Illegal alien population drops

Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 2/16/2010 6:20:00 AMBookmark and Share

A grassroots immigration enforcement activist believes that increased enforcement at state and local levels has been a major factor in the recent Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report that showed the illegal alien population declined by almost a million people.



The DHS reports that the illegal alien population in the United States dropped to 10.8 million in 2009 from 11.6 million in 2008, marking the second consecutive annual decline and the largest in at least three decades.

William Gheen (ALIPAC)William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration PAC (ALIPAC), says the decline is not just because of the struggling economy.

"While we acknowledge that the bad economy is playing a role in that, our side also wants to stress that...increased enforcement, especially on the state level, has played a big role in that," the ALIPAC president notes. "We have reports from members of the media and government officials from both local and state level areas where immigration enforcement is taking place, the illegals leave those areas," he adds. "So we know that illegal aliens are facing increased hostility from the American public, groups and organizations, city, county and state government."

Gheen believes that illegals are clearly on the run.

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