For any foreign national residing in any country, detention and deportation are realities of life. This is especially true for those living in the United States of America.

Detention is the first step, where a person is put in prison or in a holding location pending further investigation. The majority of those held in this way are illegal immigrants. These illegal immigrants are either people who have crossed into the U.S. illegally or those who have overstayed and have failed to return to their native country for various reasons. Once these people have been processed, they are deported (sent back) to their own countries. In the U.S., the majority of these people hail from Latin America and Mexico.

Even Legal Permanent Residents (LPR) can be subject to these processes. Having a Green Card does not provide them with immunity. Unlike natural U.S. citizens, they are virtually under permanent probation even after they receive citizenship. Being involved with crime or any other illegal activity can see them being put into detention pending deportation.

Immigration officers have many long reaching powers in this regard and therefore, constantly check the records of immigrants long after the Green Card is issued. Under these powers, whole families can be deported if they are found to have discrepancies in their records. The main thing to understand here is that although as U.S. citizens they are entitled to every means of protection there is under U.S. law, they cannot fight the immigration laws, if they are guilty of any wrongdoing.

The United States Constitution requires the census to be conducted every ten years. This allows the country to use this data in critical decisions as well understand trends in population. However, of crucial importance, the census establishes the actual number of electoral votes that the state will get, when it comes to the presidential elections.

The latest census, which is due to be taken this year, has a little twist, which has caused uproar amongst many people. The 2010 census is due to take into account each state’s illegal immigrants. On the surface, this seems like a natural thing to do; after all, the census should reflect the total number of people living in a state, right? While that may be so, the new number will affect the electoral system and people are starting to voice their opinions about it. For example, the states of California and Texas stand to get additional seats (nine and four respectively) due to the new census.

This means that these states have a bigger say in the presidential elections. Other than these two states: Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey and New York are expected to gain as well.
There are some states expected to suffer from the census such as Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania, and are expected to lose anywhere from one to two seats.
While it does make sense to include illegal immigrants in the census, a question of ethics raises its head when the equation reads as illegal immigrants = more electoral votes. Should the states that gain votes for harboring illegal immigrants have a bigger say in the presidential elections? How this sensitive issue pans out should be an interesting watch in the days ahead.

The recent swine flu scare should be a wake-up call to American policy makers. Handling infectious diseases in a proper and efficient manner is vital to stop outbreaks from happening. The European Union (EU) put a hold on flights from Mexico only, days after the outbreak began. While the U.S. did not have the luxury of being separated from Mexico by sea, it could nevertheless have benefitted from better immigration laws which would have facilitated better health screenings.

The crux of the problem is that of illegal immigrants. While everybody talks about cheap labor, loss of jobs, violence and crime among other things, no one considers the unseen problem of infectious diseases being carried in by these illegal immigrants. Tighter border control, building the controversial wall, more patrols around borders, etc are all well and good; but all it takes is a few people to get through and you will have an outbreak that cannot be controlled easily. This is a scary situation, considering that there are new and potent diseases appearing all the time and illegal immigrants will find some way to get into the country.

So instead of blocking immigrants out completely, it would be a good idea to make it easier for them to get into the country. Think about it. If they had nothing to fear from the law, they would approach the proper authorities for immigration purposes. When they do this, it will make health screenings easier to conduct and outbreaks easier to control.

Besides this, it allows authorities to have a more accurate account of who has entered the country. While this process has to be thought through to be effective, it does seem to be the correct direction to progress in, at least for the sake of people’s lives and health.

The number of illegal immigrants in the United States continues to multiply year on year. It is a well known fact that immigrant work for a lesser pay and hiring them can be so attractive to your company. Keep in mind however that if you want to keep your company out of the legal books, you must ensure that the immigrants you hire have all the necessary documents and have been allowed to enter the country legally.

Once you hire an illegal immigrant it can only take so long until the government sniffs them out – which will then result in your company having to go to an immigration law office. The occurrences of offices being caught with employing illegal immigrants is becoming fairly frequent.

Here are a few preventative measures you can take when hiring immigrants at your workplace:

Ensure that the applicant can provide proper documentation. Every single company in the US has a right to request applicants to make available the necessary paperwork to prove that they can in fact work legally in the US. Make a note to HR personnel to ensure the documents are not forged, as that seems to be a frequent occurrence as well.

Have your company attorney check the validity of the documentation provided by the applicant. Once you have hired the applicant and then suspect that he may be an illegal immigrant, do not hesitate to contact your attorney and get the matter sorted out. It is very important that matters like this be solved very cautiously.

Once the documents are provided and things seem ok, and if you are still unsure about the legality of the immigrant – then you can always choose to not hire him. However, do not make this a common practice as you could be sued for discrimination. Ensure that everything is documented, as things could prove to get very complicated.