Working Vacation

Most people do not associate illegal immigration with traveling coach. The endless, dehydrating desert trek, scrambling over cactus thickets, maneuvering through barbed wire, rendezvous in a Tucson Wal-Mart parking lot with a distant cousin -- the (not to mistreat the word) romanticized border crossing does not come close to describing a substantial proportion of the journeys illegal immigrants make to the United States.

A study released by the Pew Hispanic Center last year reports that of the unauthorized immigrants now in the United States, 45 percent overstayed their visa. Obtaining a temporary visa is relatively easy--the only prerequisites are demonstrating that one has ties (of family and property) that provide incentive to return from the U.S., and that one has reason to travel (tourism, work, school, etc.). After entry into the country by land or air, little prevents a visitor from quickly melting into the population.

The federal government has placed an insignificant amount of effort into solving this unglamorous problem. Attention paid to the issue usually focuses on potential terrorists abusing the temporary visa system. A staff investigation for the 9/11 commission found that of the 19 hijackers, six had violated immigration laws. One came as a putative student, but did not attend the English language school for which his visa was issued. Two overstayed their visas by many months. To quote the report, "None of these violations were detected or acted upon by INS inspectors or agents."

With the current enforcement system, catching visa violators is nearly impossible. United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) prevents people from illegally entering at the border; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) enforces immigration laws by targeting the illegal aliens already here, with an emphasis on finding potential terrorists. National Public Radio claims that in 2005, ICE caught a paltry 6,000 overstays. The border patrol has 12,000 agents; ICE has half that number to track everything from potential terrorists to counterfeit goods. In September of 2006, the Department of Homeland Security inspector general reported that in 2004, 54 full-time ICE agents were used to search out millions of visa overstays. Moreover, according to the Christian Science Monitor, of the $1.95 billion President Bush requested for border security in May of 2006, only $30 million was "for tracking and monitoring visa violators."

A system called US-VISIT exists at many ports of entry and has the potential to help catch overstays. Theoretically monitoring who enters and exits the country, this program should provide sufficient information to find visa violators by correlating a name in the database with mail, for example, and thereby location.

Building an insurmountable border wall could create a situation where abuse of the temporary visa system becomes even more widespread. I would imagine that the only reason overstay is not the most prevalent means of illegal immigration is due to the hazard of exit. Getting caught when leaving or attempting to reenter the country after overstay will prevent reacquisition of a visa for a period of between three and ten years. But for unidirectional migration, the pretense of vacation is a great way to get a job.