Because of the demand for cheap unskilled labour in industrialized countries to carry out menial tasks that nationals no longer want to do, recruiting programmes have been set up in certain underdeveloped countries giving false hopes to the impoverished and unemployed. Although if they are successfully transplanted they earn higher wages than at home, they are in no position to benefit from this owing to the higher cost of living in industrialized countries and the need to send money home to the family. Many immigrants recruited in this way enter illegally and pay a high price to an agent or middle man. They may or may not obtain permits later. They face deportation and prison sentences and a total loss of their cash outlay if they are caught by the authorities. They are usually transported and housed in appalling conditions and are very often paid below minimum wage. Exploiters are often their own countrymen. Governments and firms tacitly condone unjust working and living conditions.