Illegal immigration to New York City

Last updated

There are thought to be over half a million undocumented immigrants residing in New York City.[ when? ] They come from many parts of the world, especially Latin America, Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Caribbean. About 70% of them have paid work, in catering, construction, retail, driving, cleaning, and many other trades; at least in catering, their wages tend to be lower than those of comparable workers.

Contents

Profile and demographics

According to a study by the Fiscal Policy Institute, about 4.08 million immigrants lived in New York State in 2007, [1] and according to the Migration Policy Institute, about 4.47 million immigrants lived in the state in 2014. [2] Of the immigrants in the state, about three million live in New York City. [1] The number of immigrants living in New York City increased only slightly from 2000 to 2011, with an increase from 2,871,032 to 3,066,599 residents being born outside the United States. [3] :10

A 2007 report by Fiscal Policy Institute estimated there were 535,000 undocumented immigrants in New York City. [1] In all, undocumented immigrants make up 18 percent of all immigrants living in New York City. [1] Undocumented Immigrants in New York City come from a wide array of countries from all over the globe. According to an estimate by Jeffrey S. Passel of the Pew Hispanic Center, 27 percent of undocumented immigrants in New York City come from Mexico and Central America, 23 percent come from South Asia and East Asia, 22 percent come from the Caribbean, 13 percent come from South America, eight percent come from Europe, five percent come from Africa, and two percent come from the Middle East. [4]

Participation in labor force

Although undocumented immigrants do not have legal permanent status in the country, locally they have a significant presence in the city's economy and job market. As former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg explained, “Although [undocumented aliens] broke the law by illegally crossing our borders or over-staying their visas and our businesses broke the law by employing them, our city’s economy would be a shell of itself had they not, and it would collapse if they were deported”. [5] [6] According to a Fiscal Policy Institute analysis of 2000 to 2006 data, there are 374,000 undocumented workers in New York City, which makes up 10 percent of the resident workforce. [1] With 374,000 out of 535,000 undocumented workers working in New York City, undocumented aliens have a labor force participation rate of roughly 70 percent. This percentage is higher than the labor force participation rate for native-born residents, 60 percent, or for overall foreign-born residents, 64 percent, in New York City. [1]

Undocumented workers can be found working in almost every industry in New York City performing a wide variety of tasks. More than half of all dishwashers in the city are undocumented workers, as are a third of all sewing machine operators, painters, cooks, construction laborers, and food preparation workers. Undocumented workers also make up close to 30 percent of the city's automotive service technicians and mechanics, waiters, maids and housekeeping cleaners, and carpenters. The five occupations with the most undocumented workers in New York City are cooks (21,000), janitors and building cleaners (19,000), construction laborers (17,000), maids and housekeeping cleaners (16,000), and waiters (15,000). [1]

Occupation [1] Number (estimate)As proportion of all workers
Dishwashers11,00054%
Sewing machine operators12,00035%
Painters, construction & maintenance7,00033%
Cooks21,00033%
Construction laborers17,00032%
Food preparation workers6,00032%
Waiters & waitresses15,00028%
Maids & housekeeping cleaners16,00028%
Automotive service technicians & mechanics5,00026%
Carpenters20,00050%
Taxi drivers & chauffeurs11,00020%
Stock clerks & order fillers7,00019%
Janitors & building cleaners19,00019%
Laborers & freight, stock & material movers6,00016%
Driver/sales workers & truck drivers9,00015%
Cashiers10,00012%
Retail salespersons10,00012%
Child care workers7,00012%
Office clerks, general5,00012%
First-line supervisors of retail sales workers8,00010%
Other occupations163,0006%
Total undocumented labor force374,00010%

Restaurant industry

The restaurant industry may be the industry that employs the most undocumented aliens. In 2007, 36 percent of restaurant workers were undocumented aliens. [1] According to a 2008 estimate from the Pew Hispanic Center, about 20 percent of the nearly 2.6 million chefs, head cooks and cooks in the United States are undocumented aliens. [7] According to a 2005 report by the Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York and the New York City Restaurant Industry Coalition, undocumented alien workers in the restaurant industry in New York City receive substantially lower wages than legal workers. According to the report, the median wage of all restaurant workers in the city was $8.00 an hour. However, when undocumented alien workers’ earnings were taken out of the sample, the median wage rose to $9.00 an hour. [8] A Manhattan chef and restaurateur explained, “We always, always hire the undocumented aliens… It’s not just me, it’s everybody in the industry. First, they are willing to do the work. Second, they are willing to learn. Third, they are not paid as well. It’s an economic decision. It’s less expensive to hire an undocumented person”. [7]

