The numbers of immigrants living illegally in Georgia and across the nation have changed only slightly in recent years as the U.S. has boosted border security, struggled with high unemployment and watched as economic conditions have improved in Mexico, according to a new federal report.
In January 2012, there were 11.4 million immigrants living illegally in the U.S., down less than 1 percent — or 80,000 — from the year before, Homeland Security Department estimates show.
Released Friday, the new estimates were based on subtracting government figures for immigrants living with legal status in the U.S. from census counts for all foreign-born residents.
Georgia was home to 400,000 immigrants without legal status in January of 2012, the report says. That is down 40,000 from 2011. Georgia ranks seventh among states in that count. California ranks first at 2.8 million followed by Texas, 1.8 million; Florida, 730,000; New York, 580,000; Illinois, 540,000; and New Jersey, 430,000.
The estimates come as immigration overhaul legislation remains stalled in the Republican-led House. Last year, the Democratic-controlled Senate passed bipartisan legislation that would create a pathway to citizenship for immigrants living illegally in the U.S. President Barack Obama has endorsed the bill. But House Republicans have refused to take it up, saying it would amount to amnesty for lawbreakers.
The new federal estimates also show the number of immigrants living illegally in the U.S. peaked in 2007 at 11.8 million.
“It is unlikely that the unauthorized immigrant population has increased since 2007,” the report says, “given relatively high U.S. unemployment, improved economic conditions in Mexico, record low numbers of apprehensions of unauthorized immigrants at U.S. borders, and greater levels of border enforcement.”
The Homeland Security Department’s estimates come close to those issued by the Pew Research Center in September. Using census records and other information, the nonpartisan research center estimated the number of immigrants living illegally in the U.S. grew by nearly 2 percent between 2011 and 2012 to 11.7 million. But the center cautioned the data it used are insufficient to definitively say whether there was an actual increase, while noting that its 2012 and 2009 estimates are statistically no different.
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