Friday, April 24, 2009

How many illegal immigrants?

I’m often asked how many illegal immigrants live in North Carolina? And how many live in the United States?

It’s tough to answer. One estimate, among many:

* 350,000 illegal immigrants in North Carolina
* 11.9 million illegal immigrants in the United States.

The one above is from the non-partisan Pew Hispanic Center, one of the most respected think tanks that studies the immigrant community. And even Pew's experts caution that the margin of error is large.

Jeffrey Passel, the center’s senior demographer said the real number is probably somewhere between 300,000 and 400,000 in North Carolina.

One of the cool things about blogs, is we can give you more information that we would otherwise not be able to fit in the newspaper.

Some of you likely read our story last week on how unprecedented flood of illegal immigrants into North Carolina had come to a dramatic halt.

You may also be interested in taking a look at Pew's report "A Portrait of Unauthorized Immigrants in the United States," which prompted my story and many similar ones across the country.

Some of the interesting findings:
  • In 2006, the Pew Hispanic Center estimated 390,000 illegal immigrants lived in North Carolina. The center says the number was about 350,000 in 2008. “What it looks like is that North Carolina's numbers have stopped growing,” said Jeffrey Passel, the center's senior demographer and the report's author.
  • More than half of the foreign-born population in North Carolina is in the country illegally.
  • North Carolina now ranks ninth in the number of illegal immigrants.
  • Nearly 3 out of 4 children of illegal immigrants are U.S. citizens.
  • U.S. and foreign-born children of illegal immigrants make up an estimated 6.8 percent of the nation's K-12 students.
  • 76 percent of illegal immigrants are Latino.
  • A third of the children of illegal immigrants live in poverty – nearly double the rate for children of U.S.-born parents.
  • Illegal immigrants are more likely than U.S.-born residents or legal immigrants to live in a household with a spouse and children.


Anonymous said...

Let's put our thinking caps on and turn up our hearing aids one more time.......ILLEGAL means ILLEGAL!!!!!! No ifs, ands, or buts. The next thing you know, the beaners will be suing the legal citizens for violating their civil rights, and then I WILL come unglued.

Anonymous said...

Until such time as Congress and local government makes this an issue nothing will be done. If these people are here illegally then any child born here should not be considered legal, simple solution.

Anonymous said...

Wow. That first post seems to indicate that your problem is not that people are here illegally. It is that they are "beaners."

Which is sad b/c racists like you prevent a reasonable conversation about race.

For the second person there. Unless you are black (and your forebears were shipped here.) You've got a good chance that your relative were also W.O.Ps. and by your reasoning-- you shouldn't have citizenship either. Unless you've got the papers to prove that ALL your relatives came here with documentation then perhaps you should be deported.

If it's good for the goose, then it's good for you too.

Anonymous said...


Better call The Orkin Man

MinuteMan said...

We shouldn't have to put on our thinking caps (except for Congress), since we all know that ILLEGAL ALIENS are just that ILLEGAL ALIENS. It's quite simple -they came here outside of our immigration laws and thus, they are here ILLEGALLY. ILLEGAL means ILLEGAL - there's no other interpretation. They are ILLEGAL ALIENS and need to be deported.

Anonymous said...

Compairing immigration in today's society to the "settlers" is impossible.

Anonymous said...

Wholesale dportation is not an option. It is cost-prohibitive and is not a long-term soluton for our immigration problem. The more reasonable solution would be to amend some of our immigration laws to make it (I'm going to say it...) easier to immigrate and DOCUMENT these potentially highly taxable work force. This would, of course, require a few new tax laws to say the least. Immigrants found in violation of said "easier" immigration and documentation laws should not be deported but put to work as free labor on much needed infrastructure projects to work their way to citizenship. America is great, I know why poeple want to come here. You can't stop a river forever; only divert it. Even a dam always lets a trickle in. Long term, there is a way for our country to come out on top of this.

Anonymous said...

Maybe it will be a sad but effective
circumstance if the predicted swine flu epidemic was south of the border born, that will perk up some ears in D C, then again that left wing massingill name sake Pelosi will embrace the swine flu as the next comming

Anonymous said...

ILLEGAL immigrants aren't water, and yes you can stop them. You can also mass deport them, and no it isn't cost prohibitive. Especially not with the hospitals going bankrupt and local social services being diverted because of them.

Leftist only want more third world aliens into this country for one simple reason: They want to dilute the white vote and shift the country (further) to the left. I often wonder how they think they will avoid the chaos. I suppose they are too busy patting themselves on the back for their pseudo-morality to concern themselves with petty things like actual consequences.


Anonymous said...

That's about 11.9 million too many.

Anonymous said...

You all consider yourselfs good Christians too, don't you? Think about the fact that no matter what their race, religion or nationality these are all Gods people.

