Issues in U.S. Immigration

Undocumented workers

by Celestino Fernández

Definition: Immigrants who enter the United States illegally—without proper visas, passports, or other types of legal documentation, to obtain employment

Immigration Issues: Border control; Economics; Illegal immigration; Latino immigrants; Law enforcement; Mexican immigrants

Significance: The term undocumented workers commonly applied to Mexican and Central American workers in the United States. Undocumented workers have formed the largest immigrant workforce since World War II.

Historically, undocumented workers were referred to as “wetbacks,” a reference to the notion that Mexican immigrants illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border by swimming the Rio Grande (known on the Mexican side of the border as the Río Bravo), which runs along part of the Texas border. Although some illegal immigrants wade across the river, in reality few, if any, swim across, since the river is seldom deep enough to necessitate swimming.

Not only was the term “wetback” an inaccurate descriptor for most individuals who entered the country illegally; it soon came to have derogatory and discriminatory connotations when it was applied to all Mexicans and even to native-born U.S. citizens of Mexican or any other Latin American descent who were living in the United States.

The term “undocumented worker” is less politically charged than “wetback” or “illegal alien” and is a much more accurate and neutral descriptor of the individuals who come to the United States in search of work without legal papers.

Further Reading

1 

Ahmed, Syed Refaat. Forlorn Migrants: An International Legal Regime for Undocumented Migrant Workers. Dhaka, Bangladesh: University Press, 2000. International perspectives on undocumented workers by an Asian scholar.

2 

Bischoff, Henry. Immigration Issues. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2002. Collection of balanced discussions about the most important and most controversial issues relating to immigration, including the regulation of undocumented workers.

3 

Foner, Nancy, Rubén G. Rumbaut, and Steven J. Gold, eds. Immigration Research for a New Century: Multidisciplinary Perspectives. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2000. Collection of papers on immigration from a conference held at Columbia University in June, 1998. Among the many topics covered are government policy and undocumented workers.

4 

Graziano, Frank. Undocumented Dominican Migration. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2013. A study of migration by boat from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico, and from their by air to the mainland U.S.

5 

Jacobs, Nancy R. Immigration: Looking for a New Home. Detroit: Gale Group, 2000. Broad discussion of modern federal government immigration policies that considers all sides of the debates about the rights of illegal aliens.

6 

Ngai, Mae M. Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2004. Scholarly study of social and legal issues relating to illegal aliens in the United States during the twenty-first century.

7 

Olivas, Michael A. No Undocumented Children Left Behind: Plyler v. Doe and the Education of Undocumented Schoolchildren. New York: New York University Press, 2012. A study of the effects of the 1982 U.S. Supreme Court decision, which allowed undocumented children to attend public school in Texas without paying tuition.

8 

Staeger, Rob. Deported Aliens. Philadelphia: Mason Crest, 2004. Up-to-date analysis of the treatment of undocumented immigrants in the United States since the 1960's, with particular attention to issues relating to deportation.

9 

Yoshida, Chisato, and Alan D. Woodland. The Economics of Illegal Immigration. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. Analysis of the economic impact of illegal immigration in the United States.

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
Fernández, Celestino. "Undocumented Workers." Issues in U.S. Immigration, edited by Carl L. Bankston III, Salem Press, 2015. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=IUSI_0207.
APA 7th
Fernández, C. (2015). Undocumented workers. In C. Bankston III (Ed.), Issues in U.S. Immigration. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.
CMOS 17th
Fernández, Celestino. "Undocumented Workers." Edited by Carl L. Bankston III. Issues in U.S. Immigration. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2015. Accessed September 15, 2025. online.salempress.com.