Politics
Politics

Report: Georgia’s population of immigrants without legal status falls

In this June 20, 2014 photo, immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally stand in line for tickets at the bus station after they were released from a U.S. Customs and Border Protection processing facility in McAllen, Texas. The immigrants entered the country through an area referred to as zone nine. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Credit: Eric Gay

Credit: Eric Gay

In this June 20, 2014 photo, immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally stand in line for tickets at the bus station after they were released from a U.S. Customs and Border Protection processing facility in McAllen, Texas. The immigrants entered the country through an area referred to as zone nine. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
By
Nov 18, 2014

The estimated number of immigrants living illegally in Georgia fell by 25,000 to 400,000 between 2009 and 2012, largely because of a drop in Mexicans without legal status, a new Pew Research Center report shows.

Georgia is one of 14 states that saw a decrease during that time, according to the report, which is based on census data. The other states are: Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico, New York and Oregon.

Seven states saw increases: Florida, Idaho, Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Nationally, the number of immigrants living without papers in the U.S. fell by 100,000 to 11.2 million in 2012, though Pew says that difference is not statistically significant.

About the Author

Jeremy Redmon is an award-winning journalist, essayist and educator with more than three decades of experience reporting for newspapers. He has written for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution since 2005.

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