Repatriate all Illegal Immigrants

There are many alternatives to a repatriation policy that will more effectively target the problems caused by illegal immigration. Countries can toughen border controls and have better systems in place for granting asylum. Voluntary repatriation is unworkable, even if accompanied by financial assistance, because many illegal immigrants want to stay in the country.

Repatriation also runs the risk of putting illegal immigrants at risk of harm when they return to their country of origin. Instead of simply requiring the immigrants to leave, repatriation sends them home. Many are fleeing persecution, human rights abuses, violent crime, war and famine. Sending them home is a violation of their human rights.

Repatriating illegal immigrants is also inhumane because many illegal immigrants have been in the country for years. Many have started families and will be separated from them if returned home because children born in a country are usually granted citizenship. There have been cases in Canada and the UK where mothers have faced being separated from their children because they were going to be repatriated.

Repatriation will not stop the numbers of people coming to the country. Illegal immigration does not occur because a country is a ‘soft touch’: very few, if any, countries have no problems with illegal immigration. The reasons behind immigration are social, political and economic and have nothing to do with an individual country’s policy on illegal immigration. Those who turn to illegal immigration are often desperate and will pay no attention to the immigration policies of a country. A repatriation policy would be never-ending and a waste of time and money. It would be better to target only those illegal immigrants who pose a proven risk of harm to society.

A repatriation policy will not effectively target this area of illegal immigration because criminal networks will always find ways of smuggling people into a country and evading detection. All a repatriation policy will do is make these gangs more sophisticated when it comes to hiding illegal immigrants.

Having a zero-tolerance policy on illegal immigration will also make it harder for those who are trafficked to escape from criminal gangs because if they contact the authorities they will be sent home. This gives the criminals behind people-trafficking more power over their victims and will lead to worse living/working conditions in illegal industries.

Many illegal immigrants pay taxes and actually contribute to the economy of a country. Every time an illegal immigrant buys something, they pay the same amount of sales tax or VAT as any other person. In the United Kingdom, illegal immigrants also pay income tax and national insurance if they are working. It is impossible to prove that all illegal immigrants are a drain on the system and so their cost to society cannot be used as a justification for repatriation policies.

The illegal workforce is a necessary part of the economy because lawful residents do not want jobs such as casual labour, agricultural or domestic jobs. Illegal immigrants often provide vital services that would otherwise be too expensive or hard to find if regular workers were employed e.g. cleaning, childcare and manual labour. Goods would become too expensive to produce if, for example, parts of the agriculture industry had to employ lawful residents/migrants.

Governments need to rethink migration policies as a whole and make an attempt to communicate the benefits of immigration to their citizens. There need to be more opportunities for foreign workers to operate legally, allowing them to leave and re-enter the country as they wish. This will remove the current incentive for many illegal immigrants to stay in their host country for life, as at present they know they are unlikely to be allowed back in should they ever leave.