, 381,370 arrests and 650,944 removals that occurred between January 2016 and September 2018. </p>
<p>Given the possible seasonal fluctuations, we looked at the same months in consecutive years between 2016 and 2018. We found a consistent increase in the number of ICE encounters – interviews, screenings and determinations of individuals’ citizenship, nationality and lawful presence. </p>
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<p>Between 2016 and 2017, there was a significant uptick in the monthly number of arrests. This leveled out and remained relatively stable in 2018. </p>
<p>The number of removals in 2017 was lower than in 2016 for most months. But this changed in 2018, which had a consistently higher number of removals than in 2016 and 2017. </p>
<h2>Who is subject to enforcement?</h2>
<p>Our report revealed two key changes in the population of people subject to enforcement in the interior of the country. </p>
<p>A defining characteristic of U.S. citizenship is its guarantee that one cannot be deported from the country. Yet our findings in our immigration enforcement study suggest that some U.S. citizens may be more vulnerable than others to violations of this basic legal guarantee.</p>
<p>During the last year of the Obama administration, ICE interviewed and screened 5,940 U.S. citizens about their legal right to stay in the country. In the first year after President Trump took office, 27,540 U.S. citizens were subject to this process. </p>
<p>This sharp increase in the number of U.S. citizens encountered by ICE raises important questions about whether certain U.S. citizens who may “appear deportable” – likely people of color – have become increasingly vulnerable to enforcement actions. </p>
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<p>What’s more, we found that proportionally, ICE encountered and arrested more women during the Trump administration than it did during the last year of the Obama administration. </p>
<p>During the last part of the Obama administration, about 11.67% of those encountered by ICE were women, compared to more than 13% in the first part of the Trump administration. Underlying these percentages are thousands of female immigrants: 46,759 (Obama) versus 103,910 (Trump). </p>
<p>Likewise, about 6.86% of those arrested in the last part of the Obama administration were women, compared to 8.22% in the first part of the Trump administration.</p>
<p>Many of these women subject to enforcement actions are <a href="https://perma.cc/WH7Z-B85M">likely to be mothers and primary caregivers to children</a>. This means that family separation is a humanitarian problem not only at the U.S.-Mexico border, but also inside the U.S.</p>
<h2>Costs of enforcement</h2>
<p>These changes in enforcement patterns likely come at a high cost to U.S. communities.</p>
<p><a href="https://perma.cc/236R-26JQ">Studies</a> have documented not only the enormous fiscal costs of maintaining the current enforcement system – the annual budget for ICE increased from US$6 billion to $7.6 billion between 2009 and 2019 – but also the vast social and economic costs of mass deportations to U.S. society. </p>
<p><a href="https://perma.cc/3MQH-W3ZT">According to one estimate</a>, mass deportation would reduce U.S. GDP by $4.7 trillion over 10 years. <a href="https://perma.cc/C5Q6-3ZAX">U.S. citizen children</a> whose parents have been deported experience numerous emotional and behavioral challenges. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12256">Research indicates</a> that raids and deportations make community members more fearful and mistrustful of public institutions, curtailing their civic engagement and crime reporting behavior. </p>
<p>There is also the difficult-to-measure, but critically important, cost to democracy that policymakers and the public have yet to fully appreciate. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/lasr.12252">My studies</a> show that enforcement actions that are perceived by immigrants to be arbitrary, discriminatory or unjust breed governmental distrust and undercut their confidence in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0003122413487904">legitimacy of the law</a> and <a href="https://southerncalifornialawreview.com/2017/07/02/fostering-legal-cynicism-through-immigration-detention-article-by-emily-ryo/">legal authorities</a>.</p>
<p>Whether and to what extent mass raids will take place in the coming weeks remain to be seen, but I think that their implications for U.S. democracy and the rule of law could be far-reaching.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120322/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emily Ryo receives funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the California Wellness Foundation. She is currently an Andrew Carnegie Fellow.</span></em></p>Data released under FOIA shows that ICE is encountering more US citizens and more women.Emily Ryo, Professor of Law and Sociology, University of Southern CaliforniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1204592019-07-17T11:22:14Z2019-07-17T11:22:14ZCounting 11 million undocumented immigrants is easier than Trump thinks<p>It is now clear that there will be no question about citizenship on the 2020 U.S. Census. </p>
<p>After <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf/18-966_bq7c.pdf">the Supreme Court ruled</a> against the Trump administration, President Trump vowed to find a way to include the question. But with no legal path forward and time running out, the administration <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/07/11/739858115/trump-expected-to-renew-push-for-census-citizenship-question-with-executive-acti">ultimately backed down</a>.</p>
<p>Opponents of the citizenship question remain concerned about the census, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/2020-census-will-not-include-citizenship-question-doj-confirms/2019/07/02/0067be4a-9c44-11e9-9ed4-c9089972ad5a_story.html">though hopeful</a> that more immigrant households will respond to the census now that the question has been removed. </p>
<p>But others worry that it will be much harder to keep track of undocumented immigrants. President Trump argued that a citizenship question was needed, saying: <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/01/trump-census-1393746">“I think it is very important to find out if somebody is a citizen as opposed to an illegal.”</a></p>
<p>However, a citizenship question wouldn’t actually help the government distinguish between who is an undocumented immigrant and who is not. The question distinguishes only between citizens and noncitizens, and noncitizens are not the same as undocumented immigrants. For example, three out of five noncitizens <a href="https://www.pewhispanic.org/2019/06/03/facts-on-u-s-immigrants/">are in the country legally</a>.</p>
<p>Even more importantly, demographers have figured out a simple and effective way to estimate the number of unauthorized immigrants – even without information on citizenship. In the last five years, my colleagues Frank D. Bean, James D. Bachmeier and I have conducted a <a href="http://doi.org/10.1111/imre.12059/">series</a> <a href="http://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-014-0280-2">of</a> <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.4054%2FDemRes.2013.29.1">studies</a> that evaluate this method and its assumptions.</p>
<p>Our research on the methods used to estimate the size of the group indicates that existing estimates – putting the undocumented population at about 11 million – are reasonably accurate.</p>
<p>Here’s how it works.</p>
<h2>What’s the formula?</h2>
<p>Beginning in the late 1970s, a group of demographers consisting primarily of Jeffrey Passel, Robert Warren, Jacob Siegel, Gregory Robinson and Karen Woodrow introduced the “residual method” for estimating the number of unauthorized immigrants living in the country.</p>
<p>At the time, Passel and his collaborators were affiliated with the U.S. Bureau of the Census and Warren with the Office of Immigration Statistics of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Much of this work was published in the form of internal reports, but some of it <a href="http://doi.org/10.1353/dem.2001.0023">appeared</a> <a href="http://doi.org/10.2307%2F2061304?LI=true">in</a> <a href="http://doi.org/10.2307/2060964">major</a> <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1111%2Fimre.12022">journals</a>.</p>
<p>The residual method uses an estimate of the total foreign-born population in the country, based on U.S. Census data. Researchers then subtract from it the number of legal immigrants residing here, estimated from government records of legal immigrants who receive “green cards” minus the number that died or left the country. The result is an estimate of the unauthorized population.</p>
<p>Various adjustments are typically made to this formula. Most adjustments are minor, but a particularly important one adjusts for what researchers call “coverage error” among the unauthorized foreign-born. Coverage error occurs when the census data underestimate the size of a group. This can occur when people live in nonresidential or unconventional locations – such as on the streets or in a neighbor’s basement – or when they fail to respond to the census. </p>
<p>Coverage error could be particularly high among unauthorized immigrants because they may be trying to avoid detection. The Census Bureau’s <a href="https://www.amstat.org/asa/files/pdfs/POL-Understanding-the-Quality-of-Alternative.pdf">own research</a> suggests that asking about citizenship would likely aggravate this issue.</p>
<p>Currently, the Department of Homeland Security, the Pew Hispanic Center and the Center for Migration Studies are the major producers of <a href="https://www.pewhispanic.org/2019/06/03/facts-on-u-s-immigrants/">estimates of the unauthorized foreign-born population</a>. </p>
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<h2>How accurate are the estimates?</h2>
<p>The residual method has been widely used and accepted since the late 1970s. Within a reasonable margin of error, it predicted the number of unauthorized immigrants to legalize under the <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/lessons-immigration-reform-and-control-act-1986">Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986</a>, which, among other things, granted permanent residency status to unauthorized immigrants who had been living in the country since 1982. The residual method predicted that about <a href="http://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.1.1266.6321">2.2 million</a> met the residency requirement; the actual number to come forward was about 1.7 million.</p>
<p>Both Department of Homeland Security and Pew have used the residual method to estimate the unauthorized population since 2005. Despite using slightly different data and assumptions, <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/09/21/unauthorized-immigrant-population-stable-for-half-a-decade/">Pew’s</a>, <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/ois_ill_pe_2012_2.pdf">Department of Homeland Security’s</a>, and <a href="https://cmsny.org/">the Center for Migration Studies’s</a> estimates have never differed by more than 1 million people, less than 10% of the total unauthorized population.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, skeptics question a key assumption of the residual method, which is that unauthorized immigrants participate in census surveys. All three organizations listed above inflate their estimates to account for the possibility that some unauthorized immigrants are missing from census data. For example, Pew inflates by about 13%. But is this enough?</p>
<p>My colleagues and I <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1007%2Fs13524-014-0280-2">estimated coverage error</a> among Mexican immigrants, a group that composes 60% of all unauthorized immigrants. </p>
<p>Even if they are not counted in a census, populations leave “footprints” of their presence in the form of deaths and births. Because people give birth and die with known regularity, regardless of their legal status, we were able to use birth and death records of all Mexican-born persons to determine the number of Mexican-born persons living in the U.S. We also looked at changes in Mexican census data between 1990 and 2010 to gauge the size of Mexico’s “missing” population, most of whom moved to the U.S. </p>
<p>We then compared these estimates with the estimated number of Mexican immigrants in census data. We found that the census missed as many as 26% of unauthorized immigrants in the early 2000s. </p>
<p>We speculated that this could have been due to the large numbers of temporary Mexican labor migrants who were living in the U.S. at the time. Because many worked in construction during the housing boom and lived in temporary housing arrangements, it may have been particularly difficult to accurately account for them in census surveys. </p>
<p>However, when the Great Recession and housing crisis hit, many of these temporary workers went home or stopped coming to the U.S. in the first place, and coverage error declined. By 2010, the coverage error may have been as low as 6% and does not appear to have changed much since then.</p>
<p>If current levels of coverage error for all unauthorized immigrants were as high as 26%, then the number living in the country could be as high as 13 million. But if coverage error were as low as 6%, then the figure could be as low as 10.3 million. The true number likely falls within that narrow range.</p>
<p>What this boils down to is that demographers already have a pretty good idea of the number of unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S., even without relying on citizenship data. If coverage error has declined as much as we think it has, then the truth is at the lower end of this range.</p>
<h2>Will administrative records improve the estimates?</h2>
<p>Looking ahead, methods could change as new data become available. </p>
<p>In the wake of its Supreme Court loss, the Trump administration issued an <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/11/politics/census-citizenship-question-alternatives/index.html">executive order</a> <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6189423-Executive-Order.html">directing government agencies</a> to share administrative data on citizenship. </p>
<p>They want to link information on citizenship and immigration status in administrative records to everyone’s census responses. For example, the executive order requests the Department of Homeland Security’s records on refugee and asylum visas, as well as Master Beneficiary Records from the Social Security Administration. They want to use this information to estimate the undocumented population at very detailed levels of geography for purposes of redistricting, reapportionment and the allocation of public funds. </p>
<p>(It is worth noting that the Census Bureau is a fortress when it comes to protecting your data. Under federal law, the Census Bureau cannot share your personal information with anyone, including other government agencies such as ICE.)</p>
<p>Regardless of how anyone feels about these policy proposals, administrative data may not be up to the task. In my view, administrative records are complicated to use. They can provide inconsistent information about the same person depending on which agency’s records are used. </p>
<p>Additionally, the records will be of limited value for describing those who fall outside of the administrative records system, which can happen for all kinds of reasons. Even if the Trump administration uses administrative records to estimate the undocumented population, researchers will still need to make assumptions about coverage error, just like they do for the residual method.</p>
<p>Overall, I suspect that administrative records could help answer some narrowly defined questions about immigrants and improve national estimates. The jury is still out about their ability to provide definitive answers about the precise numbers of undocumented immigrants, particularly at detailed levels of geography.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of <a href="https://theconversation.com/counting-11-million-undocumented-immigrants-is-easier-than-you-think-67921">an article originally published on Nov. 1, 2016</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120459/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Van Hook receives funding to conduct research on this topic from the Migration Policy Institute. </span></em></p>Demographers have figured out a simple and effective way to estimate the number of unauthorized immigrants – even without information on citizenship.Jennifer Van Hook, Roy C. Buck Professor of Sociology and Demography, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1195872019-06-28T14:03:59Z2019-06-28T14:03:59ZDemocrats debate the repeal of Section 1325 – what you need to know about the immigration law that criminalizes unauthorized border crossings<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281722/original/file-20190628-76743-ljduai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3110%2C1228&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Julián Castro skewered the immigration provision during the first Democratic debate.
