Posted on 02/22/2005 5:05:20 PM PST by F16Fighter
The size of the undocumented immigrant population in the United States is probably about 9 million people.
A report released by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in January 2003 estimated the size of the undocumented immigrant population at 7.0 million in 2000. A separate analysis by Jeff Passel of the Urban Institute estimated there were 8.5 million undocumented immigrants in 2000. Passel and others believe that net illegal immigration from Mexico alone has been growing at a rate of 500,000 people annually, which places current estimates at a minimum of 9.0 million unauthorized immigrants.
In the 1990s, the undocumented immigrant population grew by 350,000 per year. According to the INS, from 1990 to 1999, the size of the undocumented immigrant population grew by about 350,000 people per year on average, and by as much as 500,000 people per year in the latter third of the decade.
The states with the largest unauthorized populations are California and Texas. INS estimates show the states that had the largest unauthorized immigrant populations in 2000 were California (2.2 million) and Texas (1.0 million), followed by New York (0.5 million), Illinois (0.4 million), and Florida (0.3 million). Texas became the second state after California to have over one million unauthorized residents.
Almost one-third of all undocumented immigrants live in California. According to the INS, of all undocumented immigrants in the United States in 2000, 32 percent lived in California, followed by Texas (15 percent), New York (7 percent), Illinois (6 percent), and Florida (5 percent). Combined, these five states accounted for 64 percent of all undocumented migrants.
The states with the largest numerical increases in their unauthorized populations in the 1990s were California, Texas, and Illinois, in that order.
INS data show that the states with the largest numerical increases in their unauthorized populations between 1990 and 2000 were California, Texas, Illinois, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, and New York, in that order. Each of these states had increases of morethan 100,000 in the number of unauthorized residents between 1990 and 2000.
Georgia, North Carolina, and Colorado experienced rapid growth in their unauthorized immigrant populations between 1990 and 2000. Between 1990 and 2000, the unauthorized immigrant populations of several states grew rapidly, according to the US Immigration and Naturalization Service, including:
Georgia 571 percent (from 34,000 to 228,000)
North Carolina: 692 percent (from 26,000 to 206,000)
Colorado 365 percent (from 31,000 to 144,000)
Seven states that had 10,000 or fewer unauthorized immigrants in 1990 also experienced rapid growth through the decade:
Arkansas 440 percent (from 5,000 to 27,000)
South Carolina 414 percent (from 7,000 to 36,000)
Tennessee 411 percent (from 9,000 to 46,000)
Alabama 380 percent (from 5,000 to 24,000)
Iowa 380 percent (from 5,000 to 24,000)
Wisconsin 310 percent (from 10,000 to 41,000)
Nebraska 300 percent (from 6,000 to 24,000)
There is no evidence to suggest that this pattern has changed since 2000. The five countries of origin with the largest unauthorized immigrant populations are Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Colombia, and Honduras.
In 2000, the largest source country for unauthorized immigrants was Mexico (4.8 million), according to the INS. The unauthorized resident population from Mexico increased by 140 percent, from about 2.0 million in 1990 to 4.8 million in 2000, according to the INS. Unauthorized immigrants from Mexico represented 69 percent of the total unauthorized resident population in 2000. In 1990, unauthorized immigrants from Mexico represented 58 percent of the total.
Six other source countries were estimated to have over 100,000 unauthorized immigrants resident in the United States, including El Salvador (189,000), Guatemala (144,000), Colombia (141,000), Honduras (138,000), China (115,000), and Ecuador (108,000). There is no evidence to suggest that this pattern has changed since 2000.
This information was compiled by Elizabeth Grieco, MPI’s Data Manager, in October 2003. For questions or to arrange an interview with a data expert or policy analyst, please contact Colleen Coffey at 202-266-1910 or ccoffey@migrationpolicy.org. Please visit us at www.migrationpolicy.org.
BTTT
And, another thing: In every country in the world, throughout recorded history, the gifted, highly intelligent and well educated have always been able to rise to the top, do well financially and have a good standard of living. Even in Soviet Russia if a citizen was extremely smart or talented, he enjoyed a better standard of living than his average fellow citizens experienced.
Do you know what sets America apart from all the other countries in the world? The fact that an Average American Joe could get a public school education, get a job as a garbage truck driver (or carpenter or plumber or bricklayer, etc.) and make a decent living and support his family - and in a lot of cases he could advance to owning the business himself someday. He didn't have to be the best or the brightest (or the scion of a rich family) - he could still have a good life and contribute to the good of the country.
