>My son heard on the radio that in the United States they want to declare it a criminal act, for an alien to be in the United States without documentation, or something of the sort. He asked: "Wasn't it a criminal act, already?" To the best of my knowledge, I answered that I assume that aliens can be thrown out of the country for being there without a permit, but that they can't be otherwise prosecuted and thrown into prison. Is the news he heard correct? Is this my understanding of the situation correct?
>
>My son heard this news in Spanish; would the word "felony" be used in English?
>
>TIA,
>
>Hilmar.

I wouldn't trust any media report that stated "The U.S. wants" because frankly, it is almost never the U.S. but rather political groups or even at times fringe groups. One thing I noticed while in other countries is that most news is reported as though the entire country or the government is planning something when in fact, it is one political group or one special interest group trying to get a bill passed - which seldom happens. Yet the media in other countries will report it as "The United States..."

Rather than trust the inaccuracies out there in the media, best to just read the facts:
http://www.illegalimmigrationfacts.com/illegal-immigration-to-the-us/

Immigrants can be classified as illegal for one of three reasons: entering without authorization or inspection, staying beyond the authorized period after legal entry, or violating the terms of legal entry

Laws:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_immigration_laws
http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=02729c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD&vgnextchannel=02729c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD