The Effects of Illegal Immigration on Organizational Efficiency and Effectiveness: A United States Analysis

The 14th Amendment to U.S. Constitution has been interpreted in a manner that confers American citizenship upon virtually all who are born within geographical boundaries of United States, regardless of parent's legal status, whether lawful or otherwise. This form of automatic citizenship, in combination with ease at which American borders are continuously violated, encourages literally millions of foreign nationals to enter and remain in United States unlawfully, thereby fostering significant economic, health, and law enforcement issues. The interplay among incentives for illegal immigration and natural consequences that follow is complex and extremely expensive to taxpaying American public. This article addresses these critical national issues and focuses on moral, economic, medical and legal implications of continuing practices that promote illegal immigration while it summarizes difficulties illegal immigration presents to business managers who must ultimately find means to comply with requirements of employment laws.IntroductionIt is estimated that between 300,000 and 400,000 children are born each year in United States to families with at least one parent residing in this country illegally.1 There were approximately 350,000 births to illegal immigrants in 2010, accounting for 8% of all births in United States and this was statistically unchanged from estimated 340,000 per year in 2008 and 2009.2 The total U.S. population of these children born to illegal immigrant parents increased from 2.3 million in 2003 to 4 million by 2008, not including those over age 1 8 or those who had married.3 The actual number is larger. By what many believe to be an errant interpretation of 14th Amendment to U.S. Constitution, each and every one of these children born to illegal immigrants are deemed to be U.S. citizens by virtue of nothing more than their presence, even temporarily, on American soil at moment of birth.4 Whether parents enter United States legally or illegally, there is no difference. Birthright citizenship applies uniformly to all who by chance or design are born within U.S. borders.According to various sources, illegal population in U.S. was estimated at approximately 1 1 million in 20 1 0,5 and had grown by 27% between 2000 and 20 1 0.6 In recent years, estimates have ranged from as few 7 million to as many at 20 million7 with 57% from Mexico, 24% from other Latin American countries, 9% from Asia, 6% from Europe and Canada, and 4% from rest of world.8 A breakdown by state shows that more than half of illegal population is concentrated in just four southern border states: almost 2.6 million reside in California, nearly 1 .8 million in Texas, approximately 760,000 in Florida, and 500,000 in Arizona. Another 5 million or more are scattered throughout remaining states with substantial concentrations in Illinois, New York, Georgia, New Jersey, North Carolina and Nevada.9The Government Accountability Office reports that, the population of undocumented foreign persons is large and has increased rapidly.10 61% of unauthorized immigrants arrived in United States prior to 2004, 30% arrived from 2004 to 2007, and 9% arrived between 2008 and 2010 during recessionary years. If current estimates of illegal population are correct at 1 1 million, this means that 39%, or approximately 4.3 million illegal aliens, entered and remained in U.S. from 2004 to 2010, an average of some 614,000 per year. The U.S. Department of Home Security reports average deportations of only 239,301 per year during same period,12 which translates to an approximate total of 853,000 people who entered U.S. illegally during that period while only 28% were forcibly repatriated to their home country. And with this continued expansion of illegal population there is a corresponding growth in number of births to illegal aliens, each of which are instantly deemed U. …