Illegal immigration drops after decade-long rise
WASHINGTON (AP) - New census data released Thursday affirm a clear and sustained drop in illegal immigration, ending more than a decade of increases.
The number of illegal immigrants in the U.S. dropped to an estimated 11.1 million last year from a peak of 12 million in 2007, part of an overall waning of Hispanic immigration. For the first time since 1910, Hispanic immigration last year was topped by immigrants from Asia.
Demographers say illegal Hispanic immigration - 80 percent of all illegal immigration comes from Mexico and Latin America - isn't likely to approach its mid-2000 peak again, due in part to a weakened U.S. economy and stronger enforcement but also a graying of the Mexican population.
The finding suggests an uphill battle for the Republicans, who passed legislation in the House last week that would extend citizenship to a limited pool of foreign students with advanced degrees but who are sharply divided on whether to pursue broader immigration measures.
In all, the biggest surge of immigration in modern U.S. history ultimately may be recorded as occurring in the mid-1990s to early 2000s, yielding illegal residents who now have been settled in the U.S. for 10 years or more. They include migrants who arrived here as teens and are increasingly at risk of "aging out" of congressional proposals such as the DREAM Act that offer a pathway to citizenship for younger adults.
"The priority now is to push a vigorous debate about the undocumented people already here," said Jose Antonio Vargas, 31, a journalist from the Philippines. "We want to become citizens and not face the threat of deportation or be treated as second class," said Vargas, whose campaign, Define American, along with the young immigrant group United We Dream, have been pushing for citizenship for the entire illegal population in the U.S. The groups point to a strong Latino and Asian-American turnout for President Barack Obama in last month's election as evidence of public support for a broad overhaul of U.S. immigration laws.
Earlier this year, Obama extended to many younger immigrants temporary reprieves from deportation. But Vargas, who has lived in the U.S. since 1993 and appeared this year on the cover of Time magazine with other immigrants who lacked legal status, has become too old to qualify.
"This conversation is a question about how we as a nation define who is an American," Vargas said, noting that if politicians don't embrace immigration overhaul now, a rapidly growing bloc of minority voters may soon do it for them. "If you want us to pay a fine to become a citizen, OK. If you want us to pay back taxes, absolutely. If you want us to speak English, I speak English. But we can't tread water on this issue anymore."
Jeffrey Passel, a senior demographer at the Pew Research Center and a former Census Bureau official, said U.S. immigration policies will have a significant impact in shaping a future U.S. labor force, which is projected to shrink by 2030. Aging white baby boomers, many in specialized or management roles, are beginning to retire. Mexican immigration, which has helped fill needs in farming, home health care and other low-wage U.S. jobs, has leveled off.
"Immigration is one way to boost the number of workers in the population," he said, but the next wave of needed immigrants is likely to come from somewhere other than Mexico. "We are not going to see a return to the levels of Mexican unauthorized immigration of a decade ago."
The numbers are largely based on the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey through March 2011. Because the Census Bureau does not ask people about their immigration status, Passel derived estimates on illegal immigrants largely by subtracting the estimated legal immigrant population from the total foreign-born population. The numbers are also supplemented with material from William H. Frey of the Brookings Institution and Mark Mather of the Population Reference Bureau, who reviewed data released Thursday from the Census' American Community Survey.
The data showed that 11.1 million, or 28 percent, of the foreign-born population in the U.S. consists of illegal immigrants, virtually unchanged since 2009 and roughly equal to the level of 2005. An additional 12.2 million foreign-born people, 31 percent, are legal permanent residents with green cards. And 15.1 million, or 37 percent, are naturalized U.S. citizens.
Fewer Mexican workers are entering the U.S., while many of those immigrants already here are opting to return to their homeland, resulting in zero net migration from Mexico.
In 2007, legal and illegal immigrants made up equally large shares of the foreign-born population, at 31 percent, due to ballooning numbers of new unauthorized migrants seeking U.S. construction and related jobs during the mid-2000s housing boom. Naturalized U.S. citizens then represented 35 percent.
Broken down by geography and race, roughly half of all states last year posted declines or no change in their numbers of foreign-born Hispanics, including big immigrant states such as California and New York as well as economically hard hit areas in Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina, which previously had seen gains.
Foreign-born Asians were a bigger source of population gain than Hispanic immigrants in California, New York, Virginia, Illinois and New Jersey. Newly moving into suburban communities, the Asian population spread out more across the southeastern U.S. and Texas, increasing their share in 93 percent of the nation's metropolitan areas.
