O`Leary, A.O., and Sanchez, A. (2011). Anti-immigrant Arizona: ripple effects and mixed-immigration status households considered under « Rollover policies. » Journal of Borderlands Studies, 26(1), 115-133. In summary, undocumented legal status is the main obstacle to the integration of immigrants under the current status. Indeed, the lack of legal status is explicitly aimed at preventing integration by denying undocumented immigrants access to various social and economic benefits and making them vulnerable to deportation. Yet millions of undocumented immigrants continue to live in the United States, working, starting families, seeking pathways to another legal status, and integrating into American society despite obstacles. 6 The panel does not provide detailed descriptions of all possible legal statuses in the immigration system, as many categories apply to only a small number of persons and there is little or no data on how these legal statuses affect integration. Instead, the analysis focuses on the most important and politically important categories for which integration data are available. A complete list of legal assets and a brief explanation of their path to citizenship can be found in Table 3-2. LPR is the most stable legal status without U.S. citizenship.

LPRs have work permits, are eligible for certain public benefits, and can sponsor their spouse or unmarried children for permanent residence. LPR status therefore allows immigrants to put down roots more permanently in the United States, which could facilitate their integration. And since adjusted people make up the majority of new LPRs, a large proportion of those receiving their « green card » have already begun the integration process (Martin and Yankay, 2014). The majority of undocumented workers are confined to low-paying jobs, either because of their low human capital, or because their status makes it difficult to find jobs that match their skills and education, or because they lack access to educational opportunities. This exposes undocumented workers to a unique risk of labour rights violations by employers (Bernhardt et al., 2013, p. 725). A 2008 survey of low-wage workers in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York found that 31 percent of immigrant workers had been victims of a violation of minimum wage laws, compared to only 16 percent of native-born workers. among undocumented immigrants, it was 37%, compared with 21% among those with a work permit (Bernhardt et al., 2009). Another survey of immigrant workers in New Orleans found that 41% had been victims of wage theft by those who likely hired them (Fussell 2011). Gonzales, R.G. (2011).

Learning to be illegal: undocumented adolescents and changing legal contexts in the transition to adulthood. American Sociological Review, 76(4), 602-619. The profile of a visa abuser is slightly different. Men are relatively more numerous (59%), a slightly smaller proportion are married (71%) and they are significantly older than illegal frontier workers, with only 40% of working age in the prime of life and an average age of over 41. On average, they come from households of 3.7 people and about two children, but are significantly more educated than illegal cross-border commuters. Only 10% have primary education or less, 17% have a college degree, and the average of 12.9 years is higher than the average for all immigrants. About 45% speak English somewhat or very well, and a majority (55%) say they understand the language with some ease. Generation also plays a role, as immigrant youth (generation 1.5, see Chapter 1) who are undocumented face different challenges than their adult counterparts (Gleeson and Gonzales 2012).

The legal status restricts the social life of young immigrants who, due to their status related to the particular state in which they live, may not be able to obtain a driver`s license or official identity documents, denying them access to adult facilities. Thus, undocumented status influences the socialization of immigrant youth in adulthood (Abrego, 2006; Gonzalez and Chavez, 2012; Gleeson and Gonzalez, 2012). These effects vary by state and place of residence, as states and municipalities have some leeway when it comes to managing social programs and limiting employment and educational opportunities for immigrants. Table 2 examines the national origins of each level of education by showing the five countries with the highest citizenship that contribute to each category. Among immigrants in general, Mexico is by far the largest source country, accounting for 15% of the total cohort in 1996, followed by immigrants from the former USSR (8%), China (6%), the Philippines (also 6%) and Vietnam (5%). Given its relative importance as the largest source of American immigrants, it`s no surprise that Mexico plays an important role in four of the seven pathways we`ve identified. In one category, however, Mexico far exceeds its overall contribution to the immigrant cohort: illegal border crossers, 41% of whom were Mexicans. Given that Mexico is the only developing country to share a land border with the United States, and given that 90% of those apprehended by Border Patrol for unauthorized entry are from that country (U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1997), this finding is hardly surprising. The most well-known job-based nonimmigrant visa is the H-1B. The program was launched in 1990 and is capped at 65,000 new visas per year, with no upper limit for renewals or employer changes (see Table 3-2 for details). An exemption for graduate degrees allows for the issuance of 20,000 additional new visas per tax year.

Over the past 15 years, demand for H-1B visas has far outstripped supply (with the exception of 2001 to 2003, when the cap on new visas was temporarily raised to 195,000); In 2015, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) received nearly 233,000 new visa applications in fiscal year 2016, peaking within days of the enrollment season. USCIS has created a lottery system to process excess annual applications for new H-1B visas. Since 2001, Congress has repeatedly considered and then failed to pass various versions of the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, a legislative effort to give legal status to undocumented individuals who were brought to the United States as children and who meet certain educational and other criteria.