Illegal immigrant population in U.S. plummets, according to a new report

The number of illegal immigrants living in the U.S. plummeted to 10.8 million in 2009, from 11.6 million the previous year, marking the sharpest decline in years and coinciding with the economic downturn, according to a new report by the Department of Homeland Security.

Mirroring a nationwide trend, California’s illegal-immigrant population dropped to 2.6 million, from 2.8 million during this same period, according to the report, which is based on census data. The only state to see its number of undocumented residents go up during this time was Georgia, which went from 460,000 to 480,000.

The report cautioned that changes made to the census survey could have affected the results.

Some researchers said that the drop is because fewer illegal immigrants were entering the country.

But others disagree, saying the decline is largely due to undocumented immigrants either voluntarily leaving or being deported.

Most researchers said that the downturn in the economy has played a key role in reducing the illegal immigrant population. But some point out that the drop in the undocumented population started before the recession.

The number of illegal immigrants residing in the U.S. declined to 11.6 million in 2008, from 11.7 million the previous year, according to the Department of Homeland Security. To see the full report, visit http://www.dhs.gov/files/statistics/immigration.shtm.

-- Teresa Watanabe 

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Comments

[Deborah Martin]

If the Dept. of Homeland Security knows how many illegals are in the Country how are they STILL IN THE COUNTRY? If the census is counting Illegal Immigrants why aren' they arrested and sent back? Did I miss something here? Conserned American

[luvstheusa]

LOL they have got to be kidding? Come and visit where I live and you will see nobody is leaving. There are over 20 million illegal aliens in this country..maybe more as they continue to have baby after baby so even while I write this probably 500,000 more anchor babies have joined the ranks. What makes me so furious about this is that the Federal Govt forces our states, cities to supply medical, educational, WIC, food stamps etc etc etc to people who we want GONE..our tax dollars taken and used on people who have caused the massive decline in our trauma centers, educational systems, infrastructure..turning private homes into boarding houses with revolving doors, graffiti everywhere, thugs eveywhere..but does the government listen to us ..no..because the BBB and unions want cheap labor..who cares about the American worker anymore. Shame on them..we who pay your salaries and elect you deserve better..you need to start taking care of your constituents or you too will be unemployed.

[joel]

Hey they are comin to this country becuse Your country and his illegal weapon sells to the cartels scared the people away . Thanks USA for makin all these possible.

[tehachapian]

Wow! The intellectual capacity of LA Times' readers has sure "plummeted". The level of racism and bigotry exhibited herein is amazing.

[sirian]

Why didn't they just send them back to their native land when they were counting them?

[Shaun]

Lets think about this, illegal means undocumented. Illegals tend to not admit they are illegal for fear of deportation. So how are you tracking this? This story in itself is just another way to make Americans believe the problem is going away when it continues to shut down hospitals due to unpaid bills for treatment. Less tax money is collected due to illegals not paying taxes when working since one they do not have a social security number and if they provide a fake one they claim max dependents to avoid paying any extra taxes. This lack of tax money paid hurts schools too as illegals send their kids to school and most all of them receive free lunches along with ESL classes which costs more than the average student. Schools in turn have to increase class sizes to account for the extra students and lower funding in turn hurting the tax paying citizens children in the long run. Illegals tend to use social security cards of deceased or elderly people to receive welfare benefits, social security and many do this on multiple social security numbers which costs us billions a year to help people that are milking our system dry. Many deal drugs with their free time to supplement income and they teach this way of living to their children. Illegals have also learned to use fake social security numbers to obtain loans and houses that they default on to buy more social security numbers to do the same crimes. When illegals do get caught the burden again falls upon the American Citizens to front the bill to pay for illegals to stay in our jails, to be fed, and their medical care while in prison.

