1.6 million illegal immigrants were living in California and that an estimated 125,000 entered the state every year. Moreover, by 1997, there was evidence that the "growing visibility" of illegals had "created public concern about the social and economic impact of immigrants--in particular, Latino immigrants" (Cowan, Martinez, & Mendiola, 1997, p. 403.
By far the most American concern about entering the US unlawfully is directed at those who cross the US-Mexican border. Although the border is patrolled by law-enforcement officials and although parts of the border are more securely sealed than others, by and large it is highly permeable, and it hardly has the status of a mine-peppered war-zone frontier. What makes this a vexed issue is that the 1,945-mile US-Mexico border is "the longest point of contact between a developed and a developing country in the world" (Andreas, 1994, p. 46). It can be said as well that Mexico is merely the farthest north of countries that make up a vast plain of economic underdevelopment and/or social or political instability. In consequence, hundreds of thousands of people seeking a way out of poverty and/or oppression see the US as a beacon of opportunity for employment, education, and a relatively generous welfare state. And so they risk crossing the border without benefit of passport or visa or much else besides.
Another source of illegal immigration is Asia, and in particular China, from where thousands of people are smuggled into the US every year. Chinese illegal immigration owes much to the fact that, between 1882 and 1943, specifically and programmatically, Chinese were by law excluded from legal immigration into the US. Only family members of Chinese persons who were native born were considered for immigration. In consequence, says Ngai (1998), there arrived during the first half of the 20th century thousands of so-called "paper sons," or Chinese who posed as the sons of these Chinese people. ...