How does your country handle illegal immigration?

[Peek a Boo]

For those outside the US :)

 

We've heard in the UHC thread that some illegal immigrants are treated, but then either billed or shipped back out.

 

What if there is no valid billing option? [i.e. no address/ ID]

What if your gvt was not deporting illegal immigrants?

DOES your gvt have a strict deportation policy? Does it enforce it?

 

Do children of illegal immigrants born on your soil get dual citizenship status [and thus citizen benefits like here in the US]?

 

For those not familiar w/ illegal immigrant issues in the US

I shared a snopes article about problems here in the US/ Dallas area:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/immigration/parkland.asp

 

But I'm really wondering mostly about how other countries handle ILLEGAL immigrants. i already see how the US handles them ;)

 

besides, i figger it would be a nice detraction from the abortion debate that keeps popping up, lol.

[Heather in the Kootenays]

Children born in Canada get citizenship. We have a high profile case right now where the American mom of several Canadian citizens is under a deportation order. I'm not sure if she's gone yet. I think her family was appealing to the government for special consideration.

 

The health care question will vary from province to province. I know that my Mexican exchange student was treated in emergency with no insurance etc. He did have insurance but couldn't prove it. Unfortunately for the system, they billed long after he'd gone home so I can't imagine that they ever got their $100.

 

When I take foreign students in for health care, they're required to pay up front (although the clinic sometimes takes my word for their insured status).

 

Interestingly in some parts of the country, the largest number of people seeking medical treatment they aren't entitled to come from the US.

[Laura Corin]

For those outside the US :)

 

We've heard in the UHC thread that some illegal immigrants are treated, but then either billed or shipped back out.

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5275586.stm

 

The NHS is not set up to bill anyone, so asking it to suddenly collect debts is bound to fail.

 

No, you don't get UK citizenship by being born in the UK - we are not a nation founded on immigration, so heritage (the status of the parents/grandparents) is more important. I hasten to add that citizenship is not based on race/creed/colour.....

 

DH is a UK citizen, despite having been born overseas. He gained citizenship by a combination of legal residence and marriage. He can then pass it on to his children.

 

Laura

[TeacherZee]

Asylum seekers are entitled to basic care under the system here.

 

European union citizens are entitled to the same health care as Swedish citizens.

 

Visitors to the country from some countries (Australia, Quebec and Algeria) get free care (or rather their home country or province is billed).

 

Everybody else is supposed to be charged up front. However if you are here visiting and have a heart attack you wouldn't be refused care but I assume that a payment plan would be set up. I think that it is assumed that your travel insurance would cover it if you are here as a tourist.

 

Illegal immigrants are called paperless here and are often treated through underground networks where the doctors don't charge for the treatment. There is currently a lot of debate going on about these patients here, but not from a "they are costing us so much money" perspective but rather from a humanitarian perspective where it is recognised that these people do not get the care that the rest of us get. These are often women and children who have been traumatised by was and conflict in their home countries something that is often exasperated by the fact that they are living hidden with very little contact with the outside world.

 

Sweden does enforce deportation. The state transports people who have been denied right to remain.

[jamnkats]

Believe it or not, Mexico does have an illegal immigration problem - mainly from Central American countries. Most immigrants do not stay here, but I personally know one Guatemalan who is illegal and getting his papers for Mexican citizenship (not through the legal channels though).

 

Babies born here get Mexican citizenship.

 

You are deported if you are here illegally. If you are white, you are generally treated better and sent to your embassy and/or flight home. If you are brown I am not exactly certain of the official stance, but I imagine you are jailed. I'll see what I can find. Generally illegal immigration is only an issue in frontera states. I do know that in Campeche and Chiapas (states bordering Guatemala) there is quite a bit of police activity trying to stem the flow but also many in the flow are never caught. I would also imagine it isn't that big a deal as most immigrants are, like the drugs the US demands, simply using Mexico as a thoroughfare. Don't get me started on the US dependence on illegal drugs and the destruction it has wraught in Mexico.

 

There is no free health care unless you have paperwork showing you are an employee of the government or qualify for IMSS care. Even then, there is a co-pay. Everyone knows that the best care is found in private hospitals and clinics and then only in select cities. I wouldn't think twice about any care in a Merida or Guadalajara hospital but would have to be convinced to use Cancun (even though it is much closer than Merida) or Chetumal. Merida and Guadalajara are known all over the country for their excellent medical services. But again, nothing is free.