Illegal aliens have ruined this country. McDonald's used to be a job that you got as a student to have gas and spending money. Now it is a career choice for many illegal immigrants and their "legal children" as they refuse to better themselves. This has in turned made the jobs impossible or useless for most of America's children to get as it has driven up the cost of living by driving down the quality of living on average. Many illegal aliens will group together to buy a house. They destroy the house as it was not designed to live a family per bedroom and in turn these houses bring down the value of the neighborhood. Many of the children in these houses go un-parented and start gangs to control neighborhoods, commit crimes, sell drugs and ultimately kill innocent Americans. This further brings down the quality of life and the value of our neighborhoods.

This is not of course to imply that all illegal or legal immigrants as there are some who deserve to be here and try hard. The few are far from the majority by any stretch of the imagination. California is one state that is going under and yet it is our richest state. Hospitals are going belly up here because they cannot refuse service to illegal immigrants. The legal Americans are seeing increases in costs for emergency room visits so that they can pay for the debt that burdens them due to all the illegal aliens.

Time to wake up America, get a grasp of what is left of America and rip it out of the hands of these illegals who hate you and want to make sure they get every last penny you have.

[Randy L.]

2.6 million illegals in California, multiply that by $1000 a year in city/county/state services (most likely a higher sum) and you have $2.6 Billion spent on illegals.

What's Californias budget looking like this year??

[Jim]

To paraphrase the typical comment:

"The sky is falling! The sky is falling!"

The figurers are estimates based upon subtracting the number of legal foreign resident from all foreign residents. These are aggregated numbers, they don't pinpoint particular households, so they're not very useful for enforcement. They are not based on self-reporting, so the idea that there are 30M out there of whom 20M lie about their status is simply alarmist bull promulgated by people who like to use your outrage to fuel their political careers. Don't be their patsy.

Immigrants are younger than the population as a whole, hence they are healthier and use fewer medical services. The biggest outlay is for schooling for their children. These children are a large part of why the US population is not in the fix of Europe and Japan, where there will soon be too few workers to support the elderly. So if you intend to use Social Security or Medicare, the investment in education now is going to save your backside 10 to 30 years down the road.

Is a 7-8% drop enough to characterize it as a 'plummet'? It lies in the eye of the beholder, but you bet that anytime the stock market falls 7% it's going to be called a plummet! ;-)

[markiejoe]

Credit Obama for reducing illegal immigration.

[2 CENTAVOS]

"Hey they are comin to this country becuse Your country and his illegal weapon sells to the cartels scared the people away . Thanks USA for makin all these possible."

HUH?

[Pointers]

I tend to agree with those figures, and I'll tell you why. There is a large contingency of upper middle class people who are draining the budgets of each state. They are using "tricks" as one lawyer slipped up and told me, regarding qualifying for long term medicaid/medical benefits, whose average is $400,000.00 per incident. Thats a bit more than an illegal going a couple of times to the emergency room.

[MUNKEE]

we're all illegal..with the exception of native americans

[Marvin]

This relatively small drop in the number of illegal aliens helps the pro-enforcement side and proves that we do not need to "round up" illegals and deport them. Rather, if we cut off the jobs and enforce existing immigration laws, the majority of them will go home over time.

We still have a long way to go.

[George]

Anyone wish to buy a bridge?

Prior to the 1986 amnesty, the feds said that only a FEW HUNDRED THOUSAND illegal aliens would be eligible to apply.

The actual number turned out to be in the MILLIONS.

[Karl Dahlquist]

So Department of Homeland Security cut spending 7% as a result of this "plummeting?"

Yeah, thought so.

[Johnny G]

Also, I've got news for most of you who think that illegals are the source of the decline in our publicly funded services. It isn't illegals. It is us. And it is called Prop 13. If we repealed it, we could fund our public institutions. If we actually let legislators do their jobs and balance the budget by being able to make budgetary decisions with a majority vote (as opposed to a 2/3's majority), our public sector would vastly improve.

You can solve this problem. repeal prop 13.

