ABSTRACT
The prevailing image of undocumented workers in the United States is that of a population with low levels of educational attainment, employed in sectors supplying low-skilled jobs. This stereotypical view is reinforced by the frequent images portrayed in the press of the millions of unskilled Mexican immigrants who illegally cross the border into the US every year. It is a perception that is shared by most migration scholars. For example, in an analysis of a sample of illegal immigrants in Chicago, Illinois, Chiswick (1988:143) concludes that “most illegal aliens have low levels of schooling.” Similarly, a recent report from the National Research Council (1997: 7) observes that, compared to legal immigrants, “illegal immigrants…are generally more poorly educated.” And in a recent book, Borjas refers to the employers of illegal immigrants in the US as “large agricultural enterprises, sweatshops, and native households that hire illegal aliens as maids or nannies” (Borjas, 1999b: 206). This is a common perception, as reflected in the following statement by Ray Borane, the mayor of Douglas, Arizona, in a bitter New York Times editorial condemning the employers of undocumented workers: “Do you have any idea what havoc you cause in our area and in other border towns, all because some of you hire illegal immigrants to make your beds, mow your lawns and cook your meals?”1
