Democratic Rep. Gutierrez says 40 percent of illegal immigrants overstay visas

[AlphaCentauri]

Source: St. Petersburg Times

On the July 11, 2010, edition of ABC's This Week, Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill. -- a champion of immigration legislation that includes a path to citizenship -- faced off with Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Calif., a leading lawmaker who favors prioritizing immigration enforcement.

At one point, Gutierrez said, "Here's the problem, and here's the fact that Mr. Bilbray leaves out of this debate. The fact is that 40 percent of the undocumented workers in this country didn't cross that border. They came here legally to the United States. They came on a tourist visa. They came on a student visa. They came on a temporary worker visa, and they overstayed their visa."

We thought that statistic was worth a fact-check.

Quantifying the number and nature of illegal immigrants is tricky -- precisely because they are evading law enforcement. But we located estimates made by the Pew Hispanic Center which the experts we interviewed consider credible.

In a 2006 report, the center estimated that "nearly half of all the unauthorized migrants now living in the United States entered the country legally through a port of entry such as an airport or a border crossing point where they were subject to inspection by immigration officials." Specifically, the estimate ranged from 38 percent to 50 percent. The report split the difference by proposing a figure of 45 percent.


Read more: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2010/jul/12/luis-gutierrez/democratic-rep-gutierrez-says-40-percent-illegal-i/

[Tempest]

1. Most of the overstayers are Canadians and Europeans

The Pew report noted that only 16 percent of Mexican illegal immigrants who arrived prior to 1996 were in violation because they overstayed their visa. The comparable number for Central American immigrants was 27 percent, while the percentage for immigrants from the rest of the world was 91 percent.


While working with ICE, I saw the statistics and by far the over stayers are caucasians from Canada, Germany, France, Italy and Britain.

[pettypace]

2. Definitely true Tempest

I can't count the number of times I run into these 'caucasians' on an everyday basis...I mean they can't speak a lick of English.

I'm so sick of seeing signs all over the place in German, Norwegian, and Russian..what's up with those backward letters anyway.

Anyhoo, let's make sure we transfer our discrimination to Euro-looking folks. As they say, displacement is always the best route!

[pinboy3niner]

4. No prob--AZ cops will soon be hunting down these caucasion overstayers

:sarcasm:

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

7. Proportionally the worst for over-staying visas is South Africans

It isn't broken down by race, but you can probably guess...

The lack of real exit controls beyond the haphazard collection of I-94 forms by airlines makes it pretty tough to figure out who has actually left.

I personally can't wait for the day Sheriff Joe sends his thugs to a Phoenix Coyotes game to round up Canadian retirees, but I am not holding my breath.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

3. I personally know 13 europeans that have/are doing this...some have over stayed visas for 15 yr

and some have been here 20 yrs

[Igel]

5. I've known some Europeans that were illegals.

Mostly not.

I've known far more Latino illegals, but possibly the biggest group of non-American-born Latinos that I've met outside of a university setting have been those who were illegal and went through the successive waves of amnesty in the late '80s and into the '90s.

Most illegals, brown or white, have had scut jobs.

[Yupster]

6. So what's the penalty when they're caught overstaying?

I know when I went to college oversees, I took my date of leaving very seriously. I didn't know what Austria's penalty for overstaying was. I just assumed I was to leave before my leave date.

Obvously not everyone is taking it as seriously as I did.

[provis99]

8. you can get deported, fast.

This happened to British actor Stephen Berkoff. He overstayed his work visa for acting by one day, and got deported.