Anonymous said...

To 8:52 - Murderers are God's people; rapists are God's people; God's people are still bound by laws. Being a child of God doesn't mean that you lie down and let everyone do whatever they want, whether legal or not. That is a ridiculous argument. I don't want illegal immigrants beaten or killed or tortured, I just want them to go back to where they are citizens, and then if they want to come back to OUR country, they can go through the proper channels.

Anonymous said...

All this shouting ILLEGAL reminds me of a small child sticking their fingers in their ears and saying "LALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU!".

We have to face the facts. These folks are here with us. The vast majority of them work very hard with the rest of us who were fortunate enough to have been born here. We're making a better society because of this.

Anon. 7:06 has the right idea - let's get people legal, so they can work hard, pay taxes and raise their children to become proud, second-generation Americans.

Anon. 9:45, I think you're saying the same thing, albeit through a different lens. I feel that we are all God's children, and we are all here in this world together - all of us, legal, illegal, sane, crazy, tolerant, intolerant.

What I don't understand - Why would you want to inflict on these folks the pain and suffering of making them leave the lives they've begun, only to come back "through the proper channels"?

Yes, we should make it harder to get across our borders. And if we catch you, we'll send you back. But if you're here, get legal, and start contributing to society in an above-the-board fashion.

And to the rest of you who are reacting out of fear... I hope you can get on your knees tonight and ask your higher power for some acceptance and tolerance. Try it, it works.

Vaya con dios, mis hermanos y hermanas...

Anonymous said...

Illegal means illegal. If you are here illegally and caught for what ever reason you should be deported.

Larry said...

Notice the way they throw in the story to show a complete family unit for the illegals and not a bunch of charity cases sneaking across the border.

It shows 21 percent Native, in the thirties for the legals and about 50 percent for the illegals

They want you to overlook the fact that people living here know they can not afford to have a lot of children due to all the taxes and the like going to support all the illegals and other junk.

The illegals have kids like bunnies so they can produce instant Americans who they know will get nothing but a free ride the rest of their lives.

So if you think the flood is over keep in mind that will never happen until we stop paying for them to live.

Anonymous said...

From the earlier article . . .

Antonio, 38, a Salvadoran dry-waller, said he hasn't worked in two months. And the last job he had paid $5 an hour. A year ago he made $15. “Everybody is leaving. The situation is screwed up.”

If it's so screwed up go back to Mexico and deal with the drug cartel war and then tell me what's screwed up.

Anonymous said...

Simple solution that will save trillions of $$$... Document all illegals! They're here to stay, Concede this people! The US is a melting pot of immigrants. Make them legal, tax them, make them pay for healthcare and the US will prosper!

cltindependent said...

No one has the guts to even bring up the issue because of the response. I think it's time to ignore the people that refuse to speak rationally and improve our immigration system. The legal immigrants spend a lot of time and money to get here legally. The illegal immigrants have moved to the front of the line but it is still ridiculous to think 12 million people should just be sent on a plane "home" and it won't cost us anything. It's going to have to be some type workers program where they can come and work and then go home to their families. Note to anony 4/25 3:04 A Salvadoran is NOT Mexican. He's from El Salvador. All illegals are not Mexican or even Latino. There are a huge number of Irish, Chinese, Russians, and people of Caribbean descent that are illegal.

Anonymous said...

"Nearly 3 out of 4 children of illegal immigrants are U.S. citizens."

That's right these children are LEGAL. Turn up your hearing aids one more time...LEGAL. No ifs, ands, or buts. And how, exactly, would it be to our advantage to deport the parents of underaged US citizens?

Larry said...

You are right about letting them stay because they took advantage of a loop hole in the law.

You have proven they are not lawful people as they are illegal and then use the law to their advantage.

So thank you for clearing up this misconception that these illegals want to become lawful law abiding citizens. I guess we will just have to pay and keep on paying for all the others who sneak over the border and drop a child using our free hospitals.

Anonymous said...

where can I get a good pizza?

Anonymous said...

Damn! I hope with this swine flu our official won't have to actually enforce the law and protect our borders from infected ILLEGAL Mexicans!

I hope ever person who supports breaking the law to allow these people over here catch a REAL good dose of the flu!

concer said...

illegal, low wages,food stamps,medical care,30million dollar bonuses, equals , Bust!

Anonymous said...

LOL a Salvadorean going back "to Mexico." The level of ignorance displayed here is amazing.

Let's face reality. a) Not a single american wants to clean toilets and pick corn from fields. b) You want your toilets clean and corn picked. c) Legislate to expand the existing worker programs. It works wonders for Canada, with thousands flying in and out every year to pick harvest.

Anonymous said...