Mexican immigrants

According to an analysis of the most recently available census data, Mexican immigrants have the highest rate of employment among the city's 10 largest immigrant groups, and they are more likely to hold jobs than New York City's native-born population. Based on the 2008 census data, about 75 percent of all Mexicans in the city between ages 16 and 65 are in the civilian labor force and only around four percent of them are unemployed, which is well below the nation's current unemployment rate of 9.6%. [9] Experts say the main reason so many of these undocumented aliens are employed is because they are undocumented, and, consequently, they are less likely to report workplace abuses to the authorities for fear of deportation. As a result, many of these workers hold jobs that pay less than the minimum wage and require them to work 100-hour work weeks. [9]

Social and fiscal impacts

Education

In 1996, New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani stated: "The reality is that [undocumented aliens] are here, and they're going to remain here. The choice becomes for a city what do you do? Allow them to stay on the streets or allow them to be educated? The preferred choice from the point of view of New York City is to be educated". [10]

Law enforcement

Although the New York City Police Department (NYPD) does not check immigration status of people seeking medical attention or education services, it does check the immigration status of anyone who commits a crime. [5]

Laws

In October 1986, Congress passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), which authorized legalization for undocumented immigrants who could prove they had resided in the U.S. continually, although without appropriate documentation, since January 1, 1982. [11]

Mayor Bloomberg explained, “Our general policy in this area protects the confidentiality of law-abiding immigrants, regardless of their status, when they report a crime or visit a hospital or send their children to school”. [5] In New York State, resident undocumented immigrants can get a driver's license. They also pay the same tuition rates as other residents to attend a New York state university or other public university. [12] New York state supports the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals executive actions taken by Barack Obama, which allowed about four million undocumented immigrants to receive work permits and be protected from deportation. [12] [13]

On September 17, 2003, Bloomberg issued Executive Order 41 to protect the privacy of undocumented immigrants and to grant them access to City services that they need and are entitled to receive. According to Executive Order 41, if an undocumented immigrant goes to a City agency to request certain services or benefits, City employees will not ask about his immigration status unless it is required by law or necessary to determine whether he is eligible to receive those services or benefits. Furthermore, if an undocumented immigrant is the victim or witness of a crime, or if he calls or approaches the police seeking assistance, police officers will not inquire about his immigration status. [1] [9] [14] [15]

In January 2017, President Donald Trump enacted a new executive order that would allow undocumented immigrants nationwide to be deported on lesser charges than previously. Over the week of February 6, 2017, six hundred people in 11 states, including 41 people in the New York City area, were arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The ICE stated that of those arrested in the New York City area, 95% of those arrested were criminal aliens. [16] Specifically, of the 41 arrested, 38 had at least one criminal conviction. [17] The New York City raids had been planned since January and focused mainly on people who immigrated from Central American countries. [18] The ICE had arrested more undocumented immigrants in the New York metropolitan area in previous raids, including 58 in an August 2016 raid. [19] However, the new ICE raids under Trump's presidency represented an increased enforcement of immigration policy, including detaining and potentially deporting 8 million of the country's estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants. [20] As a result, after the February raids, there were reports of increases in people looking for free legal help from immigrant-rights law firms. The NYPD said that it was not involved in the raids. [16] ICE arrested a further 104 people in the New York area in July 2017. [21]

See also

Related Research Articles

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is a federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the United States from cross-border crime and undocumented immigration that threaten national security and public safety.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Wetback</span> 1950s U.S. immigration law enforcement initiative

Operation Wetback was an immigration law enforcement initiative created by Joseph Swing, the Director of the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). The program was implemented in June 1954 by U.S. Attorney General Herbert Brownell. The short-lived operation used military-style tactics to remove Mexican immigrants—some of them American citizens—from the United States. Though millions of Mexicans had legally entered the country through joint immigration programs in the first half of the 20th century and some who were naturalized citizens who were once native, Operation Wetback was designed to send them to Mexico.