As a whole, foreign-born residents are slowly graying, with 44 percent now age 45 or older. They are more likely than in 2007 to be enrolled in college or graduate school (39 percent, up from 32 percent) and to be single (17 percent married, down from 22 percent).
Births to immigrant mothers also are on the decline, driving the overall U.S. birth rate last year to the lowest in records dating back to 1920.
"At least temporarily, the face of immigration to the U.S. is changing in terms of cultural background, education and skills," Frey said. "The fertility bump provided by past Hispanic immigrants may not be replicated in the future, especially if Asians take over a greater share of U.S. immigrants."
House Republicans, seeking to show they are serious about addressing the immigration issue after being largely rejected by Hispanics in the election, voted last week to make green cards accessible to foreign students graduating with advanced science and math degrees from U.S. universities.
The measure, strongly backed by the high-tech industry and touted as a boost to the U.S. economy, would have a net effect of extending more visas and eventual citizenship to students from India and China. It is opposed by most Democrats, the Obama administration and immigrant rights groups such as the Asian American Justice Center which want to see it packaged with broader legislation that extends legal status for illegal immigrants.
These groups also oppose the proposed new 55,000 visas for foreign students because they would be offset by eliminating a lottery program that provides green cards to people with lower rates of immigration, mainly those from Africa. Senate Democrats on Wednesday blocked Republicans from bringing up the bill.
A bill introduced by Sens. Jon Kyl of Arizona and Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, who are retiring at the end of this session, seeks to offer some legal status to young immigrants. Critics say it falls short because it does not provide a path to citizenship, an issue that Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., describes as "non-negotiable."
About 77 percent of Hispanic voters in the November election said they thought people working in the U.S. illegally should be offered a chance to apply for legal status, according to exit polling conducted for the television networks and The Associated Press. That is compared with 71 percent of Asian-Americans and 65 percent of voters overall.
The political implications are great.
Hispanics and Asian-Americans are the nation's two fastest-growing population groups, each increasing by more than 40 percent since 2000. A higher birth rate and years of steadily high immigration have boosted Hispanics to 17 percent of the U.S. population, compared with blacks at 12 percent and 5 percent for Asians.
Even if the nation's estimated 11 million illegal residents do not attain citizenship, the nation's Hispanics, who made up roughly 10 percent of voters in November, are expected to nearly double their share of eligible voters by 2030. Asian-Americans, who now are 3 percent of voters, will also continue to increase.
About 73 percent of Asian-Americans voted for Obama, second only to African-Americans at 93 percent and slightly higher than Latinos at 71 percent, according to exit polling.
Asian-Americans don't strongly identify with either party, but they tend to cite jobs, education and health care as issues most important to them and generally prefer a big government that provides more services. Relatively new to the U.S. and religiously diverse, Asian-Americans also may have been repelled by Republican Mitt Romney's forceful stance during the primaries seeking "self-deportation" of immigrants as well as the GOP's sometimes narrow appeal to evangelical Christians, said Karthick Ramakrishnan, a political science professor at the University of California-Riverside who helps conduct a broad National Asian American Survey.
While Mexicans make up about 55 percent of illegal immigrants and other Latin Americans represent another 25 percent, Asians make up a 10 percent share, many of whom overstay temporary visas.
The number of illegal immigrants in the U.S. dropped to an estimated 11.1 million last year from a peak of 12 million in 2007, part of an overall waning of Hispanic immigration. For the first time since 1910, Hispanic immigration last year was topped by immigrants from Asia.
Demographers say illegal Hispanic immigration - 80 percent of all illegal immigration comes from Mexico and Latin America - isn't likely to approach its mid-2000 peak again, due in part to a weakened U.S. economy and stronger enforcement but also a graying of the Mexican population.
The finding suggests an uphill battle for the Republicans, who passed legislation in the House last week that would extend citizenship to a limited pool of foreign students with advanced degrees but who are sharply divided on whether to pursue broader immigration measures.
In all, the biggest surge of immigration in modern U.S. history ultimately may be recorded as occurring in the mid-1990s to early 2000s, yielding illegal residents who now have been settled in the U.S. for 10 years or more. They include migrants who arrived here as teens and are increasingly at risk of "aging out" of congressional proposals such as the DREAM Act that offer a pathway to citizenship for younger adults.
