[rodguy911]

I know we have had this discussion before but is there any way at all to quantify just how many are here illegally. It matters because of the money. Costs a lot more if there are far more than 11 or 12 million which I believe there are.

[july4thfreedomfoundation]

They’ve been saying “11 million” for years.

Meanwhile, God knows how many illegals are stampeding across our border every day and night.

The real number is probably quadruple the “official” number.

[kabar]

It is very difficult to quantify. The USG official figure is about 11.5 million and has been for years. Over a decade ago, there was a Bear-Stearns report that estimated 20 million illegal aliens. People like to think of it as a static number like filling a football stadium. The reality is that the number of illegals is like a flowing river with some coming in, others being legalized, other dying, or leaving the country. The number is a snapshot in time.

Unrecognized by most, this is a continuing and major process under current laws. In FY 2011, for example, we issued new green cards to 1,062,040 aliens; of these, 580,092 were already in the United States and adjusted to green card status; an unknown but large number of the 580,092 were here illegally.5 The other 481,948 were new arrivals to the United States.