What do you mean by illegal migrant in United States?

Question

What do you mean by illegal migrant? I have heard that US immigration policies & very strict. My main question is do people come there on L1, J1, H1 visas be considered as illegal migrants? Or is it like if they are staying in US even after their visa gets expired? But how is this possible? If it is a non american defenitely some time or the other the cops may ask for passport...when u can be easily caught.

Answer 1

You are not illegal if you have a visa.  It's easier to get away with it than you would think.  People stay after their visas have expired... or they never have one to begin with and they sneak into the country.

If you think the US has strict immigration laws then you should look at Mexico.  For all the criticism we get, they are very VERY harsh to their illegal immigrants.  Even their LEGAL immigrants have less rights than legal immigrants in this country.

I can't wait for all the "thumbs down" I'm going to get from people who don't know what they are talking about.  Bring. It. On.

Answer 2

You can come in to the U.S. legally (that is with a VISA) and if you stay past the deadline... then you are here illegally. People can ask for an extension to their VISA and they are usually extended, but too many people do not do this... besides, the extension is only about 6 months. The police department and the INS do not necessarily share this information... unless their is a 'terrorist' suspicion... then a cop can easily find out an immigration status from both the INS and the FBI. This is why things have changed after 9/11. The government wants all of these federal agencies to better communicate so that illegal people do not 'fall through the cracks'. Of course, theory and reality are hard to reconcile. It is an unbelievable undertaking. And we all now about the so called feuds (jealousy) between these agencies... Everyone wants to be the 'hero', but no one wants to help the other agency... There is also the general feeling that cops are out there to fight other types of crimes and should not be spending too much of their time checking immigration status while someone could be getting shot somewhere else in the neighborhood. We do not have enough cops to do both... Unfortunately, cops are really the ones who deal most closely with people....

Answer 3

The majority of illegal aliens in the USA simple overstay their visas and there are very little safeguards to prevent this.  The second major group simply walk/drive  across the border in the middle of nowhere bypassing the legal requirements completely.  At one time, the army (US Cavalry) patrolled the borders (the reason for the slew of forts along the borders) but this mission was at some point passed to the Border Patrol with its way too small funding.  Employers often hide the fact and have been largely shielded from prosecution and police in the USA can not simply stop people and demand ID as there is a large non-white/black population here that is legal and doing so would infringe on their Constitutional rights.  The only thing that can be done is to demand from everyone positive and multiple government issued IDs for any employment, voting, licenses, or whatever and penalize severely employers who do not do this but that has been fought by them rather successfully.  It can be done but, so far, the government has refused to take action.

Answer 4

I believe illgeal immigrant also covers those who overstayed their visas no matter what kinds of visas you used when you first enter the US once it's expired then you'll be out of status.

Answer 5

its where they sneak into the country without even registering with the INS or anyone.

Answer 6

ummmmmmmmmmmm that's why you run from cops.

if you yell "immigration!" or "imigra" people will run :)

and yeah people's visas expire a lot and they overstay

plus, cops don't know who is illegal so they can't just go around checking people.

Answer 7

Legal migrants in the United States have to be citizens, and there-in, move from one area of the United States to another.

Immigration refers to the movement of people between countries.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigrant

Answer 8

Typical illegal is a Mexican that sneaks in without a visa