"The priority now is to push a vigorous debate about the undocumented people already here," said Jose Antonio Vargas, 31, a journalist from the Philippines. "We want to become citizens and not face the threat of deportation or be treated as second class," said Vargas, whose campaign, Define American, along with the young immigrant group United We Dream, have been pushing for citizenship for the entire illegal population in the U.S. The groups point to a strong Latino and Asian-American turnout for President Barack Obama in last month's election as evidence of public support for a broad overhaul of U.S. immigration laws.
Earlier this year, Obama extended to many younger immigrants temporary reprieves from deportation. But Vargas, who has lived in the U.S. since 1993 and appeared this year on the cover of Time magazine with other immigrants who lacked legal status, has become too old to qualify.
"This conversation is a question about how we as a nation define who is an American," Vargas said, noting that if politicians don't embrace immigration overhaul now, a rapidly growing bloc of minority voters may soon do it for them. "If you want us to pay a fine to become a citizen, OK. If you want us to pay back taxes, absolutely. If you want us to speak English, I speak English. But we can't tread water on this issue anymore."
Jeffrey Passel, a senior demographer at the Pew Research Center and a former Census Bureau official, said U.S. immigration policies will have a significant impact in shaping a future U.S. labor force, which is projected to shrink by 2030. Aging white baby boomers, many in specialized or management roles, are beginning to retire. Mexican immigration, which has helped fill needs in farming, home health care and other low-wage U.S. jobs, has leveled off.
"Immigration is one way to boost the number of workers in the population," he said, but the next wave of needed immigrants is likely to come from somewhere other than Mexico. "We are not going to see a return to the levels of Mexican unauthorized immigration of a decade ago."
The numbers are largely based on the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey through March 2011. Because the Census Bureau does not ask people about their immigration status, Passel derived estimates on illegal immigrants largely by subtracting the estimated legal immigrant population from the total foreign-born population. The numbers are also supplemented with material from William H. Frey of the Brookings Institution and Mark Mather of the Population Reference Bureau, who reviewed data released Thursday from the Census' American Community Survey.
The data showed that 11.1 million, or 28 percent, of the foreign-born population in the U.S. consists of illegal immigrants, virtually unchanged since 2009 and roughly equal to the level of 2005. An additional 12.2 million foreign-born people, 31 percent, are legal permanent residents with green cards. And 15.1 million, or 37 percent, are naturalized U.S. citizens.
Fewer Mexican workers are entering the U.S., while many of those immigrants already here are opting to return to their homeland, resulting in zero net migration from Mexico.
In 2007, legal and illegal immigrants made up equally large shares of the foreign-born population, at 31 percent, due to ballooning numbers of new unauthorized migrants seeking U.S. construction and related jobs during the mid-2000s housing boom. Naturalized U.S. citizens then represented 35 percent.
Broken down by geography and race, roughly half of all states last year posted declines or no change in their numbers of foreign-born Hispanics, including big immigrant states such as California and New York as well as economically hard hit areas in Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina, which previously had seen gains.
Foreign-born Asians were a bigger source of population gain than Hispanic immigrants in California, New York, Virginia, Illinois and New Jersey. Newly moving into suburban communities, the Asian population spread out more across the southeastern U.S. and Texas, increasing their share in 93 percent of the nation's metropolitan areas.
As a whole, foreign-born residents are slowly graying, with 44 percent now age 45 or older. They are more likely than in 2007 to be enrolled in college or graduate school (39 percent, up from 32 percent) and to be single (17 percent married, down from 22 percent).
Births to immigrant mothers also are on the decline, driving the overall U.S. birth rate last year to the lowest in records dating back to 1920.
"At least temporarily, the face of immigration to the U.S. is changing in terms of cultural background, education and skills," Frey said. "The fertility bump provided by past Hispanic immigrants may not be replicated in the future, especially if Asians take over a greater share of U.S. immigrants."
House Republicans, seeking to show they are serious about addressing the immigration issue after being largely rejected by Hispanics in the election, voted last week to make green cards accessible to foreign students graduating with advanced science and math degrees from U.S. universities.
The measure, strongly backed by the high-tech industry and touted as a boost to the U.S. economy, would have a net effect of extending more visas and eventual citizenship to students from India and China. It is opposed by most Democrats, the Obama administration and immigrant rights groups such as the Asian American Justice Center which want to see it packaged with broader legislation that extends legal status for illegal immigrants.
These groups also oppose the proposed new 55,000 visas for foreign students because they would be offset by eliminating a lottery program that provides green cards to people with lower rates of immigration, mainly those from Africa. Senate Democrats on Wednesday blocked Republicans from bringing up the bill.
