Day 2 - General Information

Illegal immigration, overall, is the phrase used to describe an alien of the United States who has come to reside in the country illegally, or without the proper documents. In order to be a citizen of the US, one needs to have their green card, visa, passport, and other documents such as a birth certificate to qualify them to be a legal citizen.

Two ways an immigrant can illegally reside in the Untied States is if they overstay their visa, or cross the border from Mexico to Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas (United States territory). Therefore, the majority of the illegal immigrants in the United States have come from Mexico, according to the Census Bureau – totaling approximately 7,000,000 Mexicans from the 12,000,000 that are said to currently be here.

Furthermore, two ways a person can become a United States citizen is if they were born on US territory (regardless of the citizenship of the parents) or if they have properly obtained their green card, allowing them to stay in the country. There are currently 4 million children who have gained their citizenship due to being born on US territory from at least one illegal parent. This makes up ¾ of the 5.5 million children of illegal immigrants that are believed to be currently residing in the United States. Further, about 1.8 million of these children live at or below the poverty line, meaning 1 in 3 are poor.

The illegal immigrants in America make up about 4 % of our nation’s population. Also, those who have crossed the border have contributed to over 5 % of the work force – particularly in manual labor (mainly agricultural and construction) that offers low pay.
Source for Statistics: Link to CNN article

Factual Immigration Statistics