Reforming the immigration policy of the United States is a subject of political discourse and contention. Immigration has played an essential part in American history, as except for the Native Americans, everyone in the United States is descended from people who migrated to the United States. Some claim that the United States maintains the world's most liberal immigration policy.

The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) is an American anti-immigration think tank. It favors far lower immigration numbers and produces analyses to further those views. The CIS was founded by historian Otis L. Graham alongside eugenicist and white nationalist John Tanton in 1985 as a spin-off of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). It is one of a number of anti-immigration organizations founded by Tanton, along with FAIR and NumbersUSA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Illegal immigration to the United States</span> Immigration to the United States in violation of US law

Illegal immigration, or unauthorized immigration, occurs when foreign nationals, known as aliens, violate US immigration laws by entering the United States unlawfully, or by lawfully entering but then remaining after the expiration of their visas, parole or temporary protected status.

Operation Return to Sender is the name for a massive sweep of illegal immigrants by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency that began on May 26, 2006.

Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of that country's immigration laws, or the continuous residence in a country without the legal right to. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upward, from poorer to richer countries. Illegal residence in another country creates the risk of detention, deportation, and/or other persecutions.

The actual size and the origin of the undocumented alien population of the United States is uncertain and is difficult to determine due to of difficulty in accurately counting individuals in this population. Figures from national surveys, administrative data, and other sources of information vary widely. By all measures, the population of undocumented aliens in the U.S. declined substantially from 2007 until at least 2018. The number of border apprehensions substantially declined after 2000, reaching a low in 2017, but have recently rebounded to reach a new peak level as of 2021.

A sanctuary city is a municipality that limits or denies its cooperation with the national government in enforcing immigration law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Immigration to Greece</span>

Immigration to Greece percentage of foreign populations in Greece is 7.1% in proportion to the total population of the country. Moreover, between 9 and 11% of the registered Greek labor force of 4.4 million are foreigners. Migrants additionally make up 25% of wage and salary earners.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agriprocessors</span> Defunct slaughterhouse and meat packaging corporation

Agriprocessors was the corporate identity of a slaughterhouse and meat-packaging factory based in Postville, Iowa, best known as a facility for the glatt kosher processing of cattle, as well as chicken, turkey, duck, and lamb. Agriprocessors' meat and poultry products were marketed under the brand Iowa Best Beef. Its kosher products were marketed under various labels, including Aaron’s Best, Shor Habor, Supreme Kosher, and Rubashkins.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Postville raid</span> 2008 immigration raid in Iowa

The Postville raid was a raid at the Agriprocessors, Inc., kosher slaughterhouse and meat packing plant in Postville, Iowa, on May 12, 2008, executed by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) division of the Department of Homeland Security together with other agencies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Immigration detention in the United States</span>

The United States government holds tens of thousands of immigrants in detention under the control of Customs and Border Protection and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) is in charge of the removal and deportation of illegal immigrants in Ghana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deportation and removal from the United States</span> American legal procedure

Deportation and removal from the United States occurs when the U.S. government orders a person to leave the country. In fiscal year 2014, Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted 315,943 removals. Criteria for deportations are set out in 8 U.S.C. § 1227.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Immigration policy of Donald Trump</span> Policies regarding immigration of the Trump administration

Immigration policy, including illegal immigration to the United States, was a signature issue of former U.S. president Donald Trump's presidential campaign, and his proposed reforms and remarks about this issue generated much publicity. Trump has repeatedly said that illegal immigrants are criminals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Homan</span> American law enforcement officer

Thomas Douglas Homan is an American former police officer and government official who served during the Trump Administration as acting director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from January 30, 2017, to June 29, 2018. Within the Trump administration, he was among the most strident proponents of separating children from their parents as a means of deterring illegal entry into the country. Since his retirement from government, he has been a Fox News contributor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Executive Order 13768</span> Executive order signed by U.S. President Donald Trump

Executive Order 13768 titled Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States was signed by U.S. President Donald Trump on January 25, 2017. The order stated that "sanctuary jurisdictions" including sanctuary cities that refused to comply with immigration enforcement measures would not be "eligible to receive Federal grants, except as deemed necessary for law enforcement purposes" by the U.S. Attorney General or Secretary of Homeland Security.

