# Deported Immigrants, and income earned while in the US
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deported-immigrants-and-income-earned-while-in-the-us/782529
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 19, 2017, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deported-immigrants-and-income-earned-while-in-the-us/782529 "2017-03-19T04:41:33Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2017, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deported-immigrants-and-income-earned-while-in-the-us/782529/21 "2017-03-20T18:35:08Z")
> [@Lemur866](#):
>
> But it isn’t “You didn’t pay your taxes so we get to take everything”. They only get to take what you actually owe.
Police can and will steal from you every chance they get. It’s called [civil asset forfeiture](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_forfeiture_in_the_United_States). Being a legal citizen is no protection, being 100% law-abiding is also no protection. Cops need no due process or judge or anything to take all of your property. It’s on you to prove to a judge’s satisfaction that that property wasn’t used in a crime or bought with the proceeds of a crime. Guilty until proven innocent. Hope your lawyer works for free, since, you know, the cops took all your money and property.
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### Author:  [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2017, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deported-immigrants-and-income-earned-while-in-the-us/782529/22 "2017-03-21T08:38:20Z")
> [@Bricker](#):
>
> A person may commit a felony. That person is correctly called a felon.
>
> When the term “illegal,” is used in this context, it’s similar to the use of “felon,” to describe a person who has violated immigration laws and is illegally present in the United States. A person is not inherently illegal, but certainly may be illegally present in the country.
I thought we got this all cleared up eight years ago.
> [@Why do people refer to illegal aliens as Undocumented?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-refer-to-illegal-aliens-as-undocumented/495529/19):
>
> Once an “illegal immigrant” makes it across the border they are no longer in violation of any criminal laws simply to be here. At that point they become undocumented immigrants. Deportations and other immigration proceedings are handled by administrative law, not criminal law. Formerly this was handled by the INS and the Bush administration shifted this responsibility to the DHS. It’s really all semantics, it just depends if you use the word “illegal” to mean without permission, or in violation of a criminal statute.
> [@Why do people refer to illegal aliens as Undocumented?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-refer-to-illegal-aliens-as-undocumented/495529/23):
>
> Aren’t they in violation of 8 USC § 1324 _et seq_?
> [@Why do people refer to illegal aliens as Undocumented?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-refer-to-illegal-aliens-as-undocumented/495529/30):
>
> As far as I know, no. Those codes cover issues like employing undocumented immigrants, importing undocumented immigrants, forgery of documents by an undocumented immigrant, failing to depart the country once you have been deported as an undocumented immigrant (all crimes) but to the best of my knowledge there is no code against simply being an undocumented immigrant.
>
> # § 1324. Bringing in and harboring certain aliens
>
> # § 1324a. Unlawful employment of aliens
>
> # § 1324b. Unfair immigration-related employment practices
>
> # § 1324c. Penalties for document fraud
>
> # § 1324d. Civil penalties for failure to depart
> [@Why do people refer to illegal aliens as Undocumented?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-refer-to-illegal-aliens-as-undocumented/495529/29):
>
> I don’t think so. Which criminal provision do you think they would be violating?
> [@Why do people refer to illegal aliens as Undocumented?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-refer-to-illegal-aliens-as-undocumented/495529/37):
>
> Apparently none – I threw that out from memory because that’s the law our hiring packets mention, but on review I see that while it has criminal penalities, they’re not for simple presence.
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### Author:  [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2017, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deported-immigrants-and-income-earned-while-in-the-us/782529/23 "2017-03-21T14:30:54Z")
So someone who entered illegally is no committing a crime by working? Only the employer is?
Unless they commit document fraud to gain employment?
Could they be complicit in conspiracy to commit unlawful employment of aliens if they and the employer both know they are not legally entitled to work?
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### Author:  [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2017, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deported-immigrants-and-income-earned-while-in-the-us/782529/24 "2017-03-21T14:35:23Z")
An act doesn’t have to criminal to be illegal. It doesn’t matter whether the law is criminal, civil, or administrative, it’s still illegal.
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### Author:  [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2017, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deported-immigrants-and-income-earned-while-in-the-us/782529/25 "2017-03-21T15:25:45Z")
> [@DrCube](#):
>
> Police can and will steal from you every chance they get. It’s called [civil asset forfeiture](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_forfeiture_in_the_United_States). Being a legal citizen is no protection, being 100% law-abiding is also no protection. Cops need no due process or judge or anything to take all of your property. It’s on you to prove to a judge’s satisfaction that that property wasn’t used in a crime or bought with the proceeds of a crime. Guilty until proven innocent. Hope your lawyer works for free, since, you know, the cops took all your money and property.
So…you’re saying someone’s immigration status is irrelevant to whether the government can steal your stuff?
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### Author:  [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2017, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deported-immigrants-and-income-earned-while-in-the-us/782529/26 "2017-03-21T16:46:20Z")
> [@Lemur866](#):
>
> So…you’re saying someone’s immigration status is irrelevant to whether the government can steal your stuff?