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Election-2020-Debate/60867cef2e24499fad299603193fe61d/1/0">AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>During the first Democratic presidential debate of the 2020 race, former Housing and Urban Development secretary <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/26/us/politics/democratic-debate-transcript.html">Julián Castro challenged</a> all candidates to join his call for the repeal of a controversial immigration law.</p>
<p>The law, <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1325">Section 1325 of Title 8 of the U.S. Code</a>, makes entering the United States “at any time or place other than as designated by immigration officers” a federal crime. </p>
<p>It’s among the most prosecuted federal crimes in the United States. Thousands of defendants are charged with violating Section 1325 <a href="https://trac.syr.edu/tracreports/bulletins/overall/monthlyapr19/fil/">each month</a>.</p>
<p>The government shouldn’t “<a href="https://www.thecut.com/2019/06/julian-castro-democratic-debate-2019.html">criminalize desperation</a>,” Castro argued. Instead, he advocated, it should treat the unlawful entry of undocumented migrants as “a civil violation.” That is, migrants who enter the United States without permission should be deported, not incarcerated.</p>
<p>Castro acknowledged that several other candidates on the stage in Miami, including Sen. Cory Booker, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, already agree with him. </p>
<p>But others, like former congressman <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2019/06/26/julian-castro-and-beto-orourke-spar-over-immigration-democrat-debate/">Beto O’Rourke</a>, don’t support Section 1325’s repeal. </p>
<p>“I don’t think it’s asking too much for people to follow our laws when they come to this country,” <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/full-transcript-first-democratic-primary-debate-2019-n1022816">O'Rourke said</a>.</p>
<p>During the second night of the debates, which featured a slate of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/06/28/transcript-night-first-democratic-debate/">another 10 Democratic hopefuls</a>, most of the candidates on stage indicated their support for the measure’s repeal. </p>
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<h2>The backstory</h2>
<p>The United States placed few legal restrictions on crossing borders prior to the 1920s. Even then, entering the U.S. without authorization wasn’t a crime. Deportations could be effected through civil legal process. </p>
<p>With Section 1325, Congress made “<a href="https://codes.findlaw.com/us/title-8-aliens-and-nationality/8-usc-sect-1325.html">improper entry by alien</a>” a crime in 1929 – soon after imposing strict <a href="https://dp.la/browse-by-topic/immigration-since-1840/immigration-quotas-1920-1939">immigration quotas</a> based on national origin. </p>
<p>According to University of California Los Angeles historian <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-crossing-the-us-mexico-border-became-a-crime-74604">Kelly Lytle Hernandez</a>, white supremacist South Carolina Sen. <a href="https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hO1gAAAAIBAJ&sjid=uWMNAAAAIBAJ&pg=3029,5898411">Coleman Livingston Blease</a> was its architect.</p>
<p>Criminal enforcement, however, remained rare for decades – even when the deportation of Mexican Americans surged in the <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2015/09/08/437579834/mass-deportation-may-sound-unlikely-but-its-happened-before">1930s, 1940s</a> and <a href="https://www.history.com/news/operation-wetback-eisenhower-1954-deportation">1950s</a>. Prosecutions based on Section 1325 only started <a href="https://trac.syr.edu/immigration/reports/336/">ramping up</a> in the first decade of this century, during President George W. Bush’s administration.</p>
<h2>Family separation</h2>
<p>Due to the Justice Department’s current “<a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1049751/download">zero tolerance</a>” policy, anyone who can be <a href="https://cliniclegal.org/resources/timeline-family-separations-under-zero-tolerance-policy">charged under Section 1325</a> should be charged with a misdemeanor. That has, in thousands of cases, included parents traveling with children. Once charged with this federal crime, parents must be taken into the custody of the U.S. Marshals – where children are not allowed.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281720/original/file-20190628-76705-v2vndt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281720/original/file-20190628-76705-v2vndt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281720/original/file-20190628-76705-v2vndt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281720/original/file-20190628-76705-v2vndt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281720/original/file-20190628-76705-v2vndt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281720/original/file-20190628-76705-v2vndt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281720/original/file-20190628-76705-v2vndt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281720/original/file-20190628-76705-v2vndt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Families with young children protested the separation of immigrant families at the Hart Senate Office Building in July 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Immigration-Separating-Families/01237ac5a9dd4efebbba28168ac74cad/100/0">AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The White House <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/affording-congress-opportunity-address-family-separation/">publicly disowned this policy</a> in June 2018, just days before a U.S. District Court judge <a href="https://www.aclu.org/issues/immigrants-rights/immigrants-rights-and-detention/family-separation">ordered the government to reunify all separated families</a>. Yet this practice has <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/2/21/18234767/parents-separated-children-families-border-trump-jails">continued at the border</a>.</p>
<p>Based on my research about the <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2656568">federal prosecution of immigration crimes</a>, I’m confident that repealing Section 1325 would not increase the number of undocumented people living in the United States.</p>
<p>Anyone without authorization to live in this country would continue to be subject to deportation, a remedy <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/264/32/">the Supreme Court has called</a> “burdensome and severe.”</p>
<p>[ <em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/119587/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kit Johnson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The 1929 immigration measure has become a focal point due to Trump’s crackdown on undocumented people, including families.Kit Johnson, Associate Professor of Law, University of OklahomaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1183482019-06-07T10:58:22Z2019-06-07T10:58:22ZWhy Donald Trump’s threat of tariffs to stop irregular migration will not work on Mexico<p>Donald Trump has caused a furore by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/30/us/politics/trump-mexico-tariffs.html">promising to impose a 5% tariff</a> on goods coming into the US from Mexico unless the problem of “illegal immigration” across the border is addressed. Linking tariffs with his anti-immigration campaign, the American president was unequivocal:</p>
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<p>He has repeated the warning each day since, complete with <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/04/06/710712195/how-do-illegal-drugs-cross-the-u-s-mexico-border">distorted claims about migration and drug flows</a> into the US. He has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/01/us/politics/trump-mexico-tariffs.html">overruled his senior advisers</a> who argued against tariffs, including son-in-law Jared Kushner, treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin and trade representative Robert Lighthizer. And he has risked Congress <a href="https://www.hilltimes.com/2019/06/05/nafta-faces-new-risks-as-trump-mixes-trade-and-immigration/202809">refusing</a> to ratify a revised North American free trade agreement.</p>
<p>But will he succeed in obtaining a Mexican capitulation, halting any migrant moving through the country from crossing into the US?</p>
<h2>Credibility and capability</h2>
<p>Any threat needs to be sufficiently credible – your target needs to be believe that you will pull the trigger.</p>
<p>In this case, any shot fired could <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-48507433">wound the US</a> as much as, or even more than, Mexico. The US runs a goods and services trade deficit with Mexico, the country’s third-largest goods trading partner, which reached <a href="https://ustr.gov/countries-regions/americas/mexico">$72.7 billion</a> in 2018. The purported 5% tariff would <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/03/mexico-trump-tariffs-immigration-1496518">impose a $17 billion tax</a> on American businesses and consumers, a fact not lost on Senate Republicans who <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/04/us/politics/republicans-mexico-tariffs.html">oppose Trump’s strategy</a>. The damage to American exporters could be even more dire if Mexico follows through on warnings by its foreign minister that it would take <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/03/world/americas/mexico-migration-crackdown.html">retaliatory measures</a> to any tariffs.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/trumps-mexico-tariffs-dont-make-sense-but-americans-will-pay-a-steep-price-anyway-if-they-go-into-effect-118313">Trump's Mexico tariffs don't make sense, but Americans will pay a steep price anyway if they go into effect</a>
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<p>Because of <a href="https://academic.oup.com/isq/article/62/2/383/4986742">the intricate ways that migration bind countries together</a>, cross-border mobility can be linked to <a href="https://academic.oup.com/isp/article/20/2/113/5253595#133921460">other foreign policy issues</a> – but the credibility of any threat is key. Turkey succeeded in 2016 when its threat of allowing irregular migrants <a href="https://www.euractiv.com/section/justice-home-affairs/news/erdogan-threatens-to-send-refugees-to-the-eu-by-plane-and-bus/">to find their way into the European Union</a> led to enough raised eyebrows that it secured <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jogss/advance-article/doi/10.1093/jogss/ogz016/5487959?searchresult=1">a €6 billion deal</a>. But Iran’s warning in May 2019 that <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/iran-criticized-for-threat-to-deport-afghan-refugees/4919557.html">it would begin deporting Afghan refugees</a> in the face of continuing American sanctions barely made international news – it was an implausible threat given <a href="https://en.radiofarda.com/a/europe-should-pay-for-afghan-refugees-in-iran-if-they-support-the-u-s-/29936292.html">the role that Afghans play</a> in the Iranian economy.</p>
<p>At the same time, the demand that Mexico “stop the flow of people and drugs” overestimates Mexico’s capacity to respond. The threat carries <a href="https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/articulo/andrew-selee/mundo/las-amenazas-del-vecino-del-norte">a degree of irony</a> in commanding the Mexican government to do what the Trump administration has been unable to do: control the increasing numbers of <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/03/28/mother-migrant-caravans-forming-honduras-trump-threatens-shut/">Guatemalan, Costa Rican and Honduran</a> nationals who are seeking refuge in the US. </p>
<p>Far from stemming migrant flows through Mexico, Trump’s tariffs could weaken the economic position of America’s neighbour. The country’s traditional role as a <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/mexico/2018-07-03/what-if-mexico-stops-cooperating-migration">buffer state</a> for transit immigration <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/05/ex-us-mexico-ambassadors-tariffs-would-destroy-partnership-we-built.html">could also be undermined</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/?GCOI=80140100627270">Coercive migration diplomacy</a> relies on a blackmailer’s ability to secure a realistic payment from a target. In 2017, Saudi Arabia debated using Lebanon’s dependence on migrant remittances <a href="https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/saudi-arabias-war-on-lebanon">as leverage</a> in order to force authorities to take a tougher stance on Hezbollah. But it realised this was an impossible task: the structural weaknesses of the Lebanese state and Hezbollah’s close relationship to it would make compliance with such a demand unlikely.</p>
<p>Similarly, Muammar Gaddafi’s 1994 decision to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01436597.2017.1350102">deport hundreds of Palestinian migrants from Libya</a> to disrupt the Israeli-Palestinian peace process did not produce any tangible results. But the Libyan leader’s machinations did obtain <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01436597.2017.1350102">financial and political concessions from Europe</a> in the late 2000s, including <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/20080830-5bn-apology-libya-italys-berlusconi-italy-libya">an apology for colonialism</a> by Italy’s prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi.</p>
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Read more:
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<p>Trump’s approach also suffers from a lack of concrete, measurable aims. It actually fits a pattern of threat-and-retreat that characterises the administration’s approach to migration diplomacy – from the <a href="https://www.apnews.com/bacf13c909c24f6bb3b7bdc1d4b3f5df">recent threat</a> to shut the southern border between the US and Mexico, to older threats of halting remittances to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/11/us/politics/trump-mexico-pay-wall.html">coerce Mexico into paying for the border wall.</a> </p>
<p>But this vagueness also grants Trump with sufficient leeway to declare he is satisfied with any policy changes and move on. In fact, Mexico has wisely attempted to <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/04/mexico-canada-trump-1505291">diffuse bilateral tensions</a> by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/31/world/americas/mexico-trump-tariffs-migrants.html?rref=collection%2Fbyline%2Fkirk-semple&action=click&contentCollection=undefined&region=stream&module=inline&version=latest&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=collection">adopting a conciliatory tone</a>, while ostensibly <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/03/world/americas/mexico-migration-crackdown.html">stepping up its crackdown on migrant caravans</a>.</p>
<h2>The illusion of winning</h2>
<p>But little of this will concern Trump – because it is the illusion of success, rather than actual credibility or effectiveness which matters.</p>
<p>Just after becoming president in January 2017, he gave away the game with Mexico and his border wall. Having thundered throughout his campaign that the Mexicans would pay for the wall, Trump told Mexico’s president, Enrique Peña Nieto, that he was not serious – and <a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Trump_Pe%C3%B1a_Nieto_transcript">asked his Mexican counterpart</a> not to expose the ruse: “We should both say, ‘we will work it out’.”</p>
<p>Almost two and a half years later, look for Trump to obscure failure to check the movement of migrants with a declaration of satisfaction with Mexico’s response as he moves on. </p>
<p>In the meantime – and all the way through the president’s 2020 re-election bid – migrants will be the ball in the political shell game. And until Trump tires of this gambit and lifts the threat of tariffs, so will the American and Mexican economies.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118348/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Other countries have tried linking migration to foreign policy before – it needs to be a credible and capable threat to work.Gerasimos Tsourapas, Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Middle East Politics, University of BirminghamScott Lucas, Professor of International Politics, University of BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1002342018-07-23T17:28:01Z2018-07-23T17:28:01ZHow the Mormon church’s past shapes its position on immigration today<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228615/original/file-20180720-142411-2wqhfd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Brigham Young and other men are shown preparing women in dresses for war.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/Brigham_Young_Mustering_his_Forces.jpg">Harper's Weekly, volume v. 1, November 28, 1857, p. 768. Scan from BX8609.A1a#466, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee library, Brigham Young University.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On July 24, 1847, Brigham Young and 146 other Mormon pioneers <a href="https://history.lds.org/overlandtravel/companies/1/brigham-young-pioneer-company">made their way</a> into the Salt Lake Valley. They had left the United States and found themselves in Mexican territory. </p>
<p>At the time, <a href="https://www.pbs.org/kera/usmexicanwar/index_flash.html">the Mexican-American War was raging</a>, and within a year Mexico would cede the Salt Lake Valley to the United States. But that was not in the Mormons’ plans. They were trying to leave the United States <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=mUSUJb-mhFsC&lpg=PP1&dq=brigham%20young%20leave%20united%20states&pg=PA123#v=onepage&q=%22prettiest%20enterprise%22&f=false">to escape violence and persecution</a>. </p>
<p>But once they were in the new territory, they settled in the Valley without the approval of the Mexican government or the indigenous <a href="https://historytogo.utah.gov/utah_chapters/american_indians/nativeamericansinutah.html">people who already lived</a> in the arid land near the Great Salt Lake. The Mormon history in Utah reveals them to be both persecuted migrants and colonizers.</p>
