Until recently, 32-year-old Vadim K. considered himself lucky, regardless of the many difficulties that he faces daily. He came to America on a visitor’s visa and remained after the visa expired, joining the ranks of the undocumented. But the lack of these documents did not prevent him from finding work at a construction site.
The salary, of course, left much to be desired, but Vadim made ends meet and was even able to send small amounts of money to his elderly parents in Russia. Finally, he hoped that the attitude toward illegal immigrants in America would change for the better, that our lawmakers would find a way for them to become citizens, and that he, like many of his comrades in misfortune, would be able to gain a foothold in the country of liberty.
Unfortunately, Vadim’s hopes did not come true. The attitude toward illegal immigrants has changed, but for the worse. The government has started to hunt for people without papers, catching them during raids on the workplace and sending them to jail. Additionally, with the crisis that erupted in the real estate market, construction has ceased to be the attractive business that it was until recently, and Vadim, like many other illegal immigrants working at construction sites, has lost his job.
“I did not despair; I thought that I would find other work since I was, after all, prepared to take on anything,” he said. “But the businesspeople who used to hire our undocumented brothers willingly are now scared to work with us. They would not turn down a cheap worker, but fear of the authorities is stronger than greed.”
Vadim says that he has seriously considered returning to Russia. “I’ll struggle on a little more and try my luck, and then go home,” he said. “Now at least I have money for a ticket, and I won’t have it later. And then what would I do?”
Thousands of undocumented immigrants now share Vadim’s fate. After losing their jobs, they are not able to find work and hence return (or consider to return) home. As a result, trends in illegal immigration into the United States are changing. Fewer people without papers are entering the United States, and increasingly undocumented immigrants who have lived and worked here for years are returning to their native countries.
The trend has primarily affected Mexicans, who are mostly responsible for filling the ranks of the 12-million strong army of undocumented immigrants in the United States. Judging by a new study conducted by the Washington-based Pew Hispanic Center, 25 percent fewer Mexicans came to (or, more accurately, crossed the border into) the United States this year than in 2005, when the number of border crossers exceeded 350,000. According to the same study, the average number of illegal immigrants coming to America every year from various countries reached 800,000 in 2000 to 2004. This number has been falling since 2005, and from 2007 to 2008, it dropped to 500,000.
The reasons for this trend are clear. It is, primarily, raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agents on a wide variety of businesses that resulted in the arrest and/or deportation of thousands of people without papers. Our readers will recall the many articles in Russkaya Reklama about these raids that affected various branches of industry, primarily meat-processing plants, including kosher ones.
It was the real estate crisis that led to cuts at many construction sites where undocumented immigrants worked. The construction industry was booming in 2004 and it seemed like it would continue to forever, but the picture changed abruptly in 2007. Not only were there fewer construction projects in America, but there was also less work repairing and renovating houses. Just a year-and-a-half ago, sweeping alterations to newly bought houses was a sign of good taste in higher society. Many people tried to renovate their new houses and apartments in an attempt to keep up with the notorious Joneses. Unfortunately, now many of these people have other worries: how to pay their mortgages, keep from losing their homes, save themselves from bankruptcy, and stay out of jail.
It was specifically the construction and renovation industry that was the main provider of work for undocumented immigrants, particularly immigrants from Latin America. According to data from the Pew Hispanic Center, as a result of the construction crisis, almost 250,000 Spanish-speaking U.S. residents, including illegal immigrants, have lost their jobs.
Finally, there has been a change in attitude on the part of employers towards people without papers. While businesspeople (especially small-business owners) used to rely gladly on cheap labor provided by undocumented immigrants, they are now scared to hire them. Undocumented immigrants are now facing unemployment, along with many legal residents in this country.
Data from the Census Bureau released last month show that the income of non-U.S. citizens and their families fell by 7.3 percent in 2007. For comparison, they rose by 4.1 percent in 2006. This is happening not only because working undocumented immigrants are paid less than they used to be, but also because they are going without work. Moreover, unlike U.S. citizens, people without papers cannot apply for unemployment or other government benefits that could help them stay afloat in hard times. There are also no classes for undocumented immigrants that would allow them to acquire other skills or learn the art of job hunting. And even though many of them have some savings in their piggy banks or under their pillows, these savings will not last them long.
It is not only undocumented immigrants at construction sites who are losing their jobs. Workers at restaurants, pizzerias, hotels, stores, gas stations, and car washes are also without work. People who have worked for years in the same business and have much to recommend themselves are now on the street. Even babysitters, home attendants and housekeepers, for whom it seemed there would always be a need, are losing their jobs because their employers are being forced to save money.
As a result, it is not only the undocumented immigrants who suffer, but also their relatives back in their native countries – including elderly parents, minor children – who were able to make ends meet mainly on account of money sent to them from America. Data from the Inter-American Development Bank, which since 2000 has kept a record of money sent by undocumented immigrants from the United States to their families in Latin America, provide a means for gauging the impact.
The situation especially affects immigrants from Guatemala. According to data from the Central American Institute of Social and Development Studies, about 1.35 million immigrants from this country, or 10 percent of the country’s population, now live in the United States. And about 3.5 million residents of Guatemala itself depend on money sent to them from relatives in America. Experts even joke that Guatemalan citizens working in America are the country’s export that bring it more revenue than the export of coffee, sugar, etc. In 2007, for example, over $4.12 billion flowed into Guatemala thanks to its citizens working in the United States.
Colossal amounts of money also flow to other Latin American countries thanks to the “export” of illegal immigrants. And even though the money transfers go directly to the immigrants’ relatives, the inflow of cash lightens the load for the government, which would otherwise have to find a way to take care of these desperately poor people. Money transfers from the United States sent by undocumented immigrants from America to their native countries amount to billions of dollars, with total amounts of these funds growing steadily from 2002 to 2007 – $1 to $4 billion were sent to Ecuador and El Salvador; $2 to $5 billion were sent to Colombia; $4 to $6 billion were sent to Brazil; and between $10 and $24 billion were sent to Mexico.
The picture has changed everywhere in 2008. For example, data from the Bank of Mexico show that undocumented immigrants from Mexico are sending their relatives 12 percent less than last year. What’s more, experts at this bank predict that this number will continue to fall.
Russia and other post-Soviet countries do not, of course, depend on money from their citizens living and working illegally in the United States; and the number of illegal Russian immigrants is surely less than the number of Mexicans or Guatemalans. Nevertheless, Russian speakers without papers – from construction workers to home attendants and babysitters – have also felt the new trend, which has unfortunately affected their relatives, who also depend to a great extent on their earnings.
“I send money home regularly,” Violetta S., who came to New York from Armenia and works in a Russian-owned store, told me. “My children have grown accustomed to buying everything from food to clothes. It could be said that they are spoiled and do not want to live more modestly. When I start talking about returning home, they insist that I stay here. The problem is that my boss’s business is not doing that well, so I have less to send home. I am not at all sure that I can find a new job if I am fired. It’s hard for everyone now; everyone is trying to save and no one needs new workers.”
According to William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank, news about unemployment among undocumented immigrants travels by word of mouth and reaches residents of other countries who want to come to America by any means possible. As a result, people who would potentially come here without papers are not so eager to come to the land of endless possibilities, and the wave of illegal immigration into the United States falls.
As one of my colleagues joked gloomily, America’s economic crisis may have solved the illegal immigration problem that neither Capitol Hill nor the White House has had any success solving. Now the question is what effect will the mass exodus of people without papers have on the economic crisis?
