Illegal Immigration in Australia - Literature review Example

Empirical Research on Illegal Immigration in Australia Author Affiliation Date Literature review The methodology that has been chosen for conducting this empirical research is reviewing the literature. The study of literature includes a detailed review of relevant books, peer-reviewed articles, research papers and statistical reports for collecting evidence for our empirical research. All the literature that has been reviewed was published in English. The search of literature has been carried out on various web databases. Moreover, the search of literature was based on three distinct but related criteria. The first criterion is based on the search of literature related to illegal immigration in Australia in which both by sea and by air illegal immigration have been covered. The second criterion is about to study the relationship between the income gap and illegal immigration in which the GDP of developed and GDP of third world countries will be covered. The second criterion helps in understanding why the people of third world countries prefer developed countries because of the income gap. Furthermore, the last and the third criterion that has been chosen for studying the literature is related to GDP of Australia and its lucrative factors that are responsible in attracting many illegal immigrants. Thus, these three criteria will cover all the important components of our research topic which is “illegal immigration in the country like Australia is caused by the income gap between the third world countries and developed countries”. Illegal immigration in Australia Australia is the country which is a very attractive country for the illegal migrants because it's one of the development and successful country of the world. Australia is also called as the country of refugees and migrants. Illegal immigration is booming day by day and it has become of the biggest social problem in Australia. It even had a policy of handing over the visas to hundreds of refugees every year, but now when the government of Australia restricted its visa policy and stop issuing the visas to the migrants then the illegal immigration has become the biggest problem. According to the Canberra authorities more than 6000 illegal immigrants every year landed on the northern and northwestern shores of the country (Hiscock, 2001). Most of the illegal immigrants adopt three routes to enter into the Australia illegally. The illegal immigrants come by sea, by land and by air. Illegal immigration By Sea in Australia In Australia, the number of illegal immigrants is increasing day by day. The illegal immigrants, most of the time arrives on boats by sea from Indonesia and Sri Lanka. The illegal immigrants that who come by sea route to Australia are mostly belong to the Middle Eastern countries, Tamil background, Ashmore Island, Charismas Island and Cocos Islands. These all illegal migrants arrive in the Northern and Western territory of Australia (Andreas Schloendhardt, 2010). The Australia is one of the primary destinations of Asia Pacific region. The migration by boat first occur in 1970 by the people of Vietnam after the aftermath of the Vietnam War, but at that time the migration was legal. When the migration by boat had started many other people stated migration to Australia from the South East Asian countries. Therefore, the number of migrants by boat has increased than the government of Australia put a ban on boat migration without having the visa or authorization letter after that the process of illegal migration by sea have increased. During the illegal migration by boat through the sea, the migrant smugglers are involved (Janet Phillips & Harriet Spinks, 2011). The smugglers provide the illegal immigrants the safe route by charging high fees from the illegal migrants. Most of the illegal migrants arrive from Afghanistan, Iraq and Sri Lanka with the help of smugglers. The coasts of Indonesia and Malaysia are used by the smugglers as the transit route, where the smuggler dispatches migrants on the sea journey to Australia. The large number of cases had been reported of illegal migration by sea from 1999 to till date (UNODC, 2011) but at the same now illegally migrate from the far countries adopts air travelling and do illegal migration by the Air. The migration by the sea route is also very dangerous many times the boat has skunked into the sea because of the overload of the migrants (Kevin, 2004). Table 1Irregular arrivals by sea in Australia, Source: (Phillips, 2011) Years No. of arrivals 2006 60 2007 148 2008 161 2009 2726 2010 6555 Illegal immigration By Air in Australia According to the report of the United Nation Office on drug and Crime travelling by air is more safe and successful than the travelling by sea or by other means for the illegal migrants (UNODC, 2010). Migration by air is one of the best options for the illegal migrants. The smuggled migrants travel with the other passengers, but they do not have any authorization of traveling by air. They do not have any valid documents. The illegal migrants follow fraudulent means to enter into the country like most of the time the illegal immigrants conceal in the cargo hauls, bathrooms and other compartments of the airplanes for the purpose of moving to the other country. But in the case of Australia such an illegal migration by concealing in the compartment of an airplane is very rare. In the case of Australia, the illegal immigration is done by air with the help of fraud documents. The fraud documents are provided by the smugglers to the illegal migrant (UNODC, 2010). The smuggler who performs as the third person in the whole process charges high price for fake visa and documents. High price charging has made this illegal act as lucrative and wealthier activity for the smugglers. Thus, document fraud is the central feature of migrant smuggling by air to Australia. The Australian government requires passport, identity card and Visas that are the most important documents that are necessary for immigration purpose. In the document fraud the forged document is provided by the migrant smuggler to the illegal migrant. The fake document is prepared by two ways (Koser, 2008). The first, wrong information is provided for preparing original documents in this case the fraud will be done and the immigrant will called as an illegal immigrant. In the second case the fake documents or forged documents are prepared for