<p>In Utah, July 24 is celebrated as <a href="https://onlinelibrary.utah.gov/research/utah_symbols/holiday.html">Pioneer Day</a>. From <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=KT0k4-8AAAAJ&hl=en">my perspective as a scholar</a> of Mormon history, revisiting the story of the Mormon settlement of the Salt Lake Valley has profound implication for the ways the leadership of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today thinks about issues of immigration.</p>
<h2>The history of Mormon immigration</h2>
<p>Before they made their way to Salt Lake City, the Mormons lived in New York, Ohio, Missouri and Illinois. The church encouraged Mormon converts to gather together, and by the 1840s, some <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=MPMrsnxfIVEC&lpg=PA119&dq=british%20migrants%20to%20nauvoo%2025&pg=PA119#v=onepage&q=british%20migrants%20to%20nauvoo%2025&f=false">25 percent</a> of the population of the Mormon settlement in Illinois were British converts and immigrants.</p>
<p>The Mormons’ neighbors were suspicious of them for a number of reasons. They were perceived as outsiders because many were immigrants, but they were also <a href="http://www.pbs.org/mormons/themes/problem.html">clannish</a>. In elections, the Mormons voted as a bloc. They tended to keep their trade and economic activity among themselves. As their numbers swelled into the hundreds and thousands, their neighbors feared their influence. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228617/original/file-20180720-142417-1qfgtpe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228617/original/file-20180720-142417-1qfgtpe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=926&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228617/original/file-20180720-142417-1qfgtpe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=926&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228617/original/file-20180720-142417-1qfgtpe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=926&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228617/original/file-20180720-142417-1qfgtpe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1164&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228617/original/file-20180720-142417-1qfgtpe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1164&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228617/original/file-20180720-142417-1qfgtpe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1164&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">An 1842 watercolor portrait of Joseph Smith by Sutcliffe Maudsley.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac</span></span>
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<p>Similarly, their religious practices attracted suspicion. In the 1840s, the founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith, began practicing polygamy, and though he tried to keep it secret, rumor quickly spread. As one Missouri writer <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Gazetteer_of_the_State_of_Missouri.html?id=6H8UAAAAYAAJ">described</a> them in 1837, they were a “mass of human corruption, [a] tribe of locusts, that still threatens to scorch and wither the herbage of a fair and goodly portion of Missouri by the swarm of emigrants.”</p>
<p>Through the 1830s and 1840s, the Mormons fled from one state to the next. In 1838, the governor of Missouri issued what historians often call the “<a href="http://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Extermination_Order">extermination order,”</a> directing the state militia to drive Mormons out. </p>
<p>For several months Missourian forces and an ad hoc Mormon militia fought across several counties in the western portion of the state. By 1839, the Mormons had settled in Nauvoo, Illinois, hoping to escape such tensions. </p>
<p>But in June 1844, Joseph Smith was assassinated by a mob in Carthage, Illinois. His successor Brigham Young determined that the United States was not safe for the Mormons. He selected the Salt Lake Valley as the place for their settlement because, as Young <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=GrPpCAAAQBAJ&lpg=PT219&dq=%E2%80%9Ca%20place%20on%20this%20earth%20that%20nobody%20else%20wants%E2%80%9D&pg=PT219#v=onepage&q=%E2%80%9Ca%20place%20on%20this%20earth%20that%20nobody%20else%20wants%E2%80%9D&f=false">said</a>, it was “a place on this earth that nobody else wants.” </p>
<h2>Mormonism as an immigrant religion</h2>
<p>The Mormon leadership today remembers that they are historically a religion of immigrants. Indeed, the church in the United States still is. Mormonism is growing faster in Latin America than in any other region of the world, and nearly <a href="http://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/religious-tradition/mormon/">10 percent of the church’s membership</a> in the United States is Latino or Latina. </p>
<p>These reasons lie behind the church’s consistent support for a humane immigration policy. The <a href="https://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/daca-statement-january-2018">church officially supports</a> increasing opportunities for the “Dreamers,” people brought to the United States as children. It has offered <a href="https://www.apnews.com/7de6b7f4c6934568bac300018caad5c9">criticism of the punitive practices</a> the Trump administration has implemented toward migrant families.</p>
<p>Its leadership helped to draft the <a href="https://the-utah-compact.com/">“Utah Compact</a>,” a statement of principles that urges a “humane approach” to immigration that emphasizes the importance of being “a place that welcomes people of goodwill.” After all, as church leaders <a href="https://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/daca-statement-january-2018">stated in an official statement</a>, “Most of our early Church members emigrated from foreign lands to live, work and worship.”</p>
<p>At the same time, it is also true that the Trump administration’s immigration policies enjoy about <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2018/06/24/a-slight-majority-of-utahns-say-president-trump-is-doing-a-good-job-but-approval-dips-on-his-immigration-policy/">50 percent approval</a> in Utah, a state that has about <a href="https://www.mormonnewsroom.org/facts-and-statistics/country/united-states/state/utah">two million Mormons</a>.</p>
<p>Indeed, recently <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2018/06/18/utah-governor-opposes-trumps-nominee-from-the-state-to-oversee-us-refugee-program/">President Trump nominated</a> Ronald Mortensen to oversee the State Department’s refugee program. Mortensen, a Mormon and former <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/who-ronald-mortensen-trump-nominates-immigration-hardliner-post-dealing-944180">officer in the U.S. foreign service,</a> has blasted the Utah Compact and other of the church’s statements on immigration for being too favorable to immigrants. </p>
<p><a href="https://cis.org/Mormon-Church-and-Illegal-Immigration">Mortensen attacked</a> the church for being “biased in favor of illegal immigrants,” and said its positions “weaken the rule of law.”</p>
<h2>The disputed legacy of Mormon immigration</h2>
<p>Mortensen’s stand reveals the divided mind of the church. Though its leadership remembers Brigham Young’s entrance into the Salt Lake Valley as a reason for sympathy to immigrants today, Mortensen’s hard line brings to mind a different aspect of Mormon history. </p>
<p>Despite Brigham Young’s claim that nobody else wanted the valley, it was indeed <a href="https://heritage.utah.gov/history/uhg-history-american-indians-ch-5">populated by thousands of Native Americans</a> when the Mormons arrived. Mormon-Native interaction was uneasy, characterized by alternating cooperation and spurts of violence. </p>
<p>Though Brigham Young sometimes sought to work peacefully with Native tribes, he was also willing to enforce his will upon them with <a href="http://nativeamericannetroots.net/diary/672">violence</a>. Mormon settlers gradually displaced Native Americans from the land and resources they depended upon to support themselves.</p>
<p>In consequence, wars between the Mormon settlers and Native peoples <a href="https://heritage.utah.gov/history/uhg-history-american-indians-ch-5">broke out in the 1850s and 1860s</a>. As with most other areas in the United States, Native people were eventually confined to reservations. </p>
<p>Aspects of this legacy persist. Recently, for instance, Mormon elected officials have supported the Trump administration’s decision to reduce the size of the Bears Ears National Monument in southern Utah. The monument was created by President Barack Obama in 2016. It is centered on a pair of large buttes called the “<a href="https://www.fs.fed.us/visit/bears-ears-national-monument">Bears Ears,”</a> which are held as sacred or significant by a number of Native American groups. Many Native leaders therefore <a href="http://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/367227-utah-bill-tramples-on-tribal-sovereignty-at-bears-ears">protested</a> the Trump administration’s plan and Utah leaders’ support for it. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228619/original/file-20180720-142414-xylajl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228619/original/file-20180720-142414-xylajl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228619/original/file-20180720-142414-xylajl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228619/original/file-20180720-142414-xylajl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228619/original/file-20180720-142414-xylajl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228619/original/file-20180720-142414-xylajl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228619/original/file-20180720-142414-xylajl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A replica of the log house in Palmyra, New York, where church founder Joseph Smith lived when he encountered his first vision that led to the formation of the Mormons.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Democrat and Chronicle, Burr Lewis</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The conflicts over Bears Ears on the one hand and recent immigration policy on the other show that the church’s own experience as a migrating people, but also as a colonizing people, oppressed and oppressor in turn, continues to shape the church’s position on immigration today.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/100234/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Bowman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>On July 24, 1847, Mormon leader Brigham Young and 146 followers entered Salt Lake City to escape persecution. This history has implications today.Matthew Bowman, Associate Professor of History, Henderson State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/997342018-07-18T10:41:38Z2018-07-18T10:41:38ZWhy attorneys represent immigrants for free<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227868/original/file-20180716-44076-14ldbjj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Honduran mother and child with a Border Patrol agent. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Immigration-Separating-Families/b47aff13862543d5ab454925256231b0/1/0">AP Photo/David J. Phillip</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/por-que-los-abogados-representan-a-los-immigrantes-de-manera-gratuita-101490">Leer en español</a></em>.</p>
<p>Scores of <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2018/06/18/heres-list-organizations-are-mobilizing-help-separated-immigrant-child/">lawyers, paralegals and law students</a> are volunteering to help immigrant families caught in the crosshairs of the Trump administration’s bid to drastically reduce the number of people without papers in the U.S. One of these movement’s highest priorities is assisting the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/16/politics/immigration-whats-new-whats-next/index.html">more than 2,500 children</a> separated from their parents in government custody. </p>
<p>Mobilized by the <a href="https://www.americanbar.org/advocacy/governmental_legislative_work/priorities_policy/immigration/familyseparation.html">American Bar Association</a>, nonprofits like <a href="http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/lawyers_for_good_government_launches_project_to_reunite_immigrant_families/">Lawyers for Good Government</a>, the <a href="https://www.aclu.org/issues/immigrants-rights">American Civil Liberties Union</a> and the <a href="https://www.immigrationadvocates.org/probono/partner/item.2440-American_Immigration_Lawyers_Association">American Immigration Lawyers Association</a>, and big law firms like <a href="https://www.paulweiss.com/">Paul, Weiss</a> and <a href="https://www.kirkland.com/sitecontent.cfm?contentID=367">Kirkland and Ellis</a>, these legal professionals are providing services “pro bono” – for free.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.americanbar.org/groups/probono_public_service/policy/aba_model_rule_6_1.html">Pro bono</a> is shorthand for “pro bono publico,” a Latin expression that means “for the public good.” Working pro bono simply means rendering professional services voluntarily without charge.</p>
<p>The ethic dates back to <a href="https://works.bepress.com/judith_maute/18/">Roman times</a>, when patrician men dispensed patronage as counselors and representatives to their relatives and servants.</p>
<p>In the U.S., working pro bono is also rooted in the English sense of “<a href="https://works.bepress.com/judith_maute/18/">noblesse oblige</a>” – the elite’s obligation to act generously toward the less privileged. Doing this unpaid work is <a href="https://www.americanbar.org/groups/probono_public_service/policy/aba_model_rule_6_1.html">not just encouraged but expected</a>.</p>
<p>The American Bar Association encourages all lawyers to <a href="https://www.americanbar.org/groups/probono_public_service/policy/aba_model_rule_6_1.html">volunteer at least 50 hours</a> of pro bono service per year. Attorneys may use this time to represent the poor in court or help charities address legal issues. They may also spend this time changing laws for the better. </p>
<p>Some states go further. In <a href="https://www.americanbar.org/groups/probono_public_service/policy/bar_pre_admission_pro_bono.html">New York</a>, for example, law students must spend 50 hours doing pro bono work before they can be admitted to the bar.</p>
<h2>The lawyer shortage</h2>
<p>There’s a good reason for mandates like that as the need for free legal help goes well beyond the current immigration crisis. </p>
<p>The problem is not that we don’t have enough lawyers. </p>
<p>With <a href="https://www.americanbar.org/resources_for_lawyers/profession_statistics.html">1.3 million lawyers</a> nationwide, <a href="https://www.census.gov/topics/population.html">one for every 245 Americans</a>, the U.S. is the country with the most lawyers on the planet. Yet because it usually <a href="https://www.lawyers.com/legal-info/research/how-and-how-much-do-lawyers-charge.html">costs around US$100-400 to hire one</a>, four-fifths of poor Americans and up to three-fifths of middle-class Americans with a civil legal problem <a href="http://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/llr/vol42/iss4/2">can’t afford an attorney</a>.</p>
<p>In my home state of Montana, where <a href="http://www.umt.edu/law/faculty/directory/default.php?ID=3211">I teach law and lawyering</a>, some <a href="https://courts.mt.gov/portals/189/supreme/boards/a2j/docs/justicegap-mt.pdf">77 percent of poor households needing an attorney</a>, more than 14,000 per year, do not get one because they can’t afford it.</p>
<p>The throngs of <a href="https://www.theindianalawyer.com/articles/47506-pro-bono-at-the-border-lawyer-assists-separated-immigrant-families">lawyers aiding immigrants</a> along the border and across the country are needed for another reason besides their clients’ inability to pay.</p>
<p>Everyone present in the U.S. has a <a href="https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/amendments-11-27">right to due process</a> <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/immigration/255281-yes-illegal-aliens-have-constitutional-rights">regardless of their immigration status</a>. But because most immigration cases are civil rather than criminal in nature, undocumented immigrants in deportation proceedings have no right to an attorney.</p>
<p>The government does provide detained immigrants with some crucial information through <a href="http://immigrationimpact.com/2018/04/25/justice-department-legal-orientation-program-not-halt/">a program it nearly eliminated in the spring of 2018</a>. But this assistance falls short of what asylum-seekers and other undocumented people require.</p>
<p>So the only way many people attempting to cross the border without papers can get the legal representation they need is when pro bono lawyers and other volunteers fill this gap.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/99734/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eduardo Capulong has volunteered for Montanans for Immigrant Justice, a nonprofit.</span></em></p>This tradition is so strong in the US that all lawyers are encouraged to volunteer at least 50 hours of pro bono service per year.Eduardo Capulong, Associate Dean for Clinical and Experiential Education; Professor of Law, University of MontanaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/990582018-07-03T10:31:59Z2018-07-03T10:31:59ZAmericans are not as divided or conservative on immigration as you might think<p>Lawmakers in Washington, from the president down to first-term members of Congress, may be misjudging how the public feels about immigration.</p>
<p>President Donald Trump appears to believe the country needs and wants <a href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2018/jun/06/what-you-need-know-about-trump-administrations-zer/">hard-line policies</a>. Members of Congress haven’t stopped him from carrying out those policies.</p>
<p>Do the American people really support them?</p>
<p>It turns out that government officials who think the majority of Americans want hard-line immigration policies are wrong.</p>
<p>Elected officials – both Republican and Democratic – tend to think that their constituents are <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/bias-in-perceptions-of-public-opinion-among-political-elites/2EF080E04D3AAE6AC1C894F52642E706">more conservative</a> than they actually are on immigration and other issues. Moreover, <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/bias-in-perceptions-of-public-opinion-among-political-elites/2EF080E04D3AAE6AC1C894F52642E706">recent research</a> suggests that Republican constituents have been more likely to contact their elected officials than Democratic constituents. </p>
