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May. 1st, 2006 05:16 pmThere have been several people commenting on the illegal immigrant issue. I don't have a real stand on this, because I don't think that what is going on according to the newspapers and politicians is what is really going on.
Many people (not just here) are saying "If they want to come to the U.S., they should go through legal channels.". One of my theorems is that whenever a large number of people are violating the same law, there is probably something in the law itself that causes part of the problem, and not just people who can't be arsed to follow rules.
In the case of immigration from Mexico (as well as immigration from anywhere), there are quotas put on the number of people who can immigrate from any particular country. There is a cap on how many people can immigrate from all countries; then no more than seven percent of the immigration visas can be issued to any country. Thus, the number of people who can legally immigrate from Mexico is the same as the number who can immigrate from Switzerland, or Nigeria. (Note that this does not include immediate family members of U.S. citizens.)
This document has actual numbers:
http://www.uscis.gov/graphics/shared/statistics/publications/USLegalPermEst_5.pdf
Notably, 161,000 people from Mexico immigrated to the U.S. in 2005. According to this page, in 2001 the U.S. embassy processed 2,650,912 (that's over 2 million) visa applications. Extend that to 2005 at a very low increase of 5 percent a year and you get over three million visa applications. If I read the statistics page right, there was a max of 26,211 family and work visas available for issue.
That gives a person applying for a visa a less than one in ten chance of entering the country legally, and that only if the person has family in the U.S or a job lined up.
Yes I know you can say that if they want to be in the U.S. they need to follow the laws of the nation. I can quite agree with that. What I am pointing out is that it is pointless to say that they "should go through legal channels". Because there are probably well over a million Mexicans who are trying to get into the U.S. via the legal channels who aren't able to.
Many people (not just here) are saying "If they want to come to the U.S., they should go through legal channels.". One of my theorems is that whenever a large number of people are violating the same law, there is probably something in the law itself that causes part of the problem, and not just people who can't be arsed to follow rules.
In the case of immigration from Mexico (as well as immigration from anywhere), there are quotas put on the number of people who can immigrate from any particular country. There is a cap on how many people can immigrate from all countries; then no more than seven percent of the immigration visas can be issued to any country. Thus, the number of people who can legally immigrate from Mexico is the same as the number who can immigrate from Switzerland, or Nigeria. (Note that this does not include immediate family members of U.S. citizens.)
This document has actual numbers:
http://www.uscis.gov/graphics/shared/statistics/publications/USLegalPermEst_5.pdf
Notably, 161,000 people from Mexico immigrated to the U.S. in 2005. According to this page, in 2001 the U.S. embassy processed 2,650,912 (that's over 2 million) visa applications. Extend that to 2005 at a very low increase of 5 percent a year and you get over three million visa applications. If I read the statistics page right, there was a max of 26,211 family and work visas available for issue.
That gives a person applying for a visa a less than one in ten chance of entering the country legally, and that only if the person has family in the U.S or a job lined up.
Yes I know you can say that if they want to be in the U.S. they need to follow the laws of the nation. I can quite agree with that. What I am pointing out is that it is pointless to say that they "should go through legal channels". Because there are probably well over a million Mexicans who are trying to get into the U.S. via the legal channels who aren't able to.
