• JustinA
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    11 months ago

    illegal immigration in the us includes people overstaying visas. Finland has plenty of overstayed visas too, but the border to Russia is meant to be closed due to the war escalation in Ukraine.

    • zeppo@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      11 months ago

      Sure, but I’m talking about people who come up from Central America with no visa at all.

      • JustinA
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        11 months ago

        Do you have a source that says hundreds of thousands of people a year cross the US-Mexico border outside of legal crossing points?

        • zeppo@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          edit-2
          11 months ago

          Sure.

          “Migrant border crossings in fiscal year 2022 topped 2.76 million, breaking previous record”
          https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/migrant-border-crossings-fiscal-year-2022-topped-276-million-breaking-rcna53517

          That’s just the people they stopped. It could also be some people being stopped multiple times.

          “Fact Check: Were There 600,000 Southern U.S. Border ‘Got-Aways’ in 2022?” https://www.newsweek.com/southern-us-border-migrants-gotaways-2022-1770201

          Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) tweeted on December 27: “[…] Border Patrol counts more than 600,000 got-aways this year alone.”

          Official data for “got-aways” in the 2022 fiscal year is yet to be released by the Department for Homeland Security (DHS), but Customs and Border Protection (CBP) confirmed to Newsweek the accuracy of the figure in Kennedy’s tweet. “Got aways are defined as subjects at the Southwest Border who, after making an unlawful entry, are not turned back or apprehended, and are no longer being actively pursued by USBP agents,” states the DHS Border Security Metrics Report: 2021.

          So that’s people they tried to stop and gave up.

          Note this doesn’t mean that the total number increases each year, as some people go back and don’t return, and others go back and forth.

          • JustinA
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            11 months ago

            Fair enough, I didn’t know that there were so many people crossing the US border.

            I will point out that the equivalent EU figure post-migrant-crisis is about 400k. I believe that EU border officers are generally not allowed to turn migrants away if they have a valid claim to asylum. https://etias.com/articles/eu-migrant-influx-record-2023

            • zeppo@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              11 months ago

              The same is true under US law and international law in general - if someone shows up at border point and requests asylum, saying they’re in danger, have been forcibly displaced or are fleeing persecution, the country must admit them. It’s not assured, though, as someone can be turned down for a US criminal record or other background check flags. You also have to apply and go through a court process to be officially granted residency. And then, having shown up and being under official control at a border, starting under Obama many refugees have been placed into detention camps or even made to wait in Mexico while their cases are processed, which can take quite some time - the US has a court backlog of about 850,000 cases. So, many people consider it easier to just dodge the authorities and come in unofficially.

              • JustinA
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                edit-2
                11 months ago

                Yeah, as I understand it, there are a lot of problems with requesting asylum in the US. people are not allowed to request asylum at border crossings, crossing the border illegally often prevents asylum seekers from seeking asylum, border patrol often dont respect asylum requests, asylum seekers are detained inhumanely, and asylum courts are deliberately underfunded.

                I wish there was more discussion about these issues in the us, instead of blanket statements about migrants crossing the border.