230,000 Koreans Illegally Staying in United States

By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter

Approximately 230,000 undocumented Koreans were residing in the United States as of January 2007, according to a report ``Illegal Alien Resident Population’’ by the U.S. Homeland Security. The number of illegal Koreans has decreased by some 20,000 from a year earlier, yet Korea was the 7th largest country with illegal aliens in America.

The U.S. has seen a growing number of illegal immigrants _ 11.8 million last year, up from 11.3 million in 2006 and 8.5 million in 2000.

By country, Mexico is the leading country of undocumented immigration, with seven million, or 59 percent of the illegal population.

El Salvador came next with 540,000, followed by Guatemala with 500,000, and the Philippines and China, each with 290,000.

Koreans made up 2 percent of the undocumented population. Brazil showed the biggest increase of illegal residents, an 89 percent jump, followed by India with 81 percent and Guatemala with 74 percent.

By state, California was the leading state for illegal residents, with 2.8 million, or 24 percent of the total, followed by Texas with 1.7 million and Florida with 1 million.
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