History Main / TheIllegal

A recent variation happens because illegal immigration is a political issue in the United States. Typically the illegal alien is Mexican, hardworking, speaks perfect English, can be of either sex, and is exploited only in minor ways which elicit sympathy for him without implying he'd have been better off staying home.

Sometimes PlayedForLaughs in US media by having the illegal be [[CanadaEh Canadian]] or some other comparatively outlandish nation. This version never faces deportation or exploitation, but might face resentment from (legal) latino or Asian immigrants.

A common trope on U.S. police shows, as well. The nationality of the person being exploited varies. Exploited sweatshop workers are Latino, Asians, or occasionally Eastern Europeans. If it's people trafficking for purposes of prostitution, it's almost always Asian women, from China, Thailand, other semi-industrial countries. An appropriate mob organization ([[TheMafiya Russians]], [[TheTriadsAndTheTongs Tongs]], {{Yakuza}}, {{The Irish Mob}}, [[TheMafia Italians]]) will be the string-pullers.

A recent variation happens because illegal immigration is a political issue in the USA. Typically the illegal alien is Mexican, hardworking, speaks perfect English, can be of either sex, and is exploited only in minor ways which elicit sympathy for him without implying he'd have been better off staying home.

Sometimes PlayedForLaughs in US media by having the illegal be [[CanadaEh Canadian]]. This version never faces deportation or exploitation, but might face resentment from (legal) latino or Asian immigrants.

Sometimes PlayedForLaughs in US media by having the illegal be [[CanadaEh Canadian]]. This version never faces deportation or exploitation, but might face resentment from (legal) Latino or Asian immigrants.

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* ''Manga/SayonaraZetsubouSensei'' has an unusual Japanese version: Maria, an illegal alien, probably from [[AmbiguouslyBrown the Philippines, Southeast Asia, or somewhere farther off]]. She bought the identity of a male student in Itoshiki-sensei's class despite looking like she's ten years old or so, but doesn't bother to crossdress or otherwise act like him. Poverty and lack of education in her home country make Japanese high school very strange to her.
* Ling Yao of ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' is an illegal immigrant from a place called Xing. He's sent to jail, but breaks out later. Since he's a prince, he could probably be considered a diplomat or such, but he didn't have his papers (and [[YoungerThanTheyLook they wouldn't believe he was only 15]]) when he was arrested.

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* Edilio from ''Literature/{{Gone}}'' is implied to be this.
** Confirmed in ''Plague''.
** Results in a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome in ''Light'': [[spoiler: a police officer was about to deport Edilio and his family, but upon recognizing Edilio (now a hero due to his actions in the FAYZ), the officer instead calls four other cars full of cops to protect him.]]

[[folder: Music ]]

* ''Series/MidnightCaller'': Kid Salinas, aka Carlos Mendez, came to America illegally before falling under the control of a corrupt boxing promoter.

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[[quoteright:350:[[Film/BornInEastLA https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/born_in_east_la.png]]]]

* ''Film/StVincent'':

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* ''Literature/TheCrocodileGod's'' main plot point is how Haik the Filipino-Australian is revealed to be an illegal immigrant in both Australia and the US. The Fil-American Mirasol took him to the hospital after she found him washed up on the California beach, and ICE officers showed up at her house a while later to arrest him and ship him back to the Philippines. An additional layer is that Haik is the title's Filipino ''god,'' who's roaming around unrecognized and nearly-forgotten [[DeathOfTheOldGods since Spain colonized the islands.]] It's also pointed out that Mirasol may get jailed or sent to the Philippines as well despite being ''an actual American citizen,'' as [[LawfulStupid punishment for "helping a criminal."]]

* The villain in ''{{Coneheads}}'' is an INS agent determined to expose the Coneheads as not only space aliens, but ''illegal'' aliens, and have them deported.

* ''Literature/TheCrocodileGod's'' main plot point is how Haik, the Filipino-Australian, is revealed to be illegal in both Australia and the US--Fil-American Mirasol took him to the hospital after she found him washed up on the California beach, and ICE officers showed up at her house a while later to arrest him and ship him back to the Philippines. An additional layer is that Haik is the title's Filipino ''god,'' who's roaming around unrecognized and nearly-forgotten [[DeathOfTheOldGods since Spain colonized the islands.]] It's also pointed out that Mirasol may get jailed or sent to the Philippines as well despite being ''an actual American citizen,'' as [[LawfulStupid punishment for "helping a criminal."]]

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* The ''Film/{{Machete}}'' films has this as an underlying theme, following the trend of exploitation films to be used to preach political aesops. The trope is spoofed in ''Film/MacheteKills'' when MasterOfDisguise El Camaleón (disguised as a Mexican) is about to be shot by rednecks who mistake him for an illegal immigrant. He removes his fake mustache and talks in his normal voice to show he's not Mexican, only for the rednecks to assume he's Canadian and shoot him anyway.

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* ''Radio/OurMissBrooks'': In the episode "Two Way Stretch Snodgrass", Mr. Conklin and Miss Brooks, [[ItMakesSenseInContext pretending to be Stretch Snodgrass' parents]], spin [[BlatantLies a story of illegal immigration and a secret marriage to preserve their masquerade]]. Mr. Conklin's daughter Harriet walked in the room, threatening to blow up the scheme when she identifies Mr. Conklin as her father and claimed her mother (Martha Conklin) was nowhere in sight.

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* The Mexican ''norteña'' music band, ''Los Tigres del Norte,'' song ''Tres Veces Mojado'' (Three times a wetback) which tells the ballad of a Central American migrant as he makes his way from his home country, through Mexico, towards the U.S.

* The political satire group Capital Steps wrote a song entitled "Welcome to the State of Arizona" (Sung to the tune of "Hotel California") centering around a man in a large coat being confronted by a police officer at the border. Then the man casts off his coat to reveal that he's a Navajo, and proudly states that ''his'' people had been fighting against illegal immigration since 1492.

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* Calamities of Nature discusses the [[http://www.calamitiesofnature.com/archive/?c=277 protest of illegal immigrants in the US]].

* ''SayonaraZetsubouSensei'' has an unusual Japanese version: Maria, an illegal alien, probably from [[AmbiguouslyBrown the Philippines, Southeast Asia, or somewhere farther off]]. She bought the identity of a male student in Itoshiki-sensei's class despite looking like she's ten years old or so, but doesn't bother to crossdress or otherwise act like him. Poverty and lack of education in her home country make Japanese high school very strange to her.