Thread: Illegal immigration population plunges, estimates show

Illegal immigration population plunges, estimates show

by Matt O'Brien -
Feb. 9, 2010 06:10 PM
Contra Costa Times .

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. - The number of illegal immigrants living in the United States dropped by 1 million people in two years, according to new estimates by the Department of Homeland Security.

The government thinks that 10.8 million illegal immigrants lived in the country in January 2009, down from a peak of nearly 12 million in 2007.

If the official estimates are correct, not since 2005 has the population of illegal immigrants been as low as it was last year.

Some private researchers, however, are questioning the magnitude of the drop.

"It's very clear the undocumented population basically stopped growing after 2006," said Jeffrey Passel, a demographer with the nonpartisan Pew Hispanic Center. "It's plausible that the numbers have gotten smaller. But the way that they're measuring it, if you compare this estimate with the one two years ago, it overstates the degree of decline."

Twice over the past two years, Passel said, the U.S. Census Bureau has changed the way it measures immigration in its annual population surveys. Since nearly all estimates of the unauthorized immigrant population rely on census survey numbers, these changes might have distorted the results. The authors of the government estimates could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

The report cautioned that changes made to the census survey could have affected the results. The report, produced annually since 2005, is the government's official tabulation of immigrants living here illegally.

Most researchers agree that no matter the size of the population, which is notoriously hard to measure, the rate of illegal immigration dropped sharply during the recession. They disagree, however, on the causes.

"The number of new undocumented immigrants coming in has plummeted," Passel said.

Other researchers conclude that the drop is not because fewer illegal immigrants are coming in, but because more are leaving.

"The illegal population is falling significantly," said Steve Camarota of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates reducing immigration. "The only way for that to happen is for a lot more people to be going home."

The government demographers reached the same estimate - 10.8 million illegal immigrants nationwide - that Camarota concluded in his demographic study last year.

But while most researchers cite the recession as the cause for the decline, Camarota said border enforcement plays an important part.

"The decline in the population begins before the economy turns down," he said. "That suggests that, at least initially, it's because of the stepped-up enforcement that increased during the end of the Bush administration."

Other analysts disagree, saying that slower migration flows are a worldwide trend associated with the economic downturn.

"It's really driven by fewer people coming in," said Jeanne Batalova, a researcher with the Migration Policy Institute based in Washington, D.C.

"People are staying put wherever they are. They are less likely to migrate, but if they're already in the country, the preferred destination, they will do their best to stay and weather the storm. That's particularly the case for undocumented immigrants."

There are no estimates of how the population of unauthorized immigrants has changed in the first year of the Obama administration, but demographers are likely to begin guessing later this year when the Census Bureau releases new population estimates for 2009.

Top countries of origin for illegal immigrants in the U.S.:

-Mexico: 6.65 million (up by 42 percent since 2000)
-El Salvador: 530,000 (up by 25 percent)
-Guatemala: 480,000 (up by 65 percent)
-Honduras: 320,000 (up by 95 percent)
-Philippines: 270,000 (up by 33 percent)
-India: 200,000 (up by 64 percent)
< -South Korea: 200,000 (up by 14 percent)

States with the most illegal immigrants:

-California: 2.6 million (up by 3 percent since 2000)
-Texas: 1.68 million (up by 54 percent)
-Florida: 720,000 (down by 10 percent)
-New York: 550,000 (up by 1 percent)
-Illinois: 540,000 (up by 24 percent)
-Georgia: 480,000 (up by 115 percent)
-Arizona: 460,000 (up by 42 percent)

Source: U.S. Department of Homeland Security

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... unges.html

This is very encouraging news! Needs to be homepaged!

W

Oh good grief, there's 12 million illegal aliens in California alone. Back up and try a new model, Department of Homeland Stupidity, the Pew Center model has always been a lie to conceal the actual number of illegal aliens in the US to minimalize the issue, not provide an accurate number of how many illegal aliens there really are in the US and expose it.

After all, if people knew how many illegal aliens there really are in the US, which I think is well over 60 million including their offspring by now, there might just be some dissent from even the idiot groups supporting this travesty against American Law and Justice which just might bring this integration and dissolution plot to destroy the US to a grinding halt.

