Illegal immigration
Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of that country's immigration laws, including unauthorized entry or continued residence after the expiration of a valid visa. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upward, with migrants moving from poorer to richer countries. Illegal residence in another country creates the risk of detention, deportation, and other imposed sanctions.
Asylum seekers denied asylum may face impediment to expulsion if the home country refuses to receive the person or if new asylum evidence emerges after the decision. In some cases, these people are considered illegal aliens. In others, they may receive a temporary residence permit, for example regarding the principle of non-refoulement in the International Refugee Convention. The European Court of Human Rights, referring to the European Convention on Human Rights, has shown in a number of indicative judgments that there are enforcement barriers to expulsion to certain countries, for example, due to the risk of torture.
Terminology
In Europe, the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants launched its international "Words Matter" campaign in 2014 to promote the use of the terms undocumented or irregular migrants instead of illegal. Depending on jurisdiction, culture, or context, alternatives to illegal aliens or illegal immigrants can include irregular migrants, undocumented immigrants, undocumented persons, and unauthorized immigrants.In some contexts the term illegal immigrants is shortened, often pejoratively, to illegals.
Irregular migration is a related term that is sometimes used, e.g. by the International Organization for Migration; however, because of the word migration, this term describes a somewhat wider concept, including illegal emigration.
News media
Some news associations have in their style guide discontinued or discouraged the term illegal ''immigrant, except in quotations. These organizations presently include the Associated Press, Press Association, European Journalism Observatory, European Journalism Centre, Association of European Journalists, Australian Press Council, and Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance. Most commonly they use the alternative term, undocumented immigrant. Related terms that describe actions are not similarly discouraged. For example, the Associated Press continues to use the term illegal immigration, whereby illegal describes the action rather than the person.On the other hand, The New York Times said described undocumented immigrant as a "term preferred by many immigrants and their advocates, but it has a flavor of euphemism and should be used with caution outside the quotation". Newsweek questions the use of the phrase undocumented immigrants as a method of euphemistic framing, namely, "a psychological technique that can influence the perception of social phenomena". Newsweek'' also suggests that persons who enter a country unlawfully cannot be entirely "undocumented", as they "just lack the certain specific documents for legal residency and employment", while "any have driver's licences, debit cards, library cards, and school identifications which are useful documents in specific contexts but not nearly so much for immigration". For example, in the US, youths brought into the country illegally are granted access to public K-12 education and benefits regardless of citizenship status; therefore the youths are not entirely undocumented, since they are documented for educational purposes.
American government
is the portion of United States law that contains legislation on citizenship, nationality, and immigration. Defining the legal term alien as "any person, not a citizen or national of the United States", The terminology used in Title 8 includes illegal alien, unauthorized alien, undocumented alien, illegal immigrant, undocumented person, and others. An analysis by PolitiFact, however, concluded that the term illegal alien "occurs scarcely, often undefined or part of an introductory title or limited to apply to certain individuals convicted of felonies".In the United States, while overstaying a visa is a civil violation handled by the immigration court, entering the US without approval from an immigration officer is a crime; specifically a misdemeanor on the first offense. Illegal reentry after deportation is a felony offense. This is the distinction between the larger group referred to as unauthorized immigrants and the smaller subgroup referred to as criminal immigrants.
Democratic Senator and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has spoken out against the term undocumented, stating that "Illegal immigration is wrong – plain and simple" and that proponents of the term were "not serious" about combatting illegal immigration.
During President Joe Biden's term, government websites used the term "non-citizen" instead of "alien". This change was reversed in January 2025 after President Donald Trump returned to office.
Canadian government
In Canada, as in the US, illegal immigrant is a commonly used term. However, there is confusion and deep dissent among many about what the term means under the law and what circumstances, and what it implies socially. Irregular is a term used by government authorities to refer to migrants who enter Canada outside of official border crossings. Entrance into Canada outside of a POE is considered unlawful, but not a criminal offence, or a civil offence under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, SC 2001, c. 27.The Government of Canada and the Immigration and Refugee Board use the term irregular to refer to these crossings. The Liberal Party of Canada and the New Democratic Party typically use the term irregular, while the Conservative Party of Canada typically uses the term illegal. The use of the term undocumented is increasingly prevalent among individual MPs and MLAs in Canada, and was also used in a NDP policy document as well as by Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath in a 2018 platform document. Conservative MP Dave Epp referred to "undocumented workers" in a 2020 interview with the CBC wherein he called for an end to the use of contract migrant labour by Canadian agriculture businesses, in part because many such workers are undocumented and therefore vulnerable to exploitation and unsafe working conditions.
Reasons for illegal immigration
Poverty
Some examples do show that increases in poverty, especially when associated with immediate crises, can increase the likelihood of illegal migration. The 1994 economic crisis in Mexico, after the start of the North American Free Trade Agreement, was associated with widespread poverty and a lower valuation for the peso relative to the dollar. It also marked the start of a massive swell in Mexican immigration, in which net illegal migration to the U.S. increased every year from the mid-1990s until the mid-2000s.There are also examples where natural disasters and population growth can amplify poverty-driven migration flows.
Gender violence
Many leave their country fleeing gender-based violence, such as honor crime or forced marriage, especially from conflicts area. Women in illegal situations are especially at risk of sexual exploitation or rape.Family reunification
Some illegal immigrants seek to live with relatives who already live in a country that they are not allowed to enter, such as a spouse or other family members.Having a family who has immigrated or being from a community with many immigrants is a much better predictor of one's choice to immigrate than poverty. Family reunification visas may be applied for by legal residents or naturalized citizens to bring their family members into a destination state legally, but these visas may be limited in number and subject to yearly quotas. This may result in family members entering illegally to reunify. From studying Mexican migration patterns, Douglas Massey finds that the likelihood that a Mexican national will emigrate illegally to the US increases dramatically if they have one or more family members already residing in the United States, legally or illegally.
Asylum
into another country may be prompted by the need to escape civil war or repression in the country of origin. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights upheld by the United Nations guarantees the right of asylum, and as such, asylum seekers are typically treated differently from illegal immigrants. In practice, however, many asylum seekers are subjected to exceedingly long waiting periods, isolated and unsafe detention facilities, and a high probability of being denied. This has led some authors to suggest that the ideal of asylum has eroded in recent years in the Global North.According to the 1951 Refugee Convention refugees should be exempted from immigration laws and should expect protection from the country they entered.
Deprivation of citizenship
In a 2012 news story, the CSM reported, "The estimated 750,000 Rohingya, one of the most miserable and oppressed minorities in the world, are deeply resentful of their almost complete absence of civil rights in Myanmar. In 1982, the military junta stripped the Rohingya of their Myanmar citizenship, classing them as illegal immigrants and rendering them stateless."In some countries, people born on national territory do not automatically obtain the nationality of their birthplace, and may have no legal title of residency.
Persecution
With a pattern of persecution of Christians in Iran, Iranian converts to Christianity from Islam face the death penalty. Peyman Malaz, chief operating officer of the PARS Equality Center, noted that "Those who arrive at the border are often the most persecuted and desperate, such as Iranian Christians". Matthew Soerens, U.S. Director of Church Mobilization for World Relief, noted that in 2024, "30,000 of the 100,000 refugees resettled in the U.S. were Christians fleeing persecution."If deported back to Iran, converts to Christianity from Islam face the death penalty given the pattern of persecution of Christians there.