The Pew Study on Illegal Immigration, Part V: Beyond the Headlines
By Stanley Renshon, September 10, 2010

At the heart of the Pew report is the claim that, to the extent the statistical estimates and weighting are correct, the overall estimated numbers of illegal immigrants in the United States has declined. At least, that is what the Pew report's title suggests is its most noteworthy finding. And it is point that almost all news accounts emphasize.

However there is much more to the report than what has been reported. In this entry, I would like to "stipulate" the general accuracy of the report's numbers for the purpose of further inquiring into what the report says that has been largely overlooked.

One eye-catching finding is the following: "despite the recent decline, the population of unauthorized immigrants was nearly a third larger (32%) in 2009 than in 2000, when it numbered 8.4 million. The size of this group has tripled since 1990, when it was 3.5 million.â€