A bill introduced by Sens. Jon Kyl of Arizona and Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, who are retiring at the end of this session, seeks to offer some legal status to young immigrants. Critics say it falls short because it does not provide a path to citizenship, an issue that Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., describes as "non-negotiable."
About 77 percent of Hispanic voters in the November election said they thought people working in the U.S. illegally should be offered a chance to apply for legal status, according to exit polling conducted for the television networks and The Associated Press. That is compared with 71 percent of Asian-Americans and 65 percent of voters overall.
The political implications are great.
Hispanics and Asian-Americans are the nation's two fastest-growing population groups, each increasing by more than 40 percent since 2000. A higher birth rate and years of steadily high immigration have boosted Hispanics to 17 percent of the U.S. population, compared with blacks at 12 percent and 5 percent for Asians.
Even if the nation's estimated 11 million illegal residents do not attain citizenship, the nation's Hispanics, who made up roughly 10 percent of voters in November, are expected to nearly double their share of eligible voters by 2030. Asian-Americans, who now are 3 percent of voters, will also continue to increase.
About 73 percent of Asian-Americans voted for Obama, second only to African-Americans at 93 percent and slightly higher than Latinos at 71 percent, according to exit polling.
Asian-Americans don't strongly identify with either party, but they tend to cite jobs, education and health care as issues most important to them and generally prefer a big government that provides more services. Relatively new to the U.S. and religiously diverse, Asian-Americans also may have been repelled by Republican Mitt Romney's forceful stance during the primaries seeking "self-deportation" of immigrants as well as the GOP's sometimes narrow appeal to evangelical Christians, said Karthick Ramakrishnan, a political science professor at the University of California-Riverside who helps conduct a broad National Asian American Survey.
While Mexicans make up about 55 percent of illegal immigrants and other Latin Americans represent another 25 percent, Asians make up a 10 percent share, many of whom overstay temporary visas.
With unemployment being at such a high level, why do we need more people from other countries that often don't speak very good English to compete with citizens for jobs? With so many people seeking jobs, wages are driven down. Of course illegals will vote (why are they allowed to vote?) for anyone that might make them legal. Most illegals collect welfare: http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2011/04/most-illegal-immigrant-families-collect-welfare/ Our medical systems are strained providing free medical care. http://www.examiner.com/article/illegal-aliens-cost-california-hospitals-more-than-1-billion-annuallyÂ
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We need E-Verify to improve the job market for citizens.
America was the world's welfare office. But now, with the well drying up, the lines to get in are finally getting shorter. Developing countries need to start encouraing their peoples to use contraceptives, for both the would be poor children that will likely have few opportunities and the right's of the women popping them out.
Stop supporting, start deporting.
Or is it just that the government is not counting as closely. Of course Obama's answer to the Dream Act, also known as the Nightmare Amnesty Act, could well convince a good number of illegals to say they are no longer illegal. Grant amnesty to one younger illegal and you have defacto amnesty for their entire family.
 @Nobody What about when Reagan gave blanket amnesty to all illegals back in the 80's?
That was certainly the largest of the amnesties for illegal aliens, but by no means the only one. Â Additional amnesties were enacted under Clinton and Bush Sr. as well. Â There have been a total of 7 in all.
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Oops, correction. When the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) under Obama was undertaken, that effectively bumps the total to 8.Â
Maybe it's that immigrants can't stand the unbridled ignorance that people such as yourself are showing. If it was published that there was more illegal immigration, you would puff your chest out and blame Obama. Since it is published that there is less, you point the finger at the statisticians and still blame Obama. I'm sure the native Americans would have something to say about this. Of course, you probably have an excuse for that one, too. Your logic is laughable to the point of being sad.
Also, again from the story above (the last paragraph):
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'While Mexicans make up about 55 percent of illegal immigrants and other Latin Americans represent another 25 percent, Asians make up a 10 percent share, many of whom overstay temporary visas'
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Policing the border doesn't make squat of a difference if those who are granted visas to enter the US aren't reviewed, investigated and immediately REMOVED when in violation. About 40-45 percent of all those illegally present in the US initially came in on some type of visa. Â We HAVE to get serious about finding and removing visa overstays/abusers.Â
 @ThePosterFormerlyKnownAsPhredE I got one better and this is a Quote from an ICE agent refusing to identify himself.
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In June of 2009 I met a person online and she openly said she was an illegal, but your government don't care. I called ICE and his exact words "May I have the address of the Vancouver resident", and I gave him the address, I gave him the name of the person .And then the real shocker.. "Is she committing a crime and Dealing in Drugs"? I said no, and he says thank you for your time , at this time we can not do anything and then hangs up.