<p>Yet, my <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=WnF-NZ8AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">research</a> on public opinion about immigration, and that of other social scientists, shows that the American public is supportive of more welcoming immigration policies. Welcoming policies might include a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, accepting more asylum claims or allowing the use of multiple languages in public places. </p>
<h2>Most Americans support a path to citizenship</h2>
<p>I am a scholar of public opinion about immigration and national identity, and I have studied how people from a variety of backgrounds feel about immigration-driven diversity in the United States.</p>
<p>Let’s look at public opinion on one immigration proposal that has been debated for over a decade: providing a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants living in the U.S.</p>
<p>Since late 2007, polls conducted by <a href="https://ropercenter.cornell.edu/CFIDE/cf/action/home/index.cfm">CBS and The New York Times</a> have asked respondents which option they prefer when it comes to “illegal immigrants working in the United States.” The options include: allow them to stay in their jobs and eventually apply for U.S. citizenship; allow them to stay only as guest workers but not apply for citizenship; or require them to leave their jobs and the country.</p>
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<p>This question has been asked in 31 CBS/New York Times surveys since 2007. In 22 of them, providing a path to citizenship is the majority preference. Support for citizenship has not fallen below 50 percent since 2013. In fact, support has increased over time, a trend that has continued throughout Trump’s presidency.</p>
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<p>Support for a path to citizenship <a href="http://electionstudies.org/studypages/anes_timeseries_2016/anes_timeseries_2016.htm">varies by one’s background</a> when it comes to race, gender, education, income, party and ideology. However, support is high across the board, even among those who say they are Republican or conservative.</p>
<p>Of course, this is only one of many immigration policies getting attention these days, and <a href="https://www.aei.org/publication/immigration-issues-public-opinion-on-family-separation-daca-and-a-border-wall/">support for other policies</a> varies. </p>
<p>Attitudes on this policy show that Americans are not as divided or as conservative as the discourse coming out of Washington, D.C. might reflect and is becoming even more supportive of the welcoming approach. Yet, providing a path to citizenship is also the primary policy that seems to keep thwarting <a href="https://theconversation.com/ahead-of-government-shutdown-congress-sets-its-sights-on-not-so-comprehensive-immigration-reform-89998">legislative reform in Congress</a>.</p>
<h2>A welcoming climate need not alienate US-born whites</h2>
<p>Public officials may be concerned about <a href="http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/W/bo28551595.html">alienating non-immigrant whites</a> if they pursue welcoming immigration policies. We tried to find out whether that alienation could happen. In a <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/115/5/945/tab-article-info">recent experiment</a>, my colleagues and I asked U.S.-born whites in Arizona and New Mexico how they felt about their state adopting more welcoming or restrictive immigration policies. </p>
<p>We asked people if the proposed policy would make them angry, sad or happy. We found that liberal and moderate whites responding to the more welcoming treatment were more likely to be happy and less likely to be angry or sad than were those who were responding to the restrictive treatment.</p>
<p>We also asked them if the proposed policy would make them feel more or less at home and more or less likely to want to move. Again, we found that liberal and moderate whites, in response to the welcoming treatment, felt more at home and less likely to want to move than did liberal and moderate whites who were given the unwelcoming treatment.</p>
<p>Only conservative whites were happier, less angry, less sad and felt more at home in response to restrictive treatment. Every one else fared better when told that their state was considering adopting policies that welcomed immigrants.</p>
<p>It is worth noting that in the 2016 data mentioned above, only 35 percent of whites identified as conservative while 65 percent identified as either liberal, moderate or other.</p>
<h2>Squeaky wheel gets the grease</h2>
<p>Given these data, why is a conservative approach to immigration dominating in Washington? </p>
<p>In American politics, it is the <a href="https://theconversation.com/if-polls-say-people-want-gun-control-why-doesnt-congress-just-pass-it-92569">squeaky wheel</a> that <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300103922/who-governs">gets the grease</a>. Within the Republican Party, which holds a majority of seats in Congress, voters with more conservative preferences on immigration and other issues have been <a href="http://www.people-press.org/2014/06/12/section-5-political-engagement-and-activism/">more active</a> in recent years than other party members. As long as that continues to be the case, Republican politicians will feel that they need to <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-polls-showing-daca-as-popular-even-among-republicans-dont-tell-the-whole-story/">push restrictive immigration policies</a> if they <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/advocates-insist-eric-cantor-loss-didnt-kill-immigration-reform-n128601">wish to remain</a> in office, even if the majority of their constituents feel otherwise. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/06/29/immigration-protests-saturday-what-you-know/741356002/">more</a> and <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/25/us/immigration-protests/index.html">more</a> people respond to President Trump’s immigration agenda with <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/30/us/politics/trump-protests-family-separation.html">protests</a> and participation in <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/06/25/immigration-new-flash-point-democratic-primaries/NOm4pcKIbJFxwkDZGzrGUK/story.html">electoral politics</a>, this asymmetry in engagement may change.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/99058/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Deborah Schildkraut received funding from the Russell Sage Foundation and the United Parcel Service Endowment Fund at Stanford University.</span></em></p>Public opinion data on immigration show support across parties and ideologies on a key immigration issue over time.Deborah Schildkraut, Professor of Political Science, Tufts UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/987902018-06-25T10:33:54Z2018-06-25T10:33:54ZWhy care about undocumented immigrants? For one thing, they’ve become vital to key sectors of the US economy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224568/original/file-20180624-26555-1luykq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Suzanne Mayes reacts to Melania Trump's jacket as she collects toys for detained families.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The nation’s <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/01/11/how-americans-see-illegal-immigration-the-border-wall-and-political-compromise/">attention</a> is once again focused on the southern border, where President Trump <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44319094">claims</a> the U.S. is facing a “crisis” over illegal immigration</p>
<p>Immigrants play vital roles in the U.S. economy, erecting American buildings, picking American apples and grapes and taking care of American babies. Oh, and <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/4/13/17229018/undocumented-immigrants-pay-taxes">paying American taxes</a>.</p>
<p>My work as the director of the <a href="https://farmworkers.cornell.edu">Cornell Farmworker Program</a> involves meeting with undocumented workers in New York, and the farmers who employ them. Here’s a snapshot of who they are, where they work – and why Americans should care about them.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224562/original/file-20180624-26552-19rb5p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224562/original/file-20180624-26552-19rb5p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224562/original/file-20180624-26552-19rb5p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224562/original/file-20180624-26552-19rb5p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224562/original/file-20180624-26552-19rb5p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224562/original/file-20180624-26552-19rb5p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224562/original/file-20180624-26552-19rb5p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many wondered whether Melania Trump was saying she didn’t care about undocumented children separated from their parents when she wore this coat on a trip to meet them.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Andrew Harnik</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A snapshot of who they are</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/05/03/key-findings-about-u-s-immigrants/">Pew Research Center</a> estimates that about 11.3 million people are currently living in the U.S. without authorization, down from a peak of 12.2 million in 2007. <a href="https://immigration.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000845">More than half</a> come from Mexico, and about 15 percent come from other parts Latin America.</p>
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<p>About 8 million of them have jobs, <a href="http://www.pewhispanic.org/2016/11/03/size-of-u-s-unauthorized-immigrant-workforce-stable-after-the-great-recession/">making up 5 percent</a> of the U.S. workforce, figures that have remained more or less steady for the past decade. </p>
<p>Geographically, these unauthorized workers are spread throughout the U.S. but are unsurprisingly <a href="http://www.pewhispanic.org/2016/11/03/appendix-b-additional-charts-2/#among-states">most concentrated</a> in border states like California and Texas, where they make up about 9 percent of both states’ workforces, while in Nevada, their share is over 10 percent.</p>
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<p>Their representation in particular industries is even more pronounced, and the Department of Agriculture <a href="https://www.doleta.gov/agworker/report9/naws_rpt9.pdf">estimates</a> that about half of the nation’s farmworkers are unauthorized, <a href="http://www.pewhispanic.org/2016/11/03/size-of-u-s-unauthorized-immigrant-workforce-stable-after-the-great-recession/">while 15 percent of those in construction</a> lack papers – more than the share of legal immigrants in either industry. In the service sector, which would include jobs such as fast food and domestic help, the figure is about 9 percent.</p>
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<p>Further studies show that the importance of this population of workers will only grow in coming years. For example, in 2014, <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/immigration/news/2017/05/11/431974/immigrant-workers-important-filling-growing-occupations/">unauthorized immigrants</a> made up 24 percent of maids and cleaners, an occupation expected to need 112,000 more workers by 2024. In construction, the number of additional laborers needed is estimated at close to 150,000. And while only 4 percent of personal care and home health aides are undocumented, the U.S. will soon require more than 800,000 people to fill the jobs necessary to take care of retiring baby boomers.</p>
<h2>Vital to American farms</h2>
<p>Since <a href="https://www.vox.com/a/explain-food-america">agriculture</a> is the industry that’s <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/06/can-americas-farms-survive-the-threat-of-deportations/529008/">most reliant on undocumented workers</a> – and it’s my area of expertise and research – let’s zoom in on it.</p>
<p>Overall, the agricultural industry in the United States has been on the decline since 1950. Back then, farming was a family business that <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/farm-economy/farm-labor/">employed more than 10 million workers</a>, 77 percent of whom were classified as “family.” As of 2000 – the latest such data available – only <a href="https://www.agcensus.usda.gov/Publications/2012/Online_Resources/Highlights/Farm_Demographics/">3 million work on farms</a>, and as noted earlier, an estimated half are undocumented.</p>
<p>Increasingly, dairy farms such as those in New York <a href="http://publications.dyson.cornell.edu/outreach/extensionpdf/2016/Cornell-Dyson-eb1612.pdf">rely on workers</a> from Mexico and Guatemala, many of whom are believed to be undocumented. Currently, there is no visa program for year-round workers on dairy farms, so the precarious status of these workers poses serious concerns for the economic viability of the dairy industry.</p>
<p>In 2017 research <a href="https://cardi.cals.cornell.edu/sites/cardi.cals.cornell.edu/files/shared/Creating%20Positive%20Workplaces%20Guidebook%20-%20Master%20%28GJR49-12-8-17%29.pdf">conducted</a> by the Cornell Farmworker Program, 30 New York dairy farmers told us they turned to undocumented workers because they were unable to find and keep reliable U.S. citizens to do the jobs. That’s in part because farm work can be physically demanding, dirty and socially denigrated work. More importantly, it is <a href="https://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2017/04/the-most-dangerous-jobs-in-america-000395">one the most dangerous occupations</a> in the U.S.</p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.nmpf.org/files/immigration-survey-090915.pdf">study</a> commissioned by the dairy industry suggested that if federal labor and immigration policies reduced the number of foreign-born workers by 50 percent, more than 3,500 dairy farms would close, leading to a big drop in milk production and a spike in prices of about 30 percent. Total elimination of immigrant labor would increase milk prices by 90 percent.</p>
<p>The U.S. fruit, vegetable and meat industries <a href="http://www.fb.org/newsroom/food-prices-ag-economy-tied-to-proper-labor-reform">are similarly at risk</a>, and without the help of unauthorized workers, production would drop and consumers would likely see higher prices.</p>
<p>This has become of <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/wisconsin-dairy-industry-undocumented-workers_us_59c3cfb7e4b06f93538cfd3f">particular concern</a> as immigration enforcement in agricultural communities <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/ice-deportation-arrests-soar-under-trump-administration-drop-border-arrests-n826596">intensifies</a>.</p>
<p>Although the focus is usually on the southern border, what happens in the north matters as well, in part because the <a href="https://www.citylab.com/equity/2018/05/who-lives-in-border-patrols-100-mile-zone-probably-you-mapped/558275/">Border Patrol’s 100-mile jurisdiction</a> means immigrants living in most of New England can be pursued anywhere. As such, the <a href="http://www.revistascisan.unam.mx/Voices/pdfs/10226.pdf">surge in immigration</a> enforcement along the border with Canada in recent years has resulted in <a href="http://digital.vpr.net/post/undocumented-workers-vermont-farms-2017-was-year-filled-anxiety#stream/0">more farmworkers</a> being deported. </p>
<p>It also has meant fresh produce has been gone unpicked, left to rot in fields. One New York apple grower told us that due to labor shortages and dwindling prices for his red delicious variety, he plans to let his 100-year-old orchard go, because any investments in production would result in significant economic loss. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224567/original/file-20180624-26576-1w6rcn8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224567/original/file-20180624-26576-1w6rcn8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224567/original/file-20180624-26576-1w6rcn8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224567/original/file-20180624-26576-1w6rcn8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224567/original/file-20180624-26576-1w6rcn8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224567/original/file-20180624-26576-1w6rcn8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224567/original/file-20180624-26576-1w6rcn8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Hispanic worker watches the milking operation at a farm in Fairfield, Vermont.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Toby Talbot</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Who cares? Most Americans</h2>
<p>Judging by the pronouncements from the White House, you might think most people don’t realize how integral undocumented immigrants are to the U.S. economy. But in fact, polls suggest that Americans do understand this, and also don’t believe that immigrants take their jobs.</p>
<p>In a poll Cornell conducted in 2017, we asked New Yorkers, “How do you believe undocumented farmworkers impact local communities?”</p>
<p>About 75 percent of those we polled said they have “generally positive impacts,” up from <a href="https://cardi.cals.cornell.edu/sites/cardi.cals.cornell.edu/files/shared/MJDudley_Farmworker-Impacts-on-Communities_NYS_2009.pdf">62 percent in 2008</a>. Of those who had a positive impression, most said it was because migrants fill jobs unwanted by citizens or provide essential farm help and keep prices low.</p>
<p>And national polling backs this up. A <a href="http://www.people-press.org/2016/08/25/on-immigration-policy-partisan-differences-but-also-some-common-ground/">2016 Pew poll found</a> that 76 percent believe undocumented immigrants are as honest and hard-working as U.S. citizens, while 71 percent said they mostly fill jobs that Americans aren’t willing to do.</p>
<p>Not only are there lots of reasons to care, the vast majority of Americans actually do.</p>
<p><em>This article has been updated from its original version.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98790/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mary Jo Dudley receives funding from the New York Farm Viability Institute (NYFVI) to conduct research on "Improving Workplace Communications: Opportunities for Worker Training and Advancement". She previously received funding from NYFVI to conduct research and extension activities related to "Strategies for Improved Workplace Relations and Farmworker Retention in New York State."