the journey. Both of the cases are risky, but travelling is safer than the sea. The illegal migration through the air is increasing day by day despite of strict check points on the Australian airports illegal migrant successfully go through the whole journey (Andreas & LELLIOTT, 2012). Table 2Illegal immigrants’ arrival by air in Australia, Source: (Andreas & LELLIOTT, 2012) Year No. of illegal immigrant 2006-2007 1388 2007-2008 1189 2008-2009 1284 2009-2010 1573 2010-11 1809 Income gap and illegal immigration Most of the time the time the act of illegal immigration is backed by certain of reasons like a person who belongs to the backward or under-developing or developing countries try to find for the opportunities in his own country when he does not find any good thing in his country then he plan to migrate to another country through proper or improper means. The biggest reason behind the illegal migration is income gap or inequality. The international migration is one of the symbols of global inequality (O & JE, 1991). The inequality exists between the different countries of the world. Such an inequality include the difference of opportunities, facilities, wages, income and lifestyle. Moreover, the dimension of inequality is not limited to the income gap other factors like political, economic, technological and other socio-cultural institutions have also played their significant part in widening the gap and inequalities between the countries (Richard Black, 2006). Nevertheless, in spite of all the other factors income inequality or income gap is important of all. Some of the countries have more labor market opportunities and wages than the other countries, for example Australia is a developed country, and thus it has good career opportunities and better scope of the labor market than the any third world country or developing country. Therefore, the per capita income and gross domestic product ratio are higher in developing countries than the developing countries. Thus, the income gap is one of the biggest reasons behind of adopting illegal immigration to the other country. The differences in the income level of the countries can be measured and estimated with the help of gross domestic product ratio (Hanson G. H., 2007). The GDP of third world countries and the GDP of developed countries show the differences in the income level of both the type of countries. GDP of third world countries The third world countries can be defined as the countries those are poor and under-developed (Wagnalls & Funk, 1978). The countries of Asia and Africa come in the category of third world countries. The third world countries have low GDP and per capita income. Moreover, the chances of development are very low in the third world countries. Economic, political and even social conditions of the third world countries are very poor. Most of the times, the people of third world countries adopt the way of illegal migration or apply as the asylum seeking in the developed countries where the GDP and per capita income are high (W.Greene, 1980). The list of five poorest third world country and their GDP is explained below in the table Table 3GDP of third world countries, Source: (World Bank, 2014) Poorest third world Countries GDP in millions of US dollars Afghanistan 20,842 Haiti 8,511 Somalia 40 Zimbabwe 13,663 Central African Republic 1,624 All the poorest countries of the third world engage in different problems. The political conditions are poor their lives are not saved and they do not have enough food to eat. Moreover, the health and hygiene conditions are very poor. Furthermore, the medical, educational, transport and job facilities are not enough (Singh & Bernauer, 1993). Therefore, the people of third world country want to move to the country where all political, economic and social conditions are good so they adopt illegal means and prefer to do even illegal migration and become the illegal migrant of any developed country. GDP of developed countries The development of the country can be measured in the sense of sustained increase in per capita (Amartya, 1999). A developed country is also known as the industrialized country or more developed country, such a country is called as developed when it has made huge progress in economy and which is technological advance as well (Nielsen, 2011). Moreover, developed countries have organized and stable political structure with high employment and per capita income. The gross national product GNP and gross domestic product, GDP are also high (World Bank, 2010). Furthermore the standard of living of the people of third world country is also high. The table shows the GDP of five biggest developed countries of the world. Table 4GDP of Developed Countries, Source: (World Bank, 2014) Developed countries GDP in millions of US dollars United States 17,419,000 China 10,360,105 Australia 1,453,770 United kingdom 2941886 Japan 4,601,461 The difference between the GDP of third world countries and the developed countries show the income gap. Thus, the income gap is the only reason of illegal migration from the third world countries to the developed countries (Hanson & Spilimbergo, 1999). GDP of Australia and illegal immigration The Australia is one of the developed country with high GDP of 1,453,770 (World Bank, 2014). Therefore, Australia is an attractive country for both refugees and illegal immigrants. Even the number of asylum seekers in Australia is increasing very rapidly (Prosser, 2007) because of high GDP and attractive labor market in the country. Even Australia has long-established history of welcoming immigrants and actively recruited them as a permanent immigrant (Saunders, 1995). When the government of Australia realized about the increased number of immigrants then Australian immigration policies have exerted entry control and entry has only been allowed to some of the immigrants of specific categories (Holton & Sloan, 1994). The strict visa policies of Australia has increased the chances of illegal immigration. As the migrant from the third world country see lots of benefits and facilities in the developed country like Australia thus they use illegal means as well to settle in the developed and progressed region. There are different reasons and factors involve behind the illegal immigration towards Australia. The pull factors can good working environment, high GDP, liberal culture, high standard of living, career opportunities, more industries and high per capita