The issue of crimes committed by illegal immigrants to the United States is a topic that is often asserted by more conservative politicians and media outlets when discussing immigration policy in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Cross Check</span> Ongoing US law enforcement operation

Operation Cross Check is an ongoing law enforcement operation led by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to identify, arrest, and deport illegal immigrants with criminal records. Since its launch in 2011, the operation has resulted in thousands of arrests and deportations across the United States.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Working for a Better Life: A Profile of Immigrants in the New York State Economy" (PDF). Fiscal Policy Institute. 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-11-22. Retrieved 2010-11-12.
  2. "State Demographics Data - NY". migrationpolicy.org. Retrieved 2017-02-01.
  3. Bloomberg, Michael R.; Burden, Amanda M.; Shama, Fatima (2013). The Newest New Yorkers (PDF) (2013 ed.). New York City Department of City Planning.
  4. Passel, Jeffrey S; Cohn, D'Vera (November 18, 2014). "Unauthorized Immigrant Totals Rise in 7 States, Fall in 14: Decline in Those From Mexico Fuels Most State Decreases" (PDF). Pew Research Center's Hispanic Trends Project. Washington, D.C. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-02-05. Retrieved 2017-02-02.
  5. 1 2 3 "Comprehensive Immigration Reform: Examining the Need for a Guest Worker Program". United States Congress Committee on the Judiciary United States Senate. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. 2006.
  6. "Bloomberg: New York City Will Collapse Without Illegal Immigrants". Fox News. 2006-07-05. Retrieved 2017-01-31.
  7. 1 2 Immigration Crackdown Steps Into the Kitchen.
  8. Kharbanda, Remy; Ritchie, Andrea (25 January 2005). "Behind the Kitchen Door: Pervasive Inequality in New York City's Thriving Restaurant Industry" (PDF). Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York (ROC-NY) and the New York City Restaurant Industry C.
  9. 1 2 3 Semple, Kirk (2010-09-23). "Mexican New Yorkers Are Steady Force in Workplace". The New York Times. Retrieved 2017-01-31.
  10. Romney: Giuliani's NYC 'Sanctuary' for Illegal Immigrants.
  11. Foner, Nancy (2001). New Immigrants in New York. Columbia University Press. ISBN   978-0-231-12414-0 . Retrieved 2017-01-31.
  12. 1 2 Park, Haeyoun (2015-03-29). "Which States Make Life Easier or Harder for Illegal Immigrants". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2017-02-01.
  13. Meckler, Laura; Nelson, Colleen McCain; Morath, Eric (2014-11-21). "Obama to Protect 4 Million-Plus Immigrants From Deportation". Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved 2017-02-01.
  14. Executive Order 41, C.F.R. (PDF), 2003, archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-02-07, retrieved 2017-01-31
  15. "Immigration Crackdown Steps Into the Kitchen". The New York Times. 8 September 2010. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
  16. 1 2 Sandoval, Edgar; Blau, Reuven; Brown, Stephen Rex (2017-02-13). "NYC immigrant communities shaken after federal raids". NY Daily News. Retrieved 2017-02-13.
  17. "Details of 41 arrested during illegal immigrant raids released". ABC7 New York. 2017-02-17. Retrieved 2017-02-17.
  18. Robbins, Liz; Dickerson, Caitlin (2017-02-12). "Immigration Agents Arrest 600 People Across U.S. in One Week". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2017-02-13.
  19. "ICE arrests 58 in New York enforcement operation targeting convicted criminals". www.ice.gov. Retrieved 2017-02-13.
  20. Bennett, Brian (4 February 2017). "Not just 'bad hombres': Trump is targeting up to 8 million people for deportation". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 2017-02-13.
  21. "ICE arrests 114 in New York operation targeting fugitives, illegal immigrants". Fox News. 2017-07-26. Retrieved 2017-10-21.

Bibliography

Further reading