</span></em></p>A researcher takes a closer look at the millions of unauthorized workers who play an essential role in the U.S. economy – and why they matter.Mary Jo Dudley, Director of Cornell Farmworker Program, Cornell UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/942212018-04-03T10:46:31Z2018-04-03T10:46:31ZWhy a census question about citizenship should worry you, whether you’re a citizen or not<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/212727/original/file-20180329-189798-z5itrf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What could be the consequences of including a question on citizenship?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/usdagov/4423599680/in/photolist-7JU751-7JU787-a2WNh7-a2TWoz-a2WMPo-a2WNmA-a2TWvT-a2TW5P-a2WMRC">U.S. Department of Agriculture </a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced last week that the 2020 census will include a question about citizenship. Ross argued that such a question is required for a <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/03/27/census-question-editorials-debates/33340397/">“complete and accurate”</a> count of Americans. Others in the Department of Justice have argued that the knowledge produced would be useful in ensuring against <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4340651-Text-of-Dec-2017-DOJ-letter-to-Census.html">voter fraud</a>. </p>
<p>Much recent commentary has focused on the ways in which Ross’ proposal might <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/03/the-weaponized-census/556592/">shift power</a> from states with many undocumented residents to those with comparatively few – and, therefore, from <a href="http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/03/trumps-census-change-could-boost-the-gop-for-years-to-come.html">Democratic states to Republican ones</a>. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Mm14TeMAAAAJ&hl=en">political philosopher</a> who studies how abstract moral notions such as justice apply to political institutions, I am more concerned with the fact that undercounting the undocumented might introduce bias into our public policy. This bias might lead to injustice – toward citizens and noncitizens alike.</p>
<h2>Injustice toward citizens</h2>
<p>There is a long tradition in political philosophy that understands injustice as <a href="https://ndpr.nd.edu/news/justice-for-hedgehogs/">unequal treatment without justification</a>. A state is unjust, on this account, when it treats different people in different ways – unless that particular difference in treatment can be shown to reflect some morally important difference between those people. In other words, if you and I are both subject to the law, I have the right to have my interests and desires treated as equal in importance to yours – unless we can find some morally important reason for us to be treated differently. The legal notion of <a href="http://www.claiminghumanrights.org/equality_before_law_definition.html">equality before the law</a> reflects this ideal. </p>
<p>It is for this reason that undercounting the undocumented could lead to injustice. The census will be the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/27/us/politics/census-citizenship-question.html">basis for the allocation</a> of a great deal of funding – over US$600 billion, in areas including health, public health, nutrition and law enforcement. If the census were to count only citizens, rather than all residents, the budget allocations will not accurately reflect the <a href="https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial/2020/program-management/working-papers/Uses-of-Census-Bureau-Data-in-Federal-Funds-Distribution.pdf">actual number of people who will make demands upon public institutions</a>. </p>
<p>To take a simple example: The police have a <a href="https://www.aclu.org/other/rights-immigrants-aclu-position-paper">legal duty</a> to respond to crimes committed by undocumented residents, as well as toward crimes committed against them. If a state with far more undocumented residents receives the same amount of money as one with very few undocumented residents, it will end up serving more people with fewer resources. </p>
<p>To understand how significant this difference could be, <a href="https://www.census.gov/prod/2014pubs/acsbr12-06.pdf">consider these numbers</a>: There are approximately 22 million noncitizens in the United States – which amounts to 7 percent of the population. These residents are <a href="https://immigration.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000845#states">not distributed equally</a> between states. <a href="http://www.pewhispanic.org/interactives/unauthorized-immigrants/">California</a>, for example, has more than 2.5 million undocumented residents, whereas states such as <a href="http://www.pewhispanic.org/interactives/unauthorized-immigrants/">North Dakota, West Virginia and Maine</a> have fewer than 5,000.</p>
<p>The citizens of states with a great many noncitizens may be placed at a significant disadvantage, in comparison with the citizens of states with few noncitizen residents. </p>
<p>If there is no good moral reason to justify this inequality – and in my view there is none – then we have a reason to regard this inequality as unjust.</p>
<h2>Rights of the undocumented</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/212850/original/file-20180402-189795-17eq8db.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/212850/original/file-20180402-189795-17eq8db.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212850/original/file-20180402-189795-17eq8db.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212850/original/file-20180402-189795-17eq8db.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212850/original/file-20180402-189795-17eq8db.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212850/original/file-20180402-189795-17eq8db.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212850/original/file-20180402-189795-17eq8db.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A coalition of immigrants groups demand health care and minimum wages.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/fleshmanpix/8736225171/in/photolist-eiZrnV-CwNU4X-E3vUS7-pJ3a1E-eiYrCt-YCL9vR-buDegz-bpmYv-ej5jJ1-4Ltvjc-gs9LuL-Fa9ffD-bt4ktB-gs4SAd-buDcfZ-buDj1T-ej5Qwj-bpmZ2-YCKsgT-XxnLQg-4Ltvk2-Fvy5nf-YnzsZy-bpmUQ-Ynzssb-FvHgdW-JGJbgR-gs4VgF-buDeRg-mQXBxi-9KdTnb-XoNwoK-9Kb4Xx-YCPPYn-e6kXZn-Ym4RBY-7oqr6T-foqrjh-6jdrk7-Yqc2Cg-mQYGd9-9KdSdN-f6JjWC-mQX8Jc-8nsTK1-9Kbe8e-XoMZyt-8nrs5A-Ym1BeA-9Kbegn">Michael Fleshman</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Furthermore, undercounting the undocumented might also entail injustice toward the undocumented themselves. </p>
<p>One immediate reply here, of course, is to say that the question of injustice toward the undocumented does not arise. Since they have no right to legal residency, there cannot be an issue about fairness toward their interests. </p>
<p>From my perspective, the proper response to that objection is to notice that there are some things states must do even for those who are present without right. Think, again, of police protection. The police are bound by law and morality to protect the bodily and property interests <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/news/fact-sheets/information-legal-rights-available-immigrant-victims-domestic-violence-united-states-and-facts-about-immigrating-marriage-based-visa-fact-sheet">even of those present illegally</a>.</p>
<p>It is true that a person who is a resident in the United States without right is liable to deportation. But that liability <a href="https://www.aclu.org/other/rights-immigrants-aclu-position-paper">does not give</a> the local police the right to refuse to act on that person’s behalf. Someone can be rightly subject to deportation, but still be entitled to have their basic human rights defended prior to deportation.</p>
<p>The Supreme Court’s recent decision, in <a href="http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/evenwel-v-abbott/">Evenwel v. Abbott</a>, reflects these moral facts. This case involved a challenge to the Texan policy of creating districts that reflected total population, rather than the population of legal voters. A unanimous court declared that Texas was permitted to apportion voting districts by population – including the undocumented. </p>
<p>There are some interests, said the court, that are held by everyone resident in a place, <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/15pdf/14-940_ed9g.pdf">“regardless of whether they qualify as voters.”</a> </p>
<h2>Impact on the climate of fear</h2>
<p>The proposed question about citizenship, finally, is liable to exacerbate an existing inequality in the administration of justice. It is likely to make the current <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/mar/23/undocumented-immigrants-wary-report-crimes-deportation">climate of fear</a> in immigrant communities worse. The police are charged with protecting the rights of the undocumented, but they are also frequently called upon to <a href="https://www.citylab.com/equity/2017/09/which-states-and-counties-are-receiving-the-most-ice-detention-requests/538749/">deport them</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/212851/original/file-20180402-189830-zlfr8i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/212851/original/file-20180402-189830-zlfr8i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212851/original/file-20180402-189830-zlfr8i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212851/original/file-20180402-189830-zlfr8i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212851/original/file-20180402-189830-zlfr8i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212851/original/file-20180402-189830-zlfr8i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212851/original/file-20180402-189830-zlfr8i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A proposed question on citizenship could worsen the climate of fear.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/fleshmanpix/13681177883/in/photolist-mQXBxi-9KdTnb-XoNwoK-9Kb4Xx-YCPPYn-e6kXZn-Ym4RBY-7oqr6T-foqrjh-6jdrk7-Yqc2Cg-mQYGd9-9KdSdN-f6JjWC-mQX8Jc-8nsTK1-9Kbe8e-XoMZyt-8nrs5A-Ym1BeA-9Kbegn-gs4uXJ-9soyyC-dgARkH-9Kgbvg-9KdSSW-9KdTgN-mQZNYw-Y2Bppb-YCPNSp-b8z1S4-e3hRBo-8noBLX-mQX7Pt-mQXek4-foqwa1-9Ke53L-YnzRFL-mBzQM-YnB9XN-8nrNFy-9skzk6-mQXeq2-B2Ljd-Y2BRHd-9Kb2og-9KjxYW-8no1Pr-8nq5ps-XoMZRc">Michael Fleshman</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This dual role has made the relationship between the undocumented and the police more adversarial than effective policing would recommend. As Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo has noted, when people are afraid about interacting with the police, they are less likely to come forward as victims and as witnesses. The police, he argues, ought to <a href="https://www.chron.com/news/politics/article/Houston-Police-chief-blasts-Texas-sanctuary-city-12255383.php">“focus on crime, not be ICE agents.”</a></p>
<p>What is true for the policeman may also be true for the census-taker. Questions about citizenship may lead to a sense that even the census-taker – whose job is simply to get an accurate count of those resident within the United States – is helping the federal government with deportation. Sunshine Hillygus, who advises the federal government on the census, notes that this question is likely to fuel suspicion on the part of the undocumented that the census will become a political tool to be used against them – with negative implications for both data accuracy and <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/381106-census-bureau-adviser-on-citizenship-question-what-the-hell">for the long-run reputation of the Census Bureau</a> as a nonpartisan agency.</p>
<p>It is not clear, at this point, that a question about citizenship will actually end up being a part of the 2020 census. Several states have filed a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/27/us/census-citizenship-question.html">lawsuit</a>, seeking to block Ross’ proposed question. Whether or not that lawsuit succeeds, the fact that this question is being considered should give all of us some moral concern – regardless of our perspectives on migration, and regardless of whether we are citizens ourselves.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94221/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Blake receives funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities.</span></em></p>An expert explains why a recent plan to include a question about citizenship in the 2020 census is unjust, both for citizens and noncitizens.Michael Blake, Professor of Philosophy, Public Policy, and Governance, University of WashingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/928862018-03-06T11:40:44Z2018-03-06T11:40:44ZDACA deadline passes, Congress fails to act and fate of ‘Dreamers’ remains uncertain: 6 essential reads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208942/original/file-20180305-146655-1pigxbr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Immigration advocates hold a rally on Capitol Hill.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The final day for an Obama-era program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, was set to be March 5.</p>
<p>In 2017, President Donald Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/05/us/politics/trump-daca-dreamers-immigration.html">announced they would</a> shut down the program.</p>
<p>However, immigrants and the University of California filed separate lawsuits against Trump’s attempt to end it. <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-ruling/second-u-s-judge-blocks-trump-administration-from-ending-daca-program-idUSKCN1FX2TJ">Two federal courts</a> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/immigration/daca-injunction-what-a-federal-judges-ruling-means-for-dreamers/2018/01/10/ecb5d492-f60c-11e7-a9e3-ab18ce41436a_story.html">ruled to reinstate</a> the program until the cases are resolved in court.</p>
<p>In the meantime, <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/15/immigration-daca-senate-412459">Congress also failed</a> to agree on a durable solution, despite a week-long debate on the issue.</p>
<p>Thus, the future remains uncertain for young people who were brought to the U.S. as children without legal authorization. Here is a roundup of archival stories to help you understand DACA and the Dreamers’ dilemma.</p>
<h2>1. DACA’s terms and conditions</h2>
<p>DACA came with a long list of terms and conditions. For example, to apply you had to be a certain age and meet certain educational requirements.</p>
<p>Immigration scholar <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/kevin-johnson-322147">Kevin Johnson</a> of the University of California, Davis, points out, DACA offered protection for only about 1.8 million of the estimated 3.6 million people who were brought to the U.S. as children. Of those 1.8 million who were eligible, <a href="https://theconversation.com/trumps-path-to-citizenship-for-1-8-million-will-leave-out-nearly-half-of-all-dreamers-90899">only about 800,000 actually applied and received protection through DACA</a>.</p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-230" class="tc-infographic" height="575px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/230/0383290ac53a9bb85bf4290bcbe95349d1676be3/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>2. DACA doesn’t cover unaccompanied minors</h2>
<p>It’s important to point out that DACA also does not apply to “unaccompanied minors.” You may have heard the term used especially in 2014, when unprecedented numbers of children traveling alone were arriving at the U.S. border with Mexico. Generally, these case are handled under a different set of laws and policies.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/stephanie-l-canizales-133281">Stephanie Canizales</a>, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Southern California, Dornsife, has spent time doing in-depth interviews and observational research on this group of migrants, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-unaccompanied-youth-become-exploited-workers-in-the-us-73738">who face a separate set of issues around labor exploitation</a>.</p>
<p>Canizales writes, “Undocumented working youth migrate to Los Angeles in hopes of working to support their families who remain in their home countries. … Much like with their adult coworkers, economic necessity and fear of removal from the workplace and the country keep undocumented migrant youth workers quiet in cases of exploitation, and docile and efficient on the job.”</p>
<h2>3. DACA improves mental health</h2>
<p>There is research that shows that DACA <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-daca-affected-the-mental-health-of-undocumented-young-adults-83341">has improved the mental health of those who received it</a>. Scholars <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/elizabeth-aranda-334454">Elizabeth Aranda</a> of the University of South Florida, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/elizabeth-vaquera-405048">Elizabeth Vaquera</a> of George Washington University, explain that being an undocumented immigrant in the U.S. carries with it severe mental health consequences. These include problems such as chronic worry, sadness, isolation and even suicidal thoughts.</p>
<p>Although DACA only offers temporary protection, the relief recipients felt was significant. They write, “These youth shared with us that they were more motivated and happy after Obama’s executive order. As Kate, one of our participants, told us, DACA ‘has gone a long way to give me some sense of security and stability that I haven’t had in a very long time.’”</p>
