Published: May 7, 2013 Updated 8 hours ago
By Dan Walters
sanluisobispo.com


Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg discusses his legislation on immigrant rights on Tuesday. "California's immigrant workers make a valuable contribution to our economy and the American dream," he said.
Hector Amezcua

California has 2.6 million residents who are in the country illegally and thus would be heavily impacted by any immigration reform legislation, a massive new study by the USC Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration concludes.

The state's undocumented population is about a quarter of the nation's, and about 72 percent comes from Mexico.

The study also found that California's illegal immigrants have $31.5 billion in income but individually earn less than half of U.S.-born workers, even though 74 percent of working-age immigrants are in the labor force.

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