Unwarranted Exodus
Angela Naik
The existence and survival of us Humans has been heavily dependent on travelling and migrating to other places and eventually even across continents. Our ancestors first migrated to new places approximately 2 million years ago and since then we have relied on migration not only for food and shelter but also for other purposes.
Emigration or simple known as migration isn’t an easy task. Picking up your life from your home country and shifting to another country with a different environment and people isn’t simple. Over the years as the migration rate has increased, it has caused many issues in the places that the immigrants travel to. It is a fact that a piece of land has a limit to the population it can support and has limited resources. When too many people migrate across international borders, this becomes an issue as no country can allow an infinite number of immigrants into their land. The Immigration authorities often have to deny people’s immigration requests and sometimes the people wishing to migrate to the country do not have the required documents either. This causes the immigrants to illegally enter the other country and live as undocumented illegal citizens. One may question why people would take such a huge risk by illegally immigrating to other countries. There are many different reasons such as poverty, overpopulation, asylum, better employment and education.
These illegal migrants end up in foreign countries where they have to conceal their identity and pray that they aren’t caught and deported. Immigration usually occurs from poorer to richer countries as immigrants come looking for better employment opportunities among other reasons.
Although immigration has both positive and negative implications. The positives are usually for the native populations as they gain easily available and cheaper low-skilled native and immigrant labour. It also adds to the cultural and racial diversity of the native population. A majority of this illegally migrated population are extremely hardworking people and abide by the laws and pay their taxes as well. It’s estimated that in the US alone, the ITEP collects $ 11.74 billion from undocumented immigrants each year.
However, illegal migration does come with a lot of negatives as well. To illegally migrate to a country, people often have to rely on human smugglers and other sketchy methods to enter it. They stuff people into ships and other vessels in an attempt to smuggle people. These ships, trucks and vessels often end up in accidents and cause deaths. Since 1996, over 80,000 illegal immigrants have died from such accidents or at detention camps. The majority of such deaths are unrecorded and are not officially accounted for. The immigrants are usually in debt to the smugglers and spend months or even years trying to pay the debt back. Once settled, they send words of a good life and employment which then encourages more people from their homelands to migrate to other countries. Another threat is to the National Security of a place. Terrorists usually enter the country illegally through the same routes that illegal immigrants take. Illegal immigration, interception of these immigrants and further legal processes to deport them from the country costs the countries a lot of money too. In the US alone, it costs them a whopping net (costs of services received – tax contributions) of $ 54 billion each year. This might be higher in countries like India which has the highest illegal immigration numbers. Due to easily available immigrant low-skilled labour, the per capita income of native low-skilled labour also decreased causing financial problems to the native population.
Those were some problems faced by the country and the native population. Some problems faced by illegal immigrants are:
Vulnerable to slavery and harsh working conditions
Very little or no access to public healthcare
Kidnapped or trafficked into prostitution
Exploitation by employers
Denied rights
Can’t visit or return to their homeland
Often face racism and hate in the new country
Suffer from mental illnesses and sickness
Many countries also have absurd detention and deportation policies and camps where they often separate children from their families. This causes deep psychological distress not only to the child but also to the parent. These camps have not only caused the deaths of children but also misplaced and lost children as well. Blaming individuals (in this case illegal immigrants) for issues caused in host countries will not resolve anything. They are often blamed for crimes and other illegal activities although it is a fact that immigrants especially illegal ones stay away from criminal activities. They readily do the jobs (menial work) that natives are too lazy or ashamed to do.
Migration is an important aspect of our lives. Even though illegal immigration is a serious issue, it should not impact the immigration rules of a country. As humans, we must share our resources and our land. There is plenty to support everyone on the planet. International Organisations and countries should strive to eliminate factors that cause illegal immigration and should try to improve the working conditions and quality of life in the “3rd world countries” from where most immigrants come.
We are privileged to be born in a peaceful and thriving country. Others may not have the same privilege. Today it’s them, tomorrow it may be us.
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Posted Mar 8, 2024
This is an article on Illegal immigration that I researched and wrote when I was in college!
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