4 Infographics on the Reality of Illegal Immigration Today
There's been a lot of talk in the United States in the past year or so about illegal immigration — who illegal immigrants are, what they do and how their addition affects the country we share. The New York Times published an article this week: Here’s the Reality About Illegal Immigrants in the United States. I highly encourage everyone and anyone to give it a close read. This is an important topic we should all be well aware of, so that we can base our perspectives on truth, and know how to best support and advocate for our friends, family and neighbors.
As a highly visual learner myself, I really appreciated how the article's design leaned heavily on images and infographics to educate. Are you a part of an organization trying to educate people on significant issues? Take a note. How can you make infographics like these work for your cause?
The Majority of Illegal Immigrants
Have Been Here for 10+ Years
From the article:
"To hear many liberals and immigrant advocates tell it, most undocumented immigrants are productive, law-abiding members of society, deeply rooted in communities all over the country, working hard, living quietly, paying taxes and raising families.
Statistics show that many of the undocumented fit this profile. About 60 percent of the unauthorized population has been here for at least a decade, according to the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute."
Millions of Illegal Immigrants
Have U.S. Born Children
From the article:
"Lydia, who like several undocumented immigrants did not want her last name published for fear of being deported, crossed the border through Tijuana in 1988...
Lydia raised four children, all citizens, and sent them to public schools in Sun Valley, a suburb north of Los Angeles. She and her husband bought a home there, paid off their mortgage and bought a second home nearby.
She was eventually ordered out of the country. But the Obama administration deprioritized deportations of people who had committed no major crimes, and it allowed her to live and work in the United States as long as she checked in with an immigration agent each year...
Now she is a candidate for deportation once again, and is anxious each time she steps out of her home.
'I am in limbo,' she said. 'I am afraid I will go out and never come back.'"
The Vast Majority of Illegal
Immigrants Are Not Criminals
From the article:
"The Migration Policy Institute has estimated that 820,000 of the 11 million unauthorized have been convicted of a crime. About 300,000, or less than 3 percent of the 11 million undocumented, have committed felonies. (The proportion of felons in the overall population was an estimated 6 percent in 2010, according to a paper presented to the Population Association of America.)
The Trump administration has said it will continue to prioritize deporting those with serious criminal records, but, in a break from the Obama administration, the new policies also take aim at immigrants whose offenses are limited to living here without permission or minor crimes that enable immigrants to work here, like driving without a license or using a fake Social Security number."
Most Illegal Immigrants Do Not
Enter the US Across the Mexican Border
From the article:
"In each year from 2007 to 2014, more people joined the ranks of the illegal by remaining in the United States after their temporary visitor permits expired than by creeping across the Mexican border, according to a report by researchers at the Center for Migration Studies.
A partial government estimate released last year said that 416,500 people whose business or tourist visas had expired in 2015 were still in the country in 2016. That does not count people who came here on student visas or temporary worker permits."
Source: The New York Times
