Half of all illegal immigrants in the United States are not crossing the Mexican border, but they are legal visitors, workers or students who over-stay their visit.

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Half of all illegal immigrants in the United States are not crossing the Mexican border, but they are legal visitors, workers or students who over-stay their visit.

These over-stayers, as the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement calls them, total at least 5.5 million, are rarely deported and live in the U.S. for years.

Over-stayers are overlooked because they pose a relatively small threat to their neighborhood or the nation. Some over-stayers are students whose visas expire and they never file for a new one, or immigrations services are so poor that their visas don’t get renewed until after they expire.

You might be sitting next to an illegal immigrant in class, but wouldn’t know it because he or she looks normal, and takes the same classes as you. A neighbor from England who is an outstanding member of society might be an over-stayer. The same story could be true for a Libyan family; should they be forced back to their ruined country?

Mass media portrays the illegal immigrant as a gun-slinging Mexican with heroine and coke falling out of his pockets while stealing a drill from an American construction worker and taking over his job. No one would grant amnesty to such an obvious criminal. But no one ever mentions the law-abiding students and workers who came here illegally and for one reason or another didn’t leave the country or renew their visa.

The U.S. immigration service is a national program split among three different organizations and covers all 50 states. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees them, cannot feasibly hire enough workers to handle all 11 million illegal immigrants. Granting amnesty to nearly all 5.5 million over-stayers, or half of the total, would significantly lighten the load of the Department without giving citizenship to those who came here illegally.

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