Now, suddenly, people like you want to tell Average American Joe to get lost...you can replace Joe with a cheap illegal immigrant for less than half Joe's salary and he should just "go get a pell grant" or drop dead.
Average American Joe is going to have a message for people like you one of these days and it isn't going to be a message you'll like either. I hope you're ready for the backlash of socialism that's coming to this country, because you "illegals are wonderful and they work so C-H-E-E-E-P types" are going to be reaping the whirlwind.
Ah yes, the dreaded backlash of socialism. I understand your argument much better now.
Literally hundreds of illegals crowding the streets, interferring with traffic, loitering, trespassing on nearby properties of single family homes, cops doing nothing about it, and an overall chaotic situation.
What people like you refuse to understand is that these illegals do not want to be legal, even with a guest worker program. They want to work for cash to send out of the coutry without paying taxes on the same.
The corrupt employers benefit by not paying payroll taxes, worker's comp, etc etc. Who gets the shaft? Guess for yourself.
You might be offended, but tough S%^&, its the truth. Not all cultures are equal and some have negative traits that won't allow the culture to progess collectively.
Plus, someone who violates our immigration laws is not an immigrant, they are a trespasser.
"Let me expand my statement. There are many, many jobs that require no skills. Driving garbage trucks, cutting chickens, cutting firewood. And yes, there are electrical and plumbing jobs that require no skills. If you are protected by a union, you are OK."
I see...the garbage truck driver is unskilled, huh? Ever heard of a little thing called the CDL? Last I heard, most garbage truck drivers had to study for and take the same test that OTR truckers do. Cutting chickens and cutting firewood do require skills - manual dexterity and endurance. Maybe you don't have to study physics to perform those jobs well, but they do require their own level of skill if you're going to do them well.
I noticed you just COULDN'T pass up a chance to bring "union protection" into the conversation, could you? I have plumbers and electricians in my family. They're not in the union. My husband is a crane operator - again, he's not in the union. You seem to have the distorted view (shared by many on this forum, I might add) that all skilled tradesmen belong to unions. You need to look into the facts a little further.
"The world changes. It always has and it always will. The workforce in this country is vastly different from what it was a 100 years ago. The women have moved in. The blacks have moved in. The mexicans have moved in."
Yes, the world and the workforce has changed, but we're not talking about LEGAL American citizens and immigrants here. We're talking about businesses purposely hiring ILLEGAL ALIENS to do the jobs Americans were doing purely because they can pay the illegals less and get away with breaking labor laws in the process. Your citing of of "women and blacks", and indeed Mexicans (if they're legal) is a faulty comparison because "women and blacks and (legal) Mexicans" are not not ILLEGALS ALIENS. You're trying to justify businesses breaking labor and immigration laws by saying that the "blacks and women" have moved in so why can't ILLEGAL ALIENS move in, too? Can't you see anything wrong with that analogy?
"Your statement that some people are not cut out to be educated is pure silliness."
You really don't get it, do you? Not every American has the temperament or the intelligence to be a doctor, lawyer, etc. Some people are better with their hands. And that's just as respectable, in my opinion, as being an educated professional.
Here's an example for you: I have a son who has some learning disabilities. He's never going to be college material, but from the time he was a preschooler he was very skilled with his hands and could put toys and puzzles together just by looking at a picture of them. He's going to Vo-Tech, studying to be an electrician and he's very good at it. I'm very proud of him. I have another son who's an A student and is already planning for a career in medicine or law. I'm proud of him, too. I believe there's a place in America for both - the kid who's good with his hands as well as the kid who's an A student. Got it?
"My father was a chicken cutter, I'm a chicken cutter, and my son will be a chicken cutter. Work with your head, not your hands."
So do you currently work as a chicken cutter? And you have no problem with illegal aliens infiltrating your chicken processing industry and depressing your wages? How altruistic of you!
Everyone of those statements is false as regards illegal laborers.
Your "blue collar" and anti-business rhetoric leads me to believe that you are working out of a labor union hall. That's not conservative thinking, that's big government socialist protectionist thinking.
Hi EagleMama
I live in Southwest Missouri too and thought it was interesting (before I knew where you lived) when you commented about not having illegals in your area and that it's thriving. That is so true!!
