Entry denied

The number of foreign-born residents in the U.S. has jumped since 1990 from 19.8m to 33m, an increase of 67%. Of these, an estimated 11m are illegal. According to one U.S. figure, as many as 250,000 of the illegals are Czechs. This is 2.3% of the illegal population, which is a huge number given that Czechs make up 0.002% of the world population. Czechs, though, feel they shouldn't be thrown into the same basket as those gazillions of illegal Mexicans or Fujianese. After all, Czechs are in the EU and Nato and were part of the traditional European waves of immigration. There are signs that the novelty of working in the U.S. is wearing off, but reduced numbers might not be enough to win a visa reprieve. It's a coincidence of history that the Velvet Revolution came at a time of a surge in third-world illegal immigration. The U.S. is now having to overcompensate for its failed policies of the past. Czechs, once again, are victims of someone else's war. [Czech Republic United States European Union emigration]