<h2>4. Dreamers would boost US economy</h2>
<p>DACA critics have suggested that undocumented immigrants negatively impact the U.S. economy because they steal jobs from native-born people. In fact, there is growing evidence that shows how incorporating undocumented immigrants into the workforce actually boosts economic growth. For example, take City University of New York sociologist <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/amy-hsin-437057">Amy Hsin</a>’s study that shows <a href="https://theconversation.com/daca-isnt-just-about-social-justice-legalizing-dreamers-makes-economic-sense-too-90603">what would happen if the DREAM Act was passed</a>.</p>
<p>She found that it would have no significant effect on the wages of U.S.-born workers. It would create more economic opportunities by encouraging legalized immigrants to make education gains. Hsin writes, “Overall, we estimate that the increases in productivity under the DREAM Act would raise the United States GDP by US$15.2 billion and significantly increase tax revenue.”</p>
<h2>5. The moral argument for Dreamers</h2>
<p>Arguably, at the core of the effort to protect Dreamers is a belief that the U.S. has a tradition of embracing those who arrive at its shores seeking a better life. However, a quick scan of history would reveal that the U.S. has not in fact always been so welcoming. As <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/carrie-tirado-bramen-438943">Carrie Tirado Bramen</a> of the University at Buffalo explains, many writers have described U.S. history as an “ongoing duel between generosity and greed.”</p>
<p>Bramen writes that <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-the-daca-debate-which-version-of-america-nice-or-nasty-will-prevail-90731">this issue gets at the core of American identity</a>: “At stake is not only the fate of the Dreamers, but also how the country and the rest of the world understands the idea of America.”</p>
<h2>6. Millions still in the shadows</h2>
<p>Dreamers are the main impetus for the current debate on immigration. As professor <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/matthew-wright-435291">Matthew Wright</a> of American University points out, a victory for Dreamers would be seen as a big “win” for Democrats and some Republicans.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Trump and immigration hard-liners see it as an opportunity to strike a deal that would also include funding for additional security at the U.S.-Mexico border.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/ahead-of-government-shutdown-congress-sets-its-sights-on-not-so-comprehensive-immigration-reform-89998">Neither side has sought to address the remaining millions of undocumented immigrants</a> who are not Dreamers, and who have created lives and community ties in the U.S. For decades, Congress has stalled on comprehensive immigration reform that would offer undocumented immigrants a path to legal status. Even if Congress passes a Dreamer solution, the vast majority of undocumented immigrants will continue to live in fear of detention, deportation and long-term family separation.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of an article originally published on February 14, 2018.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/92886/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Scholars have you covered on all sides of the ‘Dreamers’ issue, with solid research to boot.Danielle Douez, Associate Editor, Politics + SocietyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/917382018-02-28T11:38:21Z2018-02-28T11:38:21ZWhy deporting the ‘Dreamers’ is immoral<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208179/original/file-20180227-36680-1s5aobn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Immigrants and activists demonstrate in front of the Republican Party headquarters in Washington</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Luis Alonso Lugo</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>On Feb. 26, the U.S. Supreme Court <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/02/26/588813001/supreme-court-declines-to-take-up-key-daca-case-for-now">refused to review</a> a federal judge’s order that the Trump administration continue the <a href="https://www.ice.gov/daca">Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.</a></p>
<p>It was back in September 2017 that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/05/us/politics/trump-daca-dreamers-immigration.html">President Donald Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced</a> the end of the Obama-era program that shields hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children. <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/attorney-general-sessions-delivers-remarks-daca">Sessions argued</a> that this program rewarded those who disobeyed the laws of the United States. The United States has an obligation to <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/attorney-general-sessions-delivers-remarks-daca">“end the lawlessness”</a> of DACA, he argued, by winding down the program and, at the same time, making a case for the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/23/us/daca-dreamers-shutdown.html">deportation of the “Dreamers”</a> or those previously protected by DACA. </p>
<p>For now, the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the case <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/02/26/588813001/supreme-court-declines-to-take-up-key-daca-case-for-now">leaves the program in place</a>.</p>
<p>As a scholar, who has tried to understand <a href="https://phil.washington.edu/people/michael-blake">how morality should be applied to politics and law,</a> I do not agree with Sessions.</p>
<p>Respect for the law entails respect for moral values. Protecting the Dreamers isn’t about rejecting the rule of law. Rather, it reflects respect for the morality that the law proclaims. </p>
<h2>Can children be held morally responsible?</h2>
<p>The people covered by DACA came to the United States <a href="https://www.ice.gov/daca">when they were children</a>. Even if their entry into the United States was unlawful, the violation was committed by a child. The law of the United States affirms the common sense thought that children are unlike adults in the degree to which they morally responsible.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208181/original/file-20180227-36689-iu4a6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208181/original/file-20180227-36689-iu4a6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208181/original/file-20180227-36689-iu4a6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208181/original/file-20180227-36689-iu4a6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208181/original/file-20180227-36689-iu4a6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208181/original/file-20180227-36689-iu4a6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208181/original/file-20180227-36689-iu4a6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Dreamers came as children.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mollyswork/36982427456/in/photolist-Ym1BeA-JJKm8k-cJP653-8nrVuo-cJP5Xy-FYje5w-8noASe-23dz3oU-XmPKNb-YCLfBP-24ftkHU-244sjCL-YCLg1e-YnzxWs-22cHJxv-9skxBR-XoMUbp-Y2BtGj-9soxf7-Ym131w-GavK2Y-9skBuM-XmPC79-9skBqM-gs3EvG-Ym1mGE-24ftkUW-YCKuyD-Z1wrTU-8nsuwE-8nmsc6-YYrU5Q-FYjdXN-YCLbSV-cPEAeu-YqfwZr-Ym1jwN-cmcN8o-23dz4du-23dz3Z3-Y2BiEq-npKsn3-XoMZyt-23Fzof2-XoMYri-XmPK7m-XoNsHt-9soBGf-gs36Ju-8nnV38">Molly Adams</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The laws of the United States do not, for example, <a href="http://www.cs.xu.edu/%7Eosborn/main/lawSchool/contractsHtml/bottomScreens/Briefs/Restatement%2012.%20Capacity%20to%20Contract.htm">let children create binding contracts</a>. Children are not allowed to perform many actions open to adults: They cannot <a href="http://codes.findlaw.com/ny/penal-law/pen-sect-260-21.html">smoke tobacco, get tattoos, drink alcohol</a>, <a href="http://nysdmv.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/173/%7E/the-driving-age-in-new-york-state-and-the-graduated-licensing-law">drive automobiles</a>, nor <a href="http://www.elections.ny.gov/votingregister.html">vote in federal elections</a>. Nor are they liable to the <a href="http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/graham-v-florida/">same sorts</a> of criminal punishments as adults. </p>
<p>Their degree of culpability for criminal acts is generally taken to be lower than that of adults – and some punishments, such as the death penalty, <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2011/10-9646">are taken off the table for children entirely</a>. </p>
<p>In the case of DACA, however, deporting the Dreamers would involve subjecting people to a significant punishment. And it would do so in response to an action people took when they were children. This is exactly the sort of action the law itself regards as morally inappropriate. </p>
<h2>Punishment and deportation</h2>
<p>One response to this argument against deportation might be to say that deportation is not, in fact, a punishment. It is simply refusing to provide a benefit - namely, the right to remain within the United States. The foreign citizen who is refused the right to migrate to the United States is inconvenienced – but that’s hardly the same as being punished. And, indeed, deportation is generally understood in law to be a <a href="https://www.law.upenn.edu/journals/conlaw/articles/volume13/issue5/Markowitz13U.Pa.J.Const.L.1299(2011).pdf">“civil penalty,”</a> rather than a punishment. </p>
<p>Even a civil penalty, though, is something whose imposition must be justified morally. The justices of the Supreme Court of the United States have sometimes emphasized that being expelled from one’s home involves the <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/149/698/case.html">destruction of much of what one values</a>. It is the destruction of all that one has built. </p>
<p>This fact was recognized early in the history of the American legal system. Founding father James Madison, in discussing the <a href="https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/Alien.html">Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798</a>, argued strongly against deportation. <a href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=lled&fileName=004/lled004.db&recNum=566&itemLink=r%3Fammem%2Fhlaw%3A%40field">He said</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“… if a banishment of this sort, be not a punishment, and among the severest of punishments, it will be difficult to imagine a doom to which the name might be applied.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Supreme Court agrees. It recently reaffirmed its commitment to the thought that deportation, even if a mere penalty, is <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/09pdf/08-651.pdf">“a uniquely severe”</a> one.</p>
<h2>Residency and rights</h2>
<p>The DACA opponent might, in reply, argue that the morality of the law applies only to those people who are legitimately subject to the law. The laws of the United States might insist, in other words, that the United States has no particular obligations to those people who have entered into <a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/illegal-immigrant">the political community, defined by its jurisdictional limits</a>, without any right. </p>
<p>Here, too, the law of the United States disagrees.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208182/original/file-20180227-36696-1t42n01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208182/original/file-20180227-36696-1t42n01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208182/original/file-20180227-36696-1t42n01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208182/original/file-20180227-36696-1t42n01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208182/original/file-20180227-36696-1t42n01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208182/original/file-20180227-36696-1t42n01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208182/original/file-20180227-36696-1t42n01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The law itself gives certain rights to the undocumented.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/131830793@N03/16989650198/in/photolist-rTjp6q-9ivJBr-SzAECv-RhWYzS-SzACjn-RauRDh-XUuX2L-85Ypi4-sYdpN-5AgqmS-4LxJF1-eutPcQ-Jwd66-4Ltwtn-4vpMvQ-7pBKdX-4LxJFQ-4Ltvjc-nXyyV3-4Ltvk2-8kub3D-RcstVR-Q9ptKe-spQNRh-RjAEBC-SzADDX-SzADqv-RhWZUf-RhWZ7U-RZMwQy-RhX3Ws-RZMwVU-N6xyS3-SkJRPU-Q9ptCa-Q9ptyc-Q6CbAC-Q9ptnR-RjAEFq-RjAEAW-Q9ptF6-RjAEHu-QNHXfs-RjAEx9-Q6CbGE-RjAEuU-RcstS4-Q9ptsk-Q6CbyJ-RjAEwh">David Davies</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The mere fact of being found within the United States – whether rightfully or not – <a href="https://www.nilc.org/get-involved/community-education-resources/know-your-rights/">provides one with significant rights</a> under the Constitution. The law itself gives the undocumented legal rights to bring claims in vindication of their constitutional rights.</p>
<p>Undocumented children, for instance, have a constitutional right to be provided with public schooling. The Supreme Court, in defending this principle, argued that all people within the state’s jurisdiction - <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/457/202/case.html">“even aliens whose presence in this country is unlawful”</a> – are guaranteed due process under the law.</p>
<h2>Morality and migration</h2>
<p>Yes, nothing in the law requires the opening of all borders. And it is true that the United States does not have an obligation to provide the right to enter or stay in the country to all who might desire that right. </p>
<p>However, the Dreamers are not like other people. The simple fact of where they are now provides them with constitutional standing denied to outsiders. </p>
<p>And, as emphasized earlier, whatever wrong they might have done in crossing into the United States, they did as children. The revocation of DACA, however, would announce that they are rightly subjected to a significant – indeed, a devastating – punishment, in virtue of an act committed in childhood. </p>
<p>Law is not the same as morality. <a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674554610">But morality can sometimes look to law</a>, in determining where its deliberations might begin. If the deportation of the DACA recipients would violate the moral principles that underlie the American legal system, there is at least some reason to think that such deportation is morally wrong. </p>
<p>Contrary to Jeff Sessions, I believe that the United States would not respect the law best by deporting the Dreamers. It would respect it best by living up to the moral ideals that make the law worth following.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91738/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Blake receives funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities.</span></em></p>Conservatives on migration claim that allowing the DACA recipients to stay shows disrespect for the law. The moral principles that underlie the American legal system, however, tell a different story.Michael Blake, Professor of Philosophy, Public Policy, and Governance, University of WashingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/917872018-02-14T11:39:52Z2018-02-14T11:39:52ZTrying to keep up with the ‘Dreamers’ debate? Here are 6 essential reads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206280/original/file-20180213-44660-fx3i20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Immigrant rights supporters in Miami.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Lynne Sladky</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The future remains uncertain for a group of young people who were brought to the U.S. as children without legal authorization. </p>
<p>Some of these so-called “Dreamers” were temporarily shielded from deportation through an Obama-era program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. In 2017, President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/05/us/politics/trump-daca-dreamers-immigration.html">announced he would</a> rescind DACA and tasked Congress with finding a durable solution before March 5, 2018. However, lawsuits were filed against Trump’s attempt to end DACA and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-ruling/second-u-s-judge-blocks-trump-administration-from-ending-daca-program-idUSKCN1FX2TJ">two federal courts</a> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/immigration/daca-injunction-what-a-federal-judges-ruling-means-for-dreamers/2018/01/10/ecb5d492-f60c-11e7-a9e3-ab18ce41436a_story.html">have ruled to reinstate</a> the program until the cases are resolved.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is holding up <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/12/mitch-mcconnell-dreamers-immigration-401209">his end of a bargain</a> to end a January government shutdown led by Democrats, in an effort to spur action on Dreamers. As promised, the Senate is now holding an open debate on immigration. </p>
<p>Here is a roundup of archival stories to help you follow along.</p>
<h2>1. DACA’s terms and conditions</h2>
<p>DACA came with a long list of terms and conditions. For example, to apply you had to be a certain age and meet certain educational requirements.</p>