I think I'll go with this one

Originally Posted by ALIPAC

This is very encouraging news! Needs to be homepaged!

W

instead of this one.

Judy

Oh good grief, there's 12 million illegal aliens in California alone . . .

You are on target again--
this is what I read on an immigration count site.(Immigration Counters):

Illegal Aliens in Country 22,621,115
OTM Illegals in Country 574,324
Money Wired to Mexico Since Jan 2006 23,887,238,275
Money Wired to Latin America Since '01 228,271,300,000
Cost of Social Services for Illegal Aliens Since 1996 397,450,323, 160
Children of Illegals in Public Schools 4,956,198
Cost of Illegals in K-12 Since 1996 13, 796,198,200
Illegal Aliens Incarcerated 414,200
Cost of Incarcerations Since 2001 1,382,648,390
Illegal Alien Fugitives 733,472
Anchor Babies Since 2002 1,902,480
Skilled Jobs Taken by Illegal Aliens 11,459,627

Originally Posted by misterbill

You are on target again--
this is what I read on an immigration count site.(Immigration Counters):

Illegal Aliens in Country 22,621,115
OTM Illegals in Country 574,324
Money Wired to Mexico Since Jan 2006 23,887,238,275
Money Wired to Latin America Since '01 228,271,300,000
Cost of Social Services for Illegal Aliens Since 1996 397,450,323, 160
Children of Illegals in Public Schools 4,956,198
Cost of Illegals in K-12 Since 1996 13, 796,198,200
Illegal Aliens Incarcerated 414,200
Cost of Incarcerations Since 2001 1,382,648,390
Illegal Alien Fugitives 733,472
Anchor Babies Since 2002 1,902,480
Skilled Jobs Taken by Illegal Aliens 11,459,627

Thank you, misterbill.

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

I think I'll go with this one

Originally Posted by ALIPAC

This is very encouraging news! Needs to be homepaged!

W

instead of this one.

Judy

Oh good grief, there's 12 million illegal aliens in California alone . . .

Suit yourself, JohnDoe2.

Originally Posted by Judy

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

I think I'll go with this one

Originally Posted by ALIPAC

This is very encouraging news! Needs to be homepaged!

W

instead of this one.

Judy

Oh good grief, there's 12 million illegal aliens in California alone . . .

Suit yourself, JohnDoe2. :)

I'll stick with W, the president of ALIPAC, on this one.

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

Originally Posted by Judy

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

I think I'll go with this one

Originally Posted by ALIPAC

This is very encouraging news! Needs to be homepaged!

W

instead of this one.

Judy

Oh good grief, there's 12 million illegal aliens in California alone . . .

Suit yourself, JohnDoe2.

I'll stick with W, the president of ALIPAC, on this one.

It's not a contest, JohnDoe2. My post was in response to the article you posted, not W's reaction to it. Everyone who has been following this issue knows the Pew Center statistics are a lie. Have some illegal aliens left the country in the last couple of years out of fear of deportation and having all their assets absconded? Sure. We all know that. Has the rate of illegal entry into our country dropped because of our efforts to increase border security funding and fight amnesty? Sure. We all know that.

But for the Department of Homeland Stupidity to lie to the American People claiming there are only 12 million illegal alliens in the US to begin with is not a lie I'm going to clap about any more than the lie that now as they prepare to push amnesty down our throats they can claim "well, there's only 10,000,000 now, because 2 million of them have gone home so it's not a big deal" when we know the 12 million is a lie, which means the 10,000,000 is a lie because Bears Stearns did a study 5 years ago that proved beyond any doubt that there were 20 million or more in the country then not counting their offspring and that didn't count the ones that had overstayed their visas.

But you're free to believe whatever you want, JohnDoe2, as am I.

Immigration Enforcement Works! Illegal Immigrants Leaving AZ in Droves!
Posted on Thursday, July 30 2009 @ 10:00:06 EDT ...
www.alipac.us/article4411.html

Tide of illegal immigration reverses
- 11/22/08 - San Francisco ...
Nov 22, 2008 ... Due to the sluggish US economy many illegal immigrants are leaving ... Many illegal immigrants leave U.S.. Friday, November 21, 2008 ...
abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local&id=6519927