income (Larsen, 2010). On the other hand the people of third world country have been faced many hardships and difficult conditions for many years. The chances of development and progress in zero. Sometimes even a small war or conflict between the people of the third world country ruins the yearlong development in a few days. The terrorist activities are common. Lives are not safe in any case. The worst economic and political situations are biggest push factors of the third world country. Thus, the push factors reinforce the people of third world country to move to a place which safe and secure, where futures are secure and job opportunities are high or chances of development are bright (Singh & Bernauer, 1993). Therefore, the people of third world countries select illegal means like fake documentation or hiding in the compartment of the airplane and decided to do illegal migration to the developed country like Australia. So, there are many cases of illegal immigration have increased in Australia even many of the cases are not even reported. A paper (Larsen, 2010) has suggested the ways to mitigate the risk of increasing illegal immigration in Australia. The suggestion includes the well-protected border and economic opportunities in more accessible regions so that the illegal immigrants come to the accessible area and when they get registered for the job the Australian authorities can easily detect the duration of their visa or the originality of the authorize documents. Moreover, the Australian government can also restrict the air and sea trafficking by strictly controlling the transit points (Kaur, 2006) like Indonesia and Thailand etc. In addition, there are many implications of the illegal immigration to Australia. The implications include three kinds of consequences for Australia. The first is an economic cost in which the Australian Authorities explain that if they stopped one illegal immigrant from entering into boundary of Australia it means they save almost the cost of $50,000 per person till the date all the total annually illegal immigrant cost is $300 million which is one of the big amount of Australian national revenue (McInerny, 2000). If the number immigrants will decreases the Australia can save this big expense. The second implication is a quarantine risk (McInerny, 2000) that includes another entering the disease of another country into the Australia. All the illegal immigrant never have the medical examination before entering into the Australia because they adopt illegal means of entering. Thus, it increases the risk of new diseases spreading in the Australia. Moreover, the third implication is national and criminal security consequences, it means an alien person of the other country can prove a terrorist or a threat to the national security of the Australia. Such an alien can also destabilize the social and political structure of the Australia (McInerny, 2000). Thus, these implications prove that illegal immigrant bring many risks for the country that is the reason Australian Government now designing strict immigration policies just to avoid and mitigate many future risks. Asylum seekers In Australia Australia is one of the biggest and important country that receives a large number of asylum seekers every year. Many people from the world fleeing from their home country just to seeking refuge in somewhere that is free from conflict and wars[DZi04]. Therefore, Australia is the best country where people from the third world countries and other conflicting countries want to settle and seeking refuge in Australia. All the asylum seekers stay in Australia under the United Nation Refuge Convention[Uni101]. Australia gives permanent protection visas only to only those who are genuinely asylum seekers. People want asylum or refugee to other countries because of several reasons. The first and most important reasons is poverty and low income because of poverty people requested developed countries to provide them with protection visa. Second, poor education and health facilities. The improper health and education facilities also push the individual to move to another country just for the sake of good education and health facilities. The third reason is racism, culture and discrimination in which a person seeks asylum in a country where color, castes or creed do not matter and discrimination does not reflect on the attitude of the people of the country. Forth, which is also one of the significant factor is seeking asylum just for the sake of peace[StV12]. Thus asylum seekers find Australia an attractive country because Australia is a developed country and it has attractive opportunities of job and business. Moreover, with developed economy, Australia has a stable political structure with war free history. Similarly, it has good health and education facilities. Furthermore equality exists throughout the country, there is no racial or gender discrimination in Australia. Thus, it is a good choice not for illegal immigrants but also for asylum seekers[Ref12]. Many people consider asylum seekers as the illegal immigrants, but sometimes they do not lie under the category of illegal immigrants[ASY13]. Immigrant are those who leave their country by their own choice on the other hand asylum seeker are those who have legal and authorize visa of the country. Moreover, if asylum seekers enter a country without authorization or visa even in Australia they are not called as illegal immigrants[ASY13]. Australia has its own policy for the asylum seekers. According to asylum seeking policy of Australia[Law13], it is a legal right of everyone to seek asylum in a safer country, thus the Australia is committed to provide asylum the needy people but after the appropriate oversight and review. Moreover, Australia also adheres to the principal of Non-Refoulement in which Australian government is bound to provide authorizations to each refugee or asylum seeker and it is prohibited in the state to expel or returning any of the refuge in the case the expelling proves threatening for the refuge[Law13]. Similarly, Australian government also bound to provide asylum seekers offshore processing arrangements and secured environment and healthy lifestyle[ASY13]. References DZi04: , (D.Zion, 2004), Uni101: , (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 2010), StV12: , (Vincent, 2012), Ref12: , (Refugee Council of Australia, 2012), ASY13: , (ASRC, 2013), Law13: , (Law Council of Austrlia, 2013), Read More