The only people who are bona fide citizens are the American Indians, Hawaiians and Eskimos. They were born in the US and can trace their lineage back more years that the US has been a state. But, others who came here after the Spanish, English expiditions, i.e. our grand and great grand parents, came here via Ellis Island and other ports where they had to produce papers, be checked for TB and other communicable diseases (swine flue anyone?) and logged in a book. This is why we can go back in herititage websites and find our relatives. They had to work, no one gave them free medical, food, housing, clothes, they had to learn to speak English. They studied in class and took the citizenship test and if passed, took the citizenship oath. They obeyed the laws of the nation, worked hard, helped each other, never asked for a handout from the government, got drafted, defended our country, and, at times, died for it. What do illegals do - first they commit their first felon by entering our country w/o papers, they suck our welfare system dry - free housing, food, medical, schools, they fill up our jails - drunk driving w/o license, legally tagged cars (why should they? they're not legal why should the car be?) or insurance to pay for the damages and lives they take this way, their gangs terrorize everyone and prey on the old and young. In a bankrupt state, we can't afford to support them anymore, we can't even pay our state employees who are taking a cut in pay to support illegals. Shows where our governor puts her preferences - not the tax paying voters, but the felon illegals get our money first. Deport them all - no bleeding hearts anymore, we are all out of blood to bleed.

Anonymous said...

Oh, yeah! Let's make the 42million illegal aliens tax payers! Yes! We are tough on them... today. Tomorrow we'll be begging for them to come up since we are in a huge problem right now: the babyboomers are about the retire en masse and create a huge-huge-HUGE head ache for the stability of the US since 20 foggies will be on Social Security and 4 people will actually be putting money on the system. O'Reiley, Buchannan and Dobbs, don't worry, a future Mexican illegal has got you covered.

Anonymous said...

To start to solve the immigration problem you must get to the core problem, Mexico itself. The govenment there is nothing short of Communistic. The Mexican government doesn't care about the living conditions of it's People and the majority live in poverty. Secondly, how about the American corporations who farm work to Mexico to take advantage of the extremely cheap labor. This Practice makes for a better bottom line dollar to the corporate executives but does nothing to help the commmon worker in Mexico.
Finally, Yes! we must have better immigration laws and must humanely administer punishment for those who violate our sovereignty.

Anonymous said...

whom ever said that so called "beaners" should get deported, your wrong, cause i bet your a low life hillbilly redneck inbred, that is trying to put his 2 cents in politics, when you really dont know shit about united states government, mexicans and other immigrants take jobs that your lazy fat ass doesnt want to do, so really their helping out

Anonymous said...

FUCK YOU RACEST, your mamais a cock sucker

Anonymous said...

I can't belive many of you! Some of you think you are soooo "AMERICAN," what is it really being an "American" in your eyes?? In reality unless your ancestors are Native Americans then come here and tell me your a 100% American. Besides its obvious you want to eat grapes, but you hate to pick them.That's why illegals are here to pick up your grapes and have some pride for doing so.
So before you post anything up...

Anonymous said...

The illegal is an un educated, unskilled , pawn in the game of gutting our country for every penny it's worth. These people do nothing for our country , but drag it down. Like I cant mow my own yard, or hillbillies can't hang drywall or paint.
I think we hill-billies are being misunderstood. we respect hard work. Honest pay for an honest day's work. that kind of thing.
I think we would just like to see you folks try to read and write ENGLISH. we, I ,would like to see you all try to be an AMERICAN not whatever you were.
We can blame to weak minded care takers of this land for trying to accomodate other nationalities. Why are we constantly lowering the bar for these folks.
If they are in such a desperate such for a dream , how is it that they seem to be so lazy and undetermined to reach up for the next rung on the ladder . They seem to be the type of folks who are willing to wait until someone else gets rid of the ladder all together.
Hard working my ass. these people are standing in line for a free meal ticket.
Hoe about working hard to educate themselves. On thier own dime. It may very well take a few generations for thier dream to realize.
We AMERICANS believe to leave each other alone and let each man decide his own destiny. this idea only works if we can live on the "HONOR" system, which i find lacking in the illegals.

Anonymous said...

All of you racist people who think all immigrants should go back to their country and think that they don’t contribute nothing to America should just keep your mouth shut.
You all don’t have any idea about what you are talking about.
By the way if all immigrants were to be deported at least they have a place to go that really belongs to them unlike all you white "legal citizens" who in reality have nothing that belongs to you because most of it you guys stole it from the Native Americans

Anonymous said...

Absolutely correct.. Illegal Means Illegal.. Any FYI, Jackpot Baby's (or Anchor Baby's) are also Illegal.. Read the 14th Amendment of OUR Constitution..

Beware, this will be coming up for vote in Congress very soon with, get this, 'if passed' will allow these folks to receive 'retroactive entitlements' to Social Security..