[JANA]

We need to enforce the law at all levels. Illegals should be arrested and deported. Ironically, such a statement causes some people to consider me a racist. Half my relatives have latino heritage. I'm just sick and tired of paying the price of it. I am being sued by an illegal who has two jobs, both at upscale restraunts, one is at the St. Regis. He is sueing me becuase their older teenager ran in front of my car and I stopped but bumped him. He's fine according to the hospital where I took him after the paramedics said he was find. I've had over 25 years work experience and I can even get a job. Does anyone see anything wrong with this picture?

[Mostly Informed]

I knew the crazies would come out for this one...I guess it's only human nature to ascribe the complicated mess we've made of what passes as Modern Day American Culture to group whose impact economically as well as politically is negligible at best. It's just like the referendum process in this state: why try to figure out solutions to complex problems when for everyday folk a simple band-aid or 30 -minute sitcom will do... I would take all of these whiny nationalistic comments more seriously if I thought any of the xenophobes on here had any clue about history, foreign policy, and modern economics. IN this country, the top 1% holds 34% of all net worth while the bottom 90% held a little under 29%... Stop prostituting yourselves for corporations and the weathly... even pawns have more pride.

[peter]

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/feb/22/local/me-welfare22

20% in Los Angeles County receive public aid
The figure matches the total at the height of the 2001-03 recession, and officials expect it to rise significantly.
February 22, 2009|Garrett Therolf

"One in five Los Angeles County residents -- nearly 2.2 million people -- are receiving public assistance payments or benefits, a level county officials say will rise significantly over the coming months as the fallout from the recession continues.
The percentage of people on county aid already equals the figure at the height of the 2001-03 recession and far exceeds the one in seven who needed help during the economic downturn in the early 1990s and the one in nine assisted in the collapse of the early 1980s."

That article was written in fed 2009. Since then it is a safe bet that close to 3 million or 30 % of LA county's population is receiving public assistance. Anyone care to rebut my assertion that CA, and LA in particular, is being filled up with poor illegal aliens and their anchors!.

LA city and county population is 10% illegal alien, and 30-40% of entire county population are recent immigrants(legal and illegal) here less than 25 years. Vast majority in either case are south of border immigrants. LA has 10 million souls which is 27 % of the states population. 3 million of those are on welfare assistance programs. 3 million is more than the population of all but two or three cities in entire US. The vast majority of the 3 million In La county receiving public assistance are either illegals or their Anchors.

If US has 11.6 illegals(Most reliable estimates are that there are between 12 and 20 million ) LA county has almost 1 million illegals. CA has 12 % of US poplulation but 36% of US welfare cases. Imprisoning illegals cost the state almost 1 billion dollars. LA county spends almost 500 million annually to provide subsided health care to illegals. 12-15 county trauma centers have been forced to close due to having to treat too many uninsured illlegals.

There needs to be more self deportations of illegals ,and implimenting mandatory E-Verify in CA and cutting off the welfare spigot will insure more self-deportations. Hard working CA taxpayers have had enough of illegals and their anchors sponging off the state .

[R U Joking?!]

LA Times, your comment section needs help!

My comments were tame, yet unpublished. I wrote that the Fed's are hypocrites for frisking grandmothers at airports while not securing the southern border, and these same Fed's now claim illegal aliens are declining!

First, how would they know? Did they go door to door in non-English speaking communities and ask 'are you in the US illegally'? Perhaps canvassing Home Depot parking lots? What? Did they believe the answers?

Second, if they did believe the answers and do claim to know how many illegals are here (since they counted them), they apparently abandoned their jobs and refused to deport them!

Don't pour gov't Kool-aid down my leg & tell me its rain. This sounds like Pravda in the 80's...

[Ruby Jackson]

@tj is 100% correct.

The SFR house I just purchased (with a loan from my father) in Pasadena had been divided into apartments and previously had 30 people living in it, including a single mother with five children. The neighborhood is filled with section 8 housing, and yet almost everyone drives a tricked out SUV or super-sized cab truck, vehicles far beyond what I can afford on a $50K salary. My next door neighbor doesn't work, and yet at Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years, his yard was festooned with expensive holiday decorations (the kinds with fans and blowers and lights). Who do you suppose is paying for all of these nice things my neighbors have? ME and YOU.