[Spy Car]

In my country the "powers that be" pretend to be against illegal immigration, while at the same time enjoying its rewards.

 

Those who benefit most like that the "undocumented" are insecure in their legal status so they won't complain too much about dangerous (and often life-threatening) working conditions, not being payed their due wages, living in miserable conditions, being forced to buy their food and other necessities from "company stores", paying into (but not being able to collect on) Social Security, or a host of other forms of exploitation that would be less possible if there was a "legal" mechanism for bringing in foreign workers.

 

Plus, by undermining wages of native-born workers, those exploiting the labor of "illegal immigrants" can through a kind of political hocus-pocus inflame the nativist passions of those who feel their jobs have been displaced by illegal foreign workers, and capitalize on their anger by getting the native-born workers to vote against their economic interests (and with the very forces that cherish the illegal labor the most).

 

It's very fascinating.

 

Bill

[Spy Car]

Ooops...I'm from the USA.

 

Nevermind.

:auto:

[Kate in Arabia]

Illegal folks over here are deported if they are discovered. They have recently (like in the past few years) started retina scans at the airport, because people were coming on false papers. You do not gain citizenship simply by being born here.

 

The larger issue here is the "guest worker" program, where they ship in thousands of men largely from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Phillipines; often they live in deplorable conditions and are paid a negligible wage (and sometimes they don't even get that). The government has said it will step in to regulate (they are brought in by private companies), and it has in a couple of truly horrifying cases, but there is not an overall enforcement of certain standards.

[Kate in Arabia]

Oh, just wanted to clarify that I am American, so I don't consider the UAE to be "my country", but thought I share my observations as an expat.

[Michelle in MO]

Those who benefit most like that the "undocumented" are insecure in their legal status so they won't complain too much about dangerous (and often life-threatening) working conditions, not being payed their due wages, living in miserable conditions, being forced to buy their food and other necessities from "company stores", paying into (but not being able to collect on) Social Security, or a host of other forms of exploitation that would be less possible if there was a "legal" mechanism for bringing in foreign workers.

 

I don't want to bring in bashing Wal-Mart (I personally have mixed feelings about them, seeing some good things and things that make me not so happy), but I do remember they got into trouble a few years ago by bringing in illegal immigrants at one store (possibly more??? don't quote me on this---it's been a while). The scandal was that Wal-Mart always seems to proclaim, "Made in the USA", but some of the workers were hired on for some of the reasons you're listing (mostly poor working conditions, giving Wal-Mart the ability to pay very low wages, etc.).

 

Thank you for sharing.

[Hannah]

In South Africa, refugees and immigrants are eligible for medical health care by law, but for various reason they often have problems accessing this care. State health facilities are overcrowded and underfunded and there is a lot of xenophobia amongst staff who would rather treat local people.

 

We recently had terrible xenophobic violence and many foreigners were moved to camps for their own safety. The feeling against immigrants is that they take jobs away from local people. With uneployment at around 40%, the emotions around this run high.

 

Illegal immigrants are arrested and kept in deportation centres from where they are bussed or flown to the countries from where they come. They get basic health care, food and access to cold showers and amenities at the centres. Children born to non-South Africans do not get South African citizenship.

[TeacherZee]

As to what happens to children born to illegal immigrants: They do not have the right to remain unless one of their parents have the right to remain. If however one of the parents have the right to remain and the parents live together (they don't have to be married) then the "other" parent automatically gets the right to remain, if they go back to their home country to apply for it. There was a big thing about it on one of the documentary shows here the other week. It is a pretty stupid system because the Swedish state pays to have them go home to their home country to apply when they could just as easily stay here to apply.

[Zelda]

Interesting. It seems like lots of countries struggle to balance compassion for humanity with maintaining a reasonable quality of life for its own citizens and ensuring safe borders. Of course, it can be satisfying to blame uncontrolled xenophobia and greed but I'm not that cynical yet.

[jamnkats]

i forgot about no political involvement-it is so natural to my daily life I forgot that the US has this freedom.

 

Here is Article 33 (translated, obviously) of the Constitution

 

Article 33

 

"The Federal Executive shall have the exclusive power to compel any foreigner whose remaining he may deem inexpedient to abandon the national territory immediately and without the necessity of previous legal action." It also states: "Foreigners may not in any way participate in the political affairs of the country."