Report: Number of immigrants living illegally in U.S. has stabilized

The number of immigrants living illegally in the U.S. has stabilized since the end of the Great Recession and shows no sign of rising, according to new report released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center.

An estimated 11.3 million immigrants were living without papers in the U.S. in March of last year, up from 11.2 million the year before.

“The marked slowdown in new arrivals means that those who remain are more likely to be long-term residents, and to live with their U.S.-born children,” the Pew report says.

Using additional census data, Pew revised its estimate for 2012’s total from 11.7 million to 11.2 million, saying those two numbers are “not statistically different.”

“The new estimate is considered more accurate because it is based on the American Community Survey, a larger dataset than the Current Population Survey that was the basis for the earlier preliminary estimate,” Pew says in its report.

Counts for Georgia and the other states are expected to be released in the coming weeks. In 2011, the Pew Hispanic Center estimated Georgia was home to 425,000 immigrants without papers in 2010. The center’s report placed Georgia seventh among states for the size of its population of immigrants without legal status.

Read the new Pew report here.