Thread: Illegals dig in

Illegals dig in
By Kathleen Miller
Examiner Staff Writer 12/4/08


Experts say the Washington region’s immigrant population remains stable, even as an economic downturn and tougher enforcement have caused the first recent decreases in illegal immigration nationally.
National organizations have seen the number of illegal immigrants decrease, with estimates ranging from 500,000 to 1.3 million fewer people in the United States illegally. But locally, factors from a high demand for hospitality workers for the upcoming inauguration to the difficulty of returning home seem to be keeping immigrants here.

An October report from the Pew Hispanic Center said there were roughly 11.9 million illegal immigrants living in the United States in March 2008, down 500,000 people from the 12.4 million population estimate it reported in 2007.

The study said it was the first time in a decade that more immigrants were entering the country legally than illegally.

From 2000 to 2004, about 800,000 illegal immigrants a year entered the United States, but now the numbers have dropped to 500,000 a year, the report says. Meanwhile, legal immigration remains steady with about 650,000 authorized immigrants moving here each year.

Leaders of local immigrant advocacy groups such as CASA de Maryland and Virginia’s Tenants and Workers United say they’ve heard reports of immigrants heading home in other parts of the country, but they’re not seeing it here. Neither group checks the immigration status of the people they work with, so they can’t speak specifically about illegal immigrants, but they can discuss trends in the area’s immigrant community as a whole.

“The answer is a lot of people talk about it in a wishful way,â€

“The bad economy is not necessarily a self-correcting phenomenon for illegal immigration,â€

Experts say the Washington region’s immigrant population remains stable, even as an economic downturn and tougher enforcement have caused the first recent decreases in illegal immigration nationally.

1.....2......3....... Crime rate increases dramatically in 2009.