Abstract:
The aim of this study was to assess the impacts of illegal immigration on Tanzania national security.
Review of literatures shows that there a little information about the impacts of illegal immigration on
security threat in Tanzania, the researcher was driven to conduct the study given the scarce of
information in the case study. The study was guided by three specific objectives namely; to examine
the nature of illegal immigration in Tanzania, to ascertain the reason for influx illegal immigration in
Tanzania and to describe the impacts of illegal immigration on Tanzania national security. Push Pull Theory and Theory of Intervening Opportunities guided the research objectives. The study
adopted descriptive research design and mixed research approach was used. Study area was
Tanga Region with a population involving Police, Prison and Immigration departments. One
hundred and seventy respondents were used as the study representative chosen through purposive
and cluster random sampling technique from the total population of Police officers, Immigration
officers and Prison officers. Data was collected through closed questionnaires and semi-structured
interview and was analyzed through descriptive and correlation analysis. Data were found to be
both valid and reliable using Keyser Meyer Olkins (KMO) Test for validity and Cronbach Alpha test
statistic for reliability. The study found that illegal immigrants mostly used water ways to enter
Tanzania and they come through as refugee, documentation cheating and as businessmen. It was
further fund that illegal immigrants pose threat on social and economic security in Tanzania as they
are associated with armed robbery, drug smuggling and human trafficking. The study suggested
that there is a need for the government to involve society more in order to spot illegal immigrants
before they could bring more harm such as sensitize communities on the role of immigration,
advance intelligence led immigration practice and harness immigration data for policy making.
