What Makes an Immigrant Illegal?

It really depends. Obviously, the easy answer is if one is here without any type of legal status, having entered the country surreptitiously, maybe by sneaking in; then, obviously, one is an undocumented immigrant. Another way, for instance, is even though you have a facially valid document but if the underlying petition is no longer available, then, again, one can also be considered to be an illegal alien or an undocumented immigrant. So there are so many ways that someone can become – you know, run afoul of the immigration laws and either become undocumented or become illegal by having violated their status.