<p>Immigration scholar <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/kevin-johnson-322147">Kevin Johnson</a> of the University of California, Davis, points out, DACA offered protection for only about 1.8 million of the estimated 3.6 million people who were brought to the U.S. as children. Of those 1.8 million who were eligible, <a href="https://theconversation.com/trumps-path-to-citizenship-for-1-8-million-will-leave-out-nearly-half-of-all-dreamers-90899">only about 800,000 actually applied and received protection through DACA</a>.</p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-230" class="tc-infographic" height="575px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/230/0383290ac53a9bb85bf4290bcbe95349d1676be3/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>2. DACA doesn’t cover unaccompanied minors</h2>
<p>It’s important to point out that DACA also does not apply to “unaccompanied minors.” You may have heard the term used especially in 2014, when unprecedented numbers of children traveling alone were arriving at the U.S. border with Mexico. Generally, these case are handled under a different set of laws and policies.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/stephanie-l-canizales-133281">Stephanie Canizales</a>, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Southern California, Dornsife, has spent time doing in-depth interviews and observational research on this group of migrants, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-unaccompanied-youth-become-exploited-workers-in-the-us-73738">who face a separate set of issues around labor exploitation</a>.</p>
<p>Canizales writes, “Undocumented working youth migrate to Los Angeles in hopes of working to support their families who remain in their home countries. … Much like with their adult coworkers, economic necessity and fear of removal from the workplace and the country keep undocumented migrant youth workers quiet in cases of exploitation, and docile and efficient on the job.”</p>
<h2>3. DACA improves mental health</h2>
<p>There is research that shows that DACA <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-daca-affected-the-mental-health-of-undocumented-young-adults-83341">has improved the mental health of those who received it</a>. Scholars <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/elizabeth-aranda-334454">Elizabeth Aranda</a> of the University of South Florida, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/elizabeth-vaquera-405048">Elizabeth Vaquera</a> of George Washington University, explain that being an undocumented immigrant in the U.S. carries with it severe mental health consequences. These include problems such as chronic worry, sadness, isolation and even suicidal thoughts.</p>
<p>Although DACA only offers temporary protection, the relief recipients felt was significant. They write, “These youth shared with us that they were more motivated and happy after Obama’s executive order. As Kate, one of our participants, told us, DACA ‘has gone a long way to give me some sense of security and stability that I haven’t had in a very long time.’”</p>
<h2>4. Dreamers would boost US economy</h2>
<p>DACA critics have suggested that undocumented immigrants negatively impact the U.S. economy because they steal jobs from native-born people. In fact, there is growing evidence that shows how incorporating undocumented immigrants into the workforce actually boosts economic growth. For example, take City University of New York sociologist <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/amy-hsin-437057">Amy Hsin</a>’s study that shows <a href="https://theconversation.com/daca-isnt-just-about-social-justice-legalizing-dreamers-makes-economic-sense-too-90603">what would happen if the DREAM Act was passed</a>.</p>
<p>She found that it would have no significant effect on the wages of U.S.-born workers. It would create more economic opportunities by encouraging legalized immigrants to make education gains. Hsin writes, “Overall, we estimate that the increases in productivity under the DREAM Act would raise the United States GDP by US$15.2 billion and significantly increase tax revenue.”</p>
<h2>5. The moral argument for Dreamers</h2>
<p>Arguably, at the core of the effort to protect Dreamers is a belief that the U.S. has a tradition of embracing those who arrive at its shores seeking a better life. However, a quick scan of history would reveal that the U.S. has not in fact always been so welcoming. As <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/carrie-tirado-bramen-438943">Carrie Tirado Bramen</a> of the University at Buffalo explains, many writers have described U.S. history as an “ongoing duel between generosity and greed.”</p>
<p>Bramen writes that <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-the-daca-debate-which-version-of-america-nice-or-nasty-will-prevail-90731">this issue gets at the core of American identity</a>: “At stake is not only the fate of the Dreamers, but also how the country and the rest of the world understands the idea of America.”</p>
<h2>6. Millions still in the shadows</h2>
<p>Dreamers are the main impetus for the current debate on immigration. As professor <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/matthew-wright-435291">Matthew Wright</a> of American University points out, a victory for Dreamers would be seen as a big “win” for Democrats and some Republicans.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Trump and immigration hard-liners see it as an opportunity to strike a deal that would also include funding for additional security at the U.S.-Mexico border.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/ahead-of-government-shutdown-congress-sets-its-sights-on-not-so-comprehensive-immigration-reform-89998">Neither side has sought to address the remaining millions of undocumented immigrants</a> who are not Dreamers, and who have created lives and community ties in the U.S. For decades, Congress has stalled on comprehensive immigration reform that would offer undocumented immigrants a path to legal status. Even if Congress passes a Dreamer solution, the vast majority of undocumented immigrants will continue to live in fear of detention, deportation and long-term family separation.</p>
<p><em>This article has been updated to correct scholar Elizabeth Aranda’s affiliation, she is a professor at the University of South Florida.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91787/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Scholars have you covered on all sides of the ‘Dreamers’ issue, with solid research to boot.Danielle Douez, Associate Editor, Politics + SocietyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/908992018-01-30T23:22:46Z2018-01-30T23:22:46ZTrump’s path to citizenship for 1.8 million will leave out nearly half of all Dreamers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204118/original/file-20180130-38219-3uv3v7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Anxiously awaiting the State of the Union</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Susan Walsh</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Which “Dreamers” will be given legal recourse to stay in the U.S., and which ones will be left out?</p>
<p>This is the central question surrounding current debate in Washington over a group of undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children. The scramble for a solution has taken on greater urgency since the Trump administration announced that DACA would be phased out and ended in March 2018. That deadline is currently on hold due to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/immigration/daca-injunction-what-a-federal-judges-ruling-means-for-dreamers/2018/01/10/ecb5d492-f60c-11e7-a9e3-ab18ce41436a_story.html?utm_term=.bc7147a36ae9">a federal court</a> ruling – but a battle in Congress over the Dreamers’ fate closed the federal government for 69 hours earlier this month.</p>
<p>Some conservatives have <a href="https://theconversation.com/ahead-of-government-shutdown-congress-sets-its-sights-on-not-so-comprehensive-immigration-reform-89998">balked at the idea</a> of giving “amnesty” to any lawbreakers whatsoever. However, in a recent proposal, President Donald Trump has offered to provide a path to legalization for 1.8 million Dreamers who either received <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/archive/consideration-deferred-action-childhood-arrivals-daca">Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals</a> or were DACA-eligible. </p>
<p>What would that mean? </p>
<h2>Left out of DACA</h2>
<p>DACA is an Obama-era program that provided limited rights to undocumented youth who were brought to the U.S. as children and met certain requirements. Since its inception in 2012, DACA provided relief to <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/09/01/unauthorized-immigrants-covered-by-daca-face-uncertain-future/">close to 800,000</a> young undocumented immigrants. Recipients were temporarily shielded from deportation and provided with work authorization. </p>
<p>However, the Migration Policy Institute estimates that <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/deferred-action-unauthorized-immigrant-parents-analysis-dapas-potential-effects-families">more than 3.6 million</a> unauthorized immigrants entered the U.S. before the age of 18. Their data show that slightly more than <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/news/trump-immigration-plan-lopsided-proposal">1.8 million unauthorized immigrants</a> met the criteria for applying for DACA.</p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-230" class="tc-infographic" height="575px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/230/0383290ac53a9bb85bf4290bcbe95349d1676be3/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Why, then, did only about 800,000 actually receive it? </p>
<p>DACA only applied to undocumented immigrants who were younger than 31 as of June 15, 2012 and had come to the U.S. before age 16. They had to be in or have graduated from high school, had to have obtained a general education development certificate, or had to have served in the military. This left out some people.</p>
<p>Anyone with a criminal record of a felony or more than two misdemeanors or who posed “a threat to national security or public safety” was prohibited from receiving DACA. This left out others.</p>
<p>Additionally, some who were eligible did not apply out of fear that signing up might lead to them or their families being deported. Indeed, after Trump assumed office a number of DACA recipients were <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/10/us/daniela-vargas-detained-daca-released.html?mtrref=www.google.com&gwh=DF54DF259713EC1A373E92133D0298F9&gwt=pay">arrested and detained</a>. </p>
<h2>Trump’s proposal: Generous or not?</h2>
<p>President Trump’s latest <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/white-house-framework-immigration-reform-border-security/">immigration proposal</a> states that it would “provide legal status for DACA recipients and other DACA-eligible illegal immigrants, adjusting the time-frame to encompass a total population of approximately 1.8 million individuals.” The proposal appears to maintain the same requirements that existed for DACA.</p>
<p>Some supporters of the proposal have viewed the relief for that many undocumented immigrants as generous. However, the proposal would limit relief to about only one-half of Dreamers, ignoring the 1.8 million that never registered for DACA.</p>
<p>The Trump legalization plan would also only cover a minority of the total undocumented immigrant population – about 16 percent. According to the <a href="http://www.pewhispanic.org/interactives/unauthorized-immigrants/">Pew Research Center</a>, the total undocumented population in the United States is <a href="https://theconversation.com/counting-11-million-undocumented-immigrants-is-easier-than-you-think-67921">more than 11 million</a>.</p>
<p>Ultimately, the Trump proposal would leave roughly 9 million undocumented immigrants subject to deportation. </p>
<p>Millions of undocumented immigrants who have <a href="https://theconversation.com/deportees-in-mexico-tell-of-disrupted-lives-families-and-communities-90082">lived and worked in the U.S.</a> for years would not be eligible for legalization and face possible deportation. People with families – including U.S. citizen children – friends, jobs and communities in the United States will be affected. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-trumps-immigration-enforcement-could-affect-families-and-communities-69019">The fear</a> of removal <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-daca-affected-the-mental-health-of-undocumented-young-adults-83341">is real</a> and has had major health and other consequences on immigrant communities and families. </p>
<p>All of this is only part of what Trump’s proposal is seeking to do. The proposal calls for great increases in immigration enforcement, including the appropriation of billions of dollars to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. It also calls for increased detention and immigration enforcement and the expansion of expedited removal of noncitizens apprehended in the interior of the country. Moreover, the Trump proposal seeks drastic reductions of family-based immigration and an end to “extended-family chain migration” as well as elimination of the diversity visa program. </p>
<p>Organizations ranging from the <a href="http://aila.org/publications/videos/quicktakes/quicktake-232-white-house-immigration-proposal">American Immigration Lawyers Association</a> to the <a href="http://www.maldef.org/news/releases/2018_1_25_MALDEF_Statement_on_Trump_Administration_Immigration_Plan">Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund</a> believe that Trump’s legalization program for a portion of the undocumented community is not worth the formidable costs.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90899/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kevin Johnson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A scholar counts the winners and losers in Trump’s immigration proposal.Kevin Johnson, Dean and Professor of Public Interest Law and Chicana/o Studies, University of California, DavisLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/899982018-01-19T11:42:44Z2018-01-19T11:42:44ZAhead of government shutdown, Congress sets its sights on not-so-comprehensive immigration reform<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202587/original/file-20180119-80197-1vw54m4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Senators meet with President Donald Trump to discuss immigration on Jan. 9, 2018.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Evan Vucci</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For a moment, it looked as though 2018 might be the year that ended a three-decade streak of failure to pass so-called “comprehensive immigration reform.”</p>
<p>On Jan. 11, a <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/11/dreamers-deal-reached-but-trump-has-yet-to-sign-off-336501">bipartisan group of six senators</a> brought forth a plan for comprehensive reform that would include US$2.7 billion for border security, a pathway to citizenship for “Dreamers” brought to the country without authorization as children, a limit on those Dreamers sponsoring their parents for citizenship and a reallocation of “diversity visas” to immigrants with <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/temporary-protected-status">recently terminated</a> Temporary Protected Status visas.</p>
<p>Prospects for the deal have dimmed since President Donald Trump, who had previously expressed sympathy for Dreamers, <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/17/trump-credibility-capitol-hill-lawmakers-negotiating-342989">abruptly torpedoed it</a>. But the rudiments of a workable deal are still in place. If it ends up succeeding, it will be in no small part because it sidesteps the one issue that has deadlocked comprehensive reform since the 1990s: undocumented immigrants.</p>
<p>The only remotely viable path to a “comprehensive” deal, it seems, is to leave millions of undocumented immigrants who are not Dreamers out in the cold.</p>
<h2>The ‘amnesty’ stumbling block</h2>
<p>Americans of all political stripes, and their elected officials, have <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/09/30/on-views-of-immigrants-americans-largely-split-along-party-lines/">long agreed</a> that the U.S. immigration system is “broken.” Yet since the last major round of reforms in the 1980s and 1990s, efforts at “comprehensive immigration reform” spearheaded by presidents of both parties and enjoying bipartisan congressional support have gone nowhere. America’s foundational laws regarding immigrants have remained largely intact since Lyndon Johnson occupied the White House. They are the <a href="https://cis.org/Report/HartCeller-Immigration-Act-1965">Hart-Celler Act of 1965</a>, later amended by the <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/its-25th-anniversary-ircas-legacy-lives">Immigration Reform and Control Act</a> of 1986, and the <a href="https://immigration.laws.com/immigration-act-of-1990">Immigration Act of 1990</a>.</p>
<p>The main stumbling block has been hostility, mainly on the Republican side, to normalizing the status of millions of immigrants living in the country without permission. This hostility developed fairly recently, driven almost entirely by pressure to please a small but rabidly anti-immigrant base. George W. Bush largely escaped pressure to harden his relatively moderate positions prior to his election in 2000, and <a href="https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/stateoftheunion/2007/initiatives/immigration.html">actively pursued</a> comprehensive immigration reform as president. </p>
