The debate over illegal immigration continues to force the government’s hand in taking action on the large number of illegal immigrants able to cross the nation’s borders. Despite a variety of measures to curb illegal immigration, from the Immigration Control and Reform Act of 1996 to additional border guards and border protection measures, illegal immigration continues to be an escalating problem. Most of the illegal immigrants that are able to pass through border patrol or border check areas are able to do so because of forged or stolen documentation that is virtually undetectable as fraudulent-either because it is stolen and otherwise legitimate or because of new technologies which make forged documents appear more authentic.
There are a variety of factors that continue to keep this issue a problem and cause of concern for U.S. authorities and officials, some of them due to conditions in host countries and others due to loopholes in present Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) legislation. Poor conditions in host countries push immigrants to America’s shores, while the fact that illegal immigrants depress wages but boost profits and decrease prices continues to remain a pull factor. In light of this situation, more immigrants are tempted to acquire fraudulent or stolen documentation in order to live and work in the U.S. This research hypothesizes that:
Until authorities devise an effective method of detecting and dealing with fraudulent or stolen immigration documentation, immigration measures designed to alleviate the problem of immigrants illegally crossing the border will prove ineffective.
Stitching thread, laminate, pens, cutting material, different kinds of ink, and a magnifying glass—these are the tools of the supplier of fraudulent immigration documentation. The thread (matching the country of destination) is for stitching together passports, the laminate for covering “passport” size pho...