[bkl]

Whatever the numbers are, supporters of legalization claimed that even if the employment laws were enforced, illegal immigrants would not remigrate back to their home countries. These statistics put the lie to that claim. Clearly, the number of illegal immigrants drops when there is no employment for them.

[ImaTeabagger]

usa! usa! usa!!

[Brittanicus]

If the Democrats, Republicans and anti-sovereignty Liberals want Immigration Reform, all they have to do is amend the 1986 Simpson/Mazzoli law? This will save a huge amounts of money and wasted time in debating behind closed doors laws, not in the interest of the American public. To start the ball rolling implement huge penalties for company owners who ignore E-Verify, so judges can issue huge fines and mandatory prison with confiscation rights to their criminal businesses. Make E-verify, the computer program in the SAVE ACT law, permanent and nationwide for every person new and old who draws a payroll check. E-verify will not express the deportation of millions of illegal immigrants, but severe risk to businesses being caught using illegal foreign nationals instead of citizens and legal residents, will start a country wide exodus. We should follow the example of less lenient other countries, such as Mexico. Being illegally in Mexico is a fast passport to prison or worse. See what happens to you, if you enter from Guatemala? If we need guest worker's in future years, organize it like a military program, with eye scans and fingerprint documentation. This must be strictly overseen by Federal agents and not by a lax, indifferent method through the Dept of Labor?

Every year more than a million new immigrants are given visas to enter America, with no regard for the US workforce. These are supposedly well educated, highly skilled legal resident workers, but this is far from the truth. There is hardly no oversight to these sub-standard technical workers, who in many cases are substituted for Americans. We are jettisoned for individuals from the majority of poor countries who take minimum wages--far below what US workers expect? Stop unscrupulous lawyers in the pay of criminal employers, to import low skilled foreigners, who will become taxpayer charges? Start a points system to encourage highly skilled individuals, with powerful credentials in engineering, science and other sort after qualifications. According to sources their are at least 8 million foreigners are working illegally, so the rest of unauthorized people must be made up of family members? That arrives at an estimate of between 20 to 30 million people, who should have not stayed or even stepped into America? ”

A NumbersUSA director , visiting with Border Patrol Agents in the Tucson Sector in mid-October of 2009 asked if they believe the official Dept of Homeland Security statement that three illegal aliens successfully enter the United States for every one who is apprehended, to which they laughed. THE REALITY, THEY SAID, IS THAT 10 OR MORE GET THROUGH FOR EVERY ONE WHO IS CAUGHT. Make it a felony to overstay a entry visa or slip by the US border patrol without permission. Give local police full power to arrest and detain illegal immigrants under the 287 (G) federal program. Fully fund all these program, including ICE audits around the country. Also construct the border wall as originally introduced by Rep.Duncan Hunter as a double fence, across America--not single standing wall. Bring in the National Guard to reinforce the US Border Agents, with the right to arrest criminals and a whole list of illegal entrants. Politicians should enforce our immigration laws, not pander to the open border lobbyists.

Don't re-elect Sen. Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Janet Napolitano who have stealthily underfunded and lowered our security within the confines of the US. Let us make an example of any legislator who defies THE PEOPLE'S wishes? Learn who is undermining US security and which lawmakers have been corrupted by lobbyists at JUDICIAL WATCH & NUMBERSUSA.

PS: HOW MANY ILLEGAL ALIENS WILL VOTE IN THE THE MID-TERM ELECTIONS--SPECIALLY IN SANCTUARY CALIFORNIA?

[little pig]

Did you know that the O.C. Sheriff Dept. is holding 6,000 illegal aliens in O.C. jails, just to receive an $18 million contract from ICE (immigration, customs, enforcement). Thats $30,000 a head (like cattle). Why would our state and ferderal government do this?