Our economy in this area is thriving, partially due to reasonably low cost housing and the work ethic of heartland America. And yet we don't have illegals...hmmm, wonder how Bayourod would explain that? I would ask but I tend to avoid him, his mind cannot be changed so I don't even try.
If you feel the need to insult other cultures that's certainly your right. But it's my right to point out to people of other cultures that you do not represent Republican or conservative sentiments.
"Ah yes, the dreaded backlash of socialism. I understand your argument much better now."
No darlin', that's the whole problem. You DON'T understand.
You think all these displaced American workers are just going to disappear. You seem to forget that they can vote. Or is that something else you'd like to take away from them as well?
"Hordes"? I would never speak of the people from the home of my ancestors as "hordes". You must be real popular at family reunions.
Sadly, you're right. We've just increased the frequency of ignoring the problem until it's grown into a very divisive issue.
That is the biggest problem. The rest of the country doesn't know what is happening. And by the time they do, it will be too late.
Only the very small businesses that operate in cash without books and without filing IRS returns operate that way.
If any labor intensive type business files a return that shows labor cost far below the norm they will get audited. Failure to pay withholding taxes is the first thing the government will send someone to prison for.
Where do you get the idea that illegals don't want to be legal? They would love to have green cards.
Damn right they are coming in hordes! Ever been to L.A.?
Just because my BIOLOGICAL ancestors came from south of the border doesn't mean I keep some deep affinty for them. I don't give a damn about people from Mexico any farther than I want them to be self-supporting economically and stop leeching off of the USA.
In my heart my ancestors are the white Europeans who founded THIS country and all those who have fought to protect and maintain it. If it weren't for them, half this continent would still be crapping in holes, living in mud huts and worshipping sticks, and sacrificing people to their sticks.
Gee, sorry, I think I'll side with the white folks on this. Call me a sellout, or a Tio Taco if you will, but I am an American, God damn it. My loyalty is to THIS COUNTRY and its CITIZENS.
No one else, no where else.
"Everyone of those statements is false as regards illegal laborers.
Your "blue collar" and anti-business rhetoric leads me to believe that you are working out of a labor union hall. That's not conservative thinking, that's big government socialist protectionist thinking."
Rod, here's a news flash for you - I don't give a flip what you think about me or my "rhetoric". And I'm sorry your momma scared you with the "Look for the Union Label" song when you were a little boy, but you can come out from under the bed now. The big ol' union bogeyman really is a weak, dying little ogre!
And another thing - when are you actually going to tell me what you do for a living - I'm sure you remember the long, long "conversation" we had a few months ago. I had asked you not to address me again until you came out and stated what you do for a living. But here you are, in all your Cheap Labor pimping glory, trying the old bait 'em and ban 'em trash you usually post.
I'm upfront about illegal immigration and the fact that my family is blue collar and the fact that I believe it poses a significant risk to my family's future livelihood. You, on the other hand, choose to continually skirt the issue and coyly prance about this forum, from illegal immigration thread to illegal immigration thread, as if you're a paid disruptor or perhaps a shill for the Bush "guest worker" program.
I'll tell you what I think you are - I think you're a computer-generated persona created by MECHA or La Raza. Whenever the "cause" is taking a beating on this forum, one of these entities pushes a little button and up pops "bayourod" in all his verbal glory to post the talking points for the Reconquista Crowd.
You really are quite a nice little computer program - press "1" for "lazy American men letting their wives support them, blah, blah, blah". Press "2" for "This country can't survive without cheap illegal labor, blah, blah, blah". Press "3" for your standard "buchananite, racist, bigot, blah, blah, blah" response. I think that about covers your canned responses, doesn't it?
P.S.: Have a nice day, now! :)
According to realtors I know, the demand for housing in CA is being pushed from the bottom. This trend in housing is odd because the local economy (even with all this great illegal labor) has been sluggish for several years now. Given the banks new propensity towards no-down loans as well as their loosening of loan qualification stds leads one to believe that illegals, at least in large part, are driving home sales. This is keeping prices for everything above it propped up.
Its a pyramid scheme that can't go on forever.
Yep, how HAVE we managed to live this long without illegals to clean our commodes and mow our lawns? :)
I'll freepmail you and let you know where I live in Southwestern Missouri.
Nice to see another Southwestern Missourian on here!
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