They need a pretext. A person driving down the road with a substantial amount of money - well, drug dealers do that too. “Nice people don’t carry $1,000 cash”. However, they can’t walk into the bank and take your account (yet) unless they can show the money came from crime. Ditto, your car or house. However, if you are working illegally, then the car, house, and bank account - and the big screen TV - are proceeds of crime, obviously.
Having it in hand, ie. seized from your pocket or car, is a lot easier than having to go into a bank and demand they turn over the money. they need a good piece of paper for that. Some states too, police have a pay terminal to drain prepaid credit cards right there during the traffic stop. (“Prepaid card? Crooks use that to launder money”)
(In the Philadelphia instance - they stop and frisk; “you have no job, how do you happen to have $100 in your pocket? Must be proceeds of crime, drug sale or fencing something. Fell free to hire a lawyer and try to get it back…”)
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### Author:  [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2017, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deported-immigrants-and-income-earned-while-in-the-us/782529/27 "2017-03-21T18:58:59Z")
> [@md2000](#):
>
> However, they can’t walk into the bank and take your account (yet) unless they can show the money came from crime. Ditto, your car or house. However, if you are working illegally, then the car, house, and bank account - and the big screen TV - are proceeds of crime, obviously.
There are two precedents aside from civil asset forfeiture, though:
Interning American citizens without procedure for their ancestry (during WWII) - what happened to their belongings?
Freezing bank accounts of Iranian nationals in the US during the hostage crisis, was not lifted.
Here [http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-realistic-ways-donald-trump-can-accomplish-his-crazy-goals/](http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-realistic-ways-donald-trump-can-accomplish-his-crazy-goals/) is an article (skip the first two) which gives the laws that Trump can use for a muslim ban and seizing Money to build his wall.
As for how to identify the bank accounts of illegals, probably anybody who sent Money to mexico.
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### Author:  [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2017, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deported-immigrants-and-income-earned-while-in-the-us/782529/28 "2017-03-21T20:16:12Z")
Just as an aside, please tell your friend to tell his idiot brother to get a lawyer and fix this asap. He needs to think about his kids and wife not just his idiot self.
If he entered the US legally he has a lot of options he needs to explore.
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### Author:  [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2017, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deported-immigrants-and-income-earned-while-in-the-us/782529/29 "2017-03-21T22:42:39Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#):
>
> An act doesn’t have to criminal to be illegal. It doesn’t matter whether the law is criminal, civil, or administrative, it’s still illegal.
So, like getting a parking ticket justifies calling a person an ‘illegal’?
I don’t want to argue this at length, again, and here, since it’s not the subject of the OP and it has long been established in countless other threads, but the term ‘illegal’ applied to an immigrant is intended to be pejorative and isn’t in any way an accurate description of their situation in the immigration system.
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### Author:  [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2017, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deported-immigrants-and-income-earned-while-in-the-us/782529/30 "2017-03-22T01:37:22Z")
> [@Crazyhorse](#):
>
> So, like getting a parking ticket justifies calling a person an ‘illegal’?
>
> I don’t want to argue this at length, again, and here, since it’s not the subject of the OP and it has long been established in countless other threads, but the term ‘illegal’ applied to an immigrant is intended to be pejorative and isn’t in any way an accurate description of their situation in the immigration system.
I don’t want to argue this at length, again, and here, since it’s not the subject of the OP and it has long been established in countless other threads , but the term “illegal” applied to an illegal immigrant is intended to be a colloquialism and is not in any way intended to be a micro-agression
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### Author:  [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2017, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deported-immigrants-and-income-earned-while-in-the-us/782529/31 "2017-03-22T01:56:39Z")
> [@Melbourne](#):
>
> I don’t want to argue this at length, again, and here, since it’s not the subject of the OP and it has long been established in countless other threads , but the term “illegal” applied to an illegal immigrant is intended to be a colloquialism and is not in any way intended to be a micro-agression
[Should I Use the Term “Illegal Immigrant”?](http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/should-i-use-the-term-illegal-immigrant)
[Why ‘illegal immigrant’ is a slur](http://edition.cnn.com/2012/07/05/opinion/garcia-illegal-immigrants/)
[‘No human being is illegal’: linguists argue against mislabeling of immigrants](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/06/illegal-immigrant-label-offensive-wrong-activists-say)
[The Dehumanizing History Of The Words We’ve Used To Describe Immigrants](https://thinkprogress.org/the-dehumanizing-history-of-the-words-weve-used-to-describe-immigrants-18dd39c90459#.rrkbhrxf3)
[Immigration Debate: The Problem with the Word Illegal](http://ideas.time.com/2012/09/21/immigration-debate-the-problem-with-the-word-illegal/)
[The battle over the words used to describe migrants](http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34061097)
[‘Illegals’](https://keller.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/13/llegals/)
The bottom line is the term is considered pejorative to those it applies to and many others and that is reason enough to consider it so. Especially once people started doing the tell-tale shortening of the term from ‘illegal immigrants’ to ‘illegals’.
There are plenty of people who argue otherwise but they’re wrong. Once the term has been used pejoritavely by many, and it has been explained it is offensive to a large group of people, those who continue to use it are doing so deliberately despite this. That’s why people don’t use “oriental” to describe people anymore either, along with many other examples.
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