<p>But since then, serious GOP presidential candidates have increasingly had to toughen up on immigration policy in order to make it through to the general election.</p>
<p>The 2008 election witnessed the <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-appalling-last-act-of-rudy-giuliani">rebirth of Rudy Giuliani</a> – formerly a relatively tolerant mayor of a “sanctuary city” – as a border security hawk and illegal immigration hard-liner. More notable still that year was Sen. John McCain, who was <a href="http://content.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1818697,00.html">forced to back off</a> his longtime support for comprehensive immigration.</p>
<p>Donald Trump, of course, <a href="http://time.com/3923128/donald-trump-announcement-speech/">launched his 2016 bid for the GOP presidential nomination</a> by railing against drug smugglers, criminals and rapists he <a href="https://theconversation.com/more-mexicans-are-leaving-the-us-than-coming-across-the-border-51296">falsely alleged</a> are streaming into the U.S. illegally from Mexico. </p>
<p>Observers understand this hostility to “amnesty” in different ways. <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/anti-immigrant-rhetoric-anti-latino/">Some see it</a> as racially motivated, and tied to hostility against Latinos and other ethnic minorities. However, my colleague Morris Levy and I have <a href="https://cloudfront.escholarship.org/dist/prd/content/qt19m3r9c7/qt19m3r9c7.pdf">shown in our research</a> that much of it is tied to deep conceptions about the rule of law. By this logic, roughly one-third of Americans, according to our study, reject undocumented immigrants categorically. That is, they reject them solely on the basis of breaking the law, without regard to ethnicity or other characteristics.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/mass-opinion-and-immigration-policy-in-the-united-states-re-assessing-clientelist-and-elitist-perspectives/1461C6DF33BE8E552DFFF1DC8A7993BD">We have argued</a> that this is why there is still no path to citizenship for the <a href="https://theconversation.com/counting-11-million-undocumented-immigrants-is-easier-than-you-think-67921">11 million or so</a> undocumented immigrants currently living in the U.S.</p>
<h2>Narrowing what ‘comprehensive’ means</h2>
<p>It’s no surprise then that, of late, the debate has devolved exclusively to address the fate of Dreamers. As some of our work indicates, Dreamers do not provoke the intransigent hostility that other undocumented immigrants do. They are less likely to be viewed as “law-breakers,” and more likely to win support on humanitarian grounds.</p>
<p>In effect, the vast majority of undocumented immigrants have been written out of immigration reform altogether. The more limited deal in circulation would give Democrats a “win” with respect to illegal immigration, even if it is less than the total victory they have long sought. The concessions they offer in return – limited funding for border security, some effort to limit so-called “<a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/01/07/576301232/explaining-chain-migration">chain migration</a>,” and the redirecting of “diversity lottery” visas to some immigrants previously on temporary status – <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/house/294853-black-caucus-concerned-by-end-of-diversity-visas-in-senate-immigration-bill">are not uncontroversial</a>. However, none is likely to generate anything like the reaction “amnesty” produces among categorical opponents of illegal immigration.</p>
<p>Can those undocumented immigrants hope for reprieve down the line?</p>
<p>There is precedent for large-scale amnesty: The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 <a href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128303672">legalized nearly 3 million</a> undocumented immigrants in exchange for relatively weak enforcement provisions. But given the uniquely intransigent positions taken on both sides of the issue, it is hard to imagine another such bill in the offing any time soon.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/89998/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Wright does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>If they pass a deal on DACA, it’s a win for both sides of the aisle and thousands of ‘Dreamers,’ but a loss for millions of undocumented immigrants.Matthew Wright, Assistant professor of government, American University School of Public AffairsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/903772018-01-19T11:41:56Z2018-01-19T11:41:56Z‘Dreamers’ could give US economy – and even American workers – a boost<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202535/original/file-20180119-80203-1iuvh1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Demonstrators chant slogans during an immigration rally in support of DACA.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Earlier this month, <a href="http://kxan.com/2017/12/02/daca-summit-gives-dreamers-hope-encouragement/">hopes were high</a> that a bipartisan deal could be reached to resolve the fate of the “<a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/dreamers-24037">Dreamers</a>,” the millions of undocumented youth who were brought to the U.S. as children. </p>
<p>Those hopes <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/11/politics/daca-deal-obstacles-flake-white-house/index.html">all but vanished</a> on Jan. 11 as President Donald Trump aligned himself with hard-line anti-immigration advocates within the GOP and struck down bipartisan attempts to reach a resolution.</p>
<p>As we enter the final hours before a potential government shutdown, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/18/us/politics/government-shutdown-house-vote.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=a-lede-package-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news">many Democrats are insisting</a> that any short-term funding agreement must include a resolution for Dreamers. </p>
<p><a href="https://cis.org/Immigration-Hurting-US-Worker">One of the arguments</a> advanced by those who oppose giving them citizenship is that doing so would hurt native-born workers and be a drain on the U.S. economy. My own research shows the exact opposite is true. </p>
<h2>Lives in limbo</h2>
<p>All in all, about <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/01/18/there-3-5-m-dreamers-and-most-may-face-nightmare/1042134001/">3.6 million immigrants</a> living in the U.S. entered the country as children. Without options for legal residency, their lives hang in the balance. </p>
<p>To address this problem, the <a href="http://www.pbs.org/weta/washingtonweek/web-video/vault-president-barack-obama-signs-daca">Obama administration created</a> the <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/consideration-deferred-action-childhood-arrivals-daca">Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals</a> program in 2012. <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/deferred-action-for-childhood-arrivals-daca-33587">DACA</a> gave <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/daca-four-participation-deferred-action-program-and-impacts-recipients">almost 800,000 of them</a> temporary legal work permits and reprieve from deportation. Although his successor terminated the program in September, this month a <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/01/10/576963434/federal-judge-temporarily-blocks-trumps-decision-to-end-daca">federal court halted that process</a>, allowing current recipients the ability to renew their status. </p>
<p>Any cause for celebration, however, was short-lived as the Department of Justice immediately responded by asking the Supreme Court to overturn the ruling. The Supreme Court has not yet announced a decision. In the meantime, the future of DACA recipients remains uncertain.</p>
<p>Today, the best hope for a permanent fix for the Dreamers rests on bipartisan efforts to enact the 2017 DREAM Act – for Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors – which would extend pathways to citizenship to undocumented youth who entered the United States as children, graduated from high school and have no criminal record. A version of the act was <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/349285-graham-durbin-call-for-action-on-dream-act-by-end-of-september">first introduced</a> in 2001.</p>
<p>The debate surrounding the DREAM Act is often framed around two seemingly irreconcilable views. </p>
<p>On one side, <a href="http://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/a14473133/kamala-harris-dream-act-op-ed">immigration activists advocate</a> for legalization based on pleas to our common humanity. These Dreamers, after all, were raised and educated in the United States. They are American in every sense but legally. </p>
<p>On the other, <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/08/25/time-for-trump-to-keep-his-promises-daca-is-unconstitutional-and-bad-for-american-workers.html">critics</a> contend that legalization will come at a cost to U.S.-born workers, and their well-being should be prioritized. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202536/original/file-20180119-80171-1b2jixd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202536/original/file-20180119-80171-1b2jixd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202536/original/file-20180119-80171-1b2jixd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202536/original/file-20180119-80171-1b2jixd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202536/original/file-20180119-80171-1b2jixd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202536/original/file-20180119-80171-1b2jixd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202536/original/file-20180119-80171-1b2jixd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many immigrant advocates consider the DREAM Act the best hope for a permanent fix.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Lynne Sladky</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Impact of Dreamer citizenship on wages</h2>
<p>My <a href="http://ftp.iza.org/dp11281.pdf">research</a> with economists Ryan Edwards and Francesc Ortega estimated the economic impact of the 2017 DREAM Act if it were to become law. About 2.1 million of the undocumented youths <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/news/mpi-estimates-number-dreamers-potentially-eligible-benefit-under-different-legalization">would likely be eligible</a> to become citizens based on its age and educational requirements. </p>
<p>Our research showed that immigrants given permanent legal work permits under the DREAM Act would not compete with low-skilled U.S.-born workers because only those with at least a high school degree are eligible for legalization. The act also encourages college attendance by making it one of the conditions for attaining legal residency. </p>
<p>We also found that the act would have no significant effect on the wages of U.S.-born workers regardless of education level because Dreamers make up such a small fraction of the labor force. U.S.-born college graduates and high school dropouts would experience no change in wages. Those with some college may experience small declines of at most 0.2 percent a year, while high school graduates would actually experience wage increases of a similar magnitude.</p>
<p>For the legalized immigrants, however, the benefits would be substantial. For example, legalized immigrants with some college education would see wages increase by about 15 percent, driven by expansions in employment opportunities due to legalization and by the educational gains that the DREAM Act encourages.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202539/original/file-20180119-80171-wjvwfo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202539/original/file-20180119-80171-wjvwfo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202539/original/file-20180119-80171-wjvwfo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202539/original/file-20180119-80171-wjvwfo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202539/original/file-20180119-80171-wjvwfo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202539/original/file-20180119-80171-wjvwfo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202539/original/file-20180119-80171-wjvwfo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">President Trump’s termination of DACA has put the lives of Dreamers like Faride Cuevas, second from right, in limbo.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Broader economic benefits</h2>
<p>The DREAM Act also promotes <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-dreamers-and-green-card-lottery-winners-strengthen-the-us-economy-82571">overall economic growth</a> by increasing the productivity of legalized workers and expanding the tax base. </p>
<p>Lacking legal work options, Dreamers <a href="https://www.rsfjournal.org/doi/pdf/10.7758/RSF.2017.3.4.06">tend to be overqualified</a> for the jobs they hold. My ongoing work with sociologist Holly Reed shows that the undocumented youth who make it to college are more motivated and academically prepared compared with their U.S.-born peers. This is at least in part because they had to overcome greater odds to attend college. </p>
<p>We find that they are also more likely than their native-born peers to graduate college with a degree. Yet despite being highly motivated and accomplished, undocumented college graduates are employed in jobs that are not commensurate with their education level, according to sociologist <a href="https://www.rsfjournal.org/doi/pdf/10.7758/RSF.2017.3.4.06">Esther Cho</a>. With legal work options, they will be able to find jobs that match their skills and qualifications, making them more productive. </p>
<p>Legalization also <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2017/08/30/science.aan5893">improves the mental health</a> of immigrants by <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-daca-affected-the-mental-health-of-undocumented-young-adults-83341">removing the social stigma</a> of being labeled a criminal and the looming threat of arrest and deportation. </p>
<p>From an economic standpoint, healthier and happier workers also make for a more productive workforce.</p>
<p>Overall, we estimate that the increases in productivity under the DREAM Act would raise the United States GDP by US$15.2 billion and significantly increase tax revenue.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202537/original/file-20180119-80194-16tge4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202537/original/file-20180119-80194-16tge4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202537/original/file-20180119-80194-16tge4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202537/original/file-20180119-80194-16tge4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202537/original/file-20180119-80194-16tge4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202537/original/file-20180119-80194-16tge4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202537/original/file-20180119-80194-16tge4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin and Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham have been leading recent efforts to pass bipartisan immigration reform.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Everyone can win</h2>
<p>The U.S. continues to grapple with how to incorporate the general population of nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the country. </p>
<p>The inability of the Trump administration and lawmakers from both parties to <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/17/trump-rejects-horrible-bipartisan-immigration-plan-reuters.html">find common ground</a> is emblematic of just how <a href="http://news.gallup.com/poll/206681/worry-illegal-immigration-steady.aspx">deeply divided</a> Americans are between those who want to send most of them home and others who favor a path toward citizenship for many if not most of them. </p>
<p>While there appears to be no resolution in sight for the general population of 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States, common bipartisan ground <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/survey-finds-strong-support-for-dreamers/2017/09/24/df3c885c-a16f-11e7-b14f-f41773cd5a14_story.html">can be found</a> on the issue of Dreamers. A recent survey found that 86 percent of Americans support granting them amnesty.</p>
<p>The DREAM Act offers an opportunity to enact a permanent resolution for a group widely supported by the public. What is more, our research shows a policy that affirms our common humanity also increases economic growth without hurting U.S.-born workers. </p>
<p>This is a win-win for everyone, whether you care about social justice or worry about U.S. workers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90377/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amy Hsin receives funding from the MacArthur Foundation and the William T. Grant Foundation.</span></em></p>While comprehensive immigration reform may be out of reach, giving immigrants who came to the US as children citizenship not only has broad political support but makes economic sense too.Amy Hsin, Associate Professor of Sociology, City University of New YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.