Is illegal immigration a crime?

[kiryan]

Is illegal immigration a civil matter? I never really thought about it before, but she's probably right. Its probably civil not criminal. There are probably often criminal laws broken with regards to identity theft and fraud, but technically just being illegal is probably not a criminal act.

I think I can see criticisms of the Arizona law a little better now. Still don't agree, but the position is not as insane as I initially thought.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/new ... ng-illegal

[Teflor Lyorian]

It's really neither criminal nor civil. The illegal immigrant never reimburses the victim (the United States), nor do they suffer any punishment (unless you consider deportation to be a punishment, remember, they didn't have a right to be here in the first place).

The only thing I don't like about the Arizona law is the requirement of law enforcement to question people suspected of being illegal immigrants. There are plenty of reasons you would suspect it, but wouldn't want to question people about their immigrant status.

Aside from that, even if you do consider immigration status to be a civil matter, the state is hurt by illegal immigration far worse than the Federal government.