Illegal Aliens: The Need For a More Restrictive Border Policy

Vernon M. Briggs Jr, Cornell University

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Suggested Citation:
Briggs, V. M. Jr. (1975). Illegal aliens: The need for a more restrictive border policy [Electronic version]. Social Science Quarterly, 56, 477-484.

Required Publisher Statement:
Copyright by Blackwell Publishing. Final version published as: Briggs, V. M. Jr. (1975). Illegal aliens: The need for a more restrictive border policy [Electronic version]. Social Science Quarterly, 56, 477-484.

The definitive version is available at www.blackwell-synergy.com

Abstract

[Excerpt] In late 1974, the commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service of the U.S. Department of Justice publicly stated that “the United States us being overrun by illegal aliens” and, he warned, “we are seeing just the beginning of the problem.” During that 1974 fiscal year, 788,000 illegal aliens were actually apprehended by INS. Of greater significance, however, is the fact that INS estimated that the number of undetected illegal aliens who entered the United States in that year ranged upwards to 4 million people. Moreover, the INS estimated the accumulated number of illegal aliens currently residing in the United States in 1974 to be between 7 and 12 million people.