She was Asian from Tiwan.
They only care about the illegals doing harm by selling drugs and committing crimes, not the illegals that are just here. At least that is the present Understanding from ICE
@lee986321 11 to 12 million illegals and you want them to spend time and resources on ones that aren't committing other crimes at the expense of not being able to go after ones that are? I guess you could ask that taxes be increased greatly across the board to pay for more people to focus on this crime, but many who want the extra enforcement are staunchly opposed to increased taxes. It just doesn't work.
That would've been a great idea if it were enacted 200 years ago. Then we would just have a country of a handful of pilgrims and a heavy majority of natives. It's always fun to enact laws after you've already been covered!
 @JTesla  @lee986321 Well, sort of in response to both of your comments immediately above..
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While in some ways I agree with you (especially about both ends of the political spectrum being guilty in perpetuating the overall problem), my comment above was focused on the fact that Obama has made a very public distinction between 'good' illegal aliens and 'bad' illegal aliens. The [presumed/assumed] distinction being, essentially, 'has the person committed a serious/significant/violent crime' while in the US. Â And, while that logic *may* be tempting to subscribe to, some critics (yes, myself) would point out that by declaring certain classes of illegal persons 'off limits' in terms of justice/law enforcement, that gives them the de facto 'green light' to stay and does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to remove that magnet for future persons coming illegally. Â See? It's just about as much to deter the future group that would come, as much as it is about treating the ones already here.
If we don't start seriously enforcing the law, when could we ever expect the problem to get better or go away? Â In the pro-enforcement camp, I believe the best and most concise answer to your question is 'attrition through enforcement'. Â Start addition punishments and penalties for being here breaking the law, and at the same time, take away benefits and jobs. Â
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Also, re: "...aren't committing other crimes.."
So, that is an admission that all are here and committing some sort of crime, is it not? Yes, it is. And that's where the 'good' vs. 'bad' illegal alien logic falls down. If people are here breaking the law, they are here breaking the law. Why allow in lawbreaking persons when we can CHOOSE to allow in people that want to play by the rules?
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Oh, and finally as an afterthought -- actually, I wouldn't be opposed to higher taxes to substantively get illegals (border jumpers AND visa overstays) out of the US i(and KEEP them out) in the long-term.Â
In full disclosure, I am neither a Republican nor Democrat (actually, I used to be one a long time ago). Â I voted for Obama in 2008 (sadly), but did not in the last election.
 @lee986321 Yup, you can thank the Obama administration for most of that. The DHS under Napolitano have basically taken any meaningful enforcement out of immigration enforcement away from the border (excepting drug trafficking or other 'hard' criminals that are on the run, etc).  I think your understanding is exactly how Obama wants our immigration policy to be.  Unfortunately, his view of immigration and it's effects upon the American populace conveniently lacks input by, and consideration of.. the American populace.
@ThePosterFormerlyKnownAsPhredE "you can thank the Obama administration for most of that" No, you can thank EVERY administration for that.
Oh  boy, the reporting on this issue here is a bit unclear -- it has lots of details but is not very complete with regard to other related developments in this context, so... let me add a few things.
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From the story above --
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"Immigration is one way to boost the number of workers in the population," he said, but the next wave of needed immigrants is likely to come from somewhere other than Mexico. "We are not going to see a return to the levels of Mexican unauthorized immigration of a decade ago."
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Let's restate the obvious, the majority (well, at least a PLURALITY) of illegal immigrants have historically come from Mexico. The other Central and South American countries are also a large secondary contributor.
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Also, when unemployment and underemployment among legal residents and citizens is still abnormally 'high', why would we NEED to add more people to the labor force? (after all, we don't properly take care of, and provide opportunities for those here already).
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NumberUSA ran a very concise but detailed article on these developments in the last few days, I also recommend for people to check out their observations/analysis as well (link below).
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In short, the US House voted NOT increase the number of [skilled] work visas while it also voted to eliminate the Visa Lottery (which awards visas purely based on random luck - not skill, not education, not by background/criminal history/etc). Â It has long been known to be both unnecessary, not conducive to the nation's better interests and has been prone to fraud and abuse in the past. Â Sounds like the House Republicans are more in touch with the needs of average Americans than other parts of the US Fed Govt.
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https://www.numbersusa.com/content/news/november-30-2012/house-votes-down-motion-increase-foreign-workers-no-visa-offsets.html
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