The Limbo of Migrants

José comes from Sinaloa, a stronghold of the Mexican cartel not far from the American border. He cleans rooms in a motel in Williams, a town an hour away from the Grand Canyon, in Arizona. Before arriving to a town located a stone’s throw from one of the seven wonders of the world, he worked in Phoenix and Tucson. José regularly pays taxes and social security but will never have a pension. Like most non-naturalized immigrants, José has a tax code given to him by the IRS, the American federal tax office, but he does not have or is entitled to applying for a green card. But he can work.

With false documents purchased in Arizona, he got a driver’s license, found a job and once he had the tax code, he was able to apply for a residence permit. The residence permit, which must be continually renewed, does not, however, give him the right to a green card.

“I am American,” he tells me, “I was born in Mexico, we are all Americans but here, for them, I will never be one.” José doesn’t have a passport, he can’t go home to visit his parents, if he leaves the United States he will not be allowed to come back.

The vast majority of migrants who have managed to enter the United States in one way or another, that is, illegally, and who have obtained a job and therefore pay taxes, live in this limbo, for the taxman they exist but for the state they are illegal immigrants. When Obama passed the new law that allowed parents of teenagers and children to obtain citizenship, people had to prove that they hadn’t entered the country illegally, i.e. by crossing the border illegally. But to do that they had to have proof of their entry into the US. “I came in 27 years ago with my son, he was 6 years old. We arrived by plane from Mexico City with a visa, and we never left.” Marisella, a waitress from Montana who returned to Mexico last year, tells me. “The immigration lawyer asked me for the documentation but I had nothing, he explained to me that I should have kept my boarding pass… but who knew?”

Like millions of migrants trapped in the US immigration legal limbo, Marisella has paid social security for 26 years and today at 69 years old she does not receive a pension. The reason: she is not entitled to it since she is neither a US citizen nor does she have a green card.

“The state keeps hundreds of billions of dollars that we pay to social security,” says José. It is impossible to quantify the exact amount because not all those who pay social security are registered, there is no census on the matter, the federal government is happy to pocket all this money and use it as it pleases, perhaps to finance the social security pension of US citizens.

The most reliable statistics are those of the Pew Research Centre: in 2022 there were almost 12 million illegal immigrants, a notable increase from 2021 when they fell to 10.5 million, and a good portion migrates in the opposite direction to internal migration, i.e. to the northeastern states (New York, New Jersey and Illinois) and to California, but also to Texas and Florida. In 1990, there were 3.5 million unauthorized migrants, the peak was reached in 2007 with 12.2 million. In 2008, a decline began that lasted until 2019 when the number of unauthorised migrants dropped to 10.2 million. These trend corresponds to those of the employment of illegal immigrants who pay taxes, in 1990 there were 3.7 million, in 2007 8.3 million, in 2019 7.4 million and then rose again to 8.3 million in 2022. 

People like Jose’ and Marisela are lucky because they have stable jobs, they can settle down somewhere and send some money home. These types of migrants are everywhere, in the northeast, in California, a good part of the businesses in Las Vegas, for example, are supported by them. In the southern states that are the object of internal migration, e.g. Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, they find employment in the thriving economy of pensioners or in the tourist industry. “We do the jobs that Americans don’t want to do,” explains José. Of course, none of them vote, they don’t have the right to do so, but they represent large portions of the local population.

Williams, where José lives, is a pro-Trump town paradoxically populated by non-voting migrants. Cut off from the famous Route 66, Williams lives on the tourism of the Grand Canyon, at the departure of the train for the Grand Canyon three fake cowboys dressed as in the 1800s greet the passengers to give them the illusion of being in the Wild West.

But the real Williams is that of the most radical MAGA. A clerk at a shop selling pro-Trump campaign souvenirs tells me that when she arrived in July, one of the two windows was already full of these products. When she suggested making the other window in favour of Harris, she was asked if she wanted to be shot.