I have often wondered what the real number of illegal immigrants really is in the U.S. According to Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) in August of 2000, which was just recently absorbed by USCIS, over 7 million illegal aliens were living in the United States, a number that is growing by half a million a year (1). In 2003 in which the INS was still its own organization it was reported that at least 8 million illegal immigrants called the U.S. home. Eight million people, to me that number seem very large but also smaller than I had anticipated. So if you follow the estimates that the INS gave out in 2003 we would in 2008 have close to 11 million illegal immigrants in the continental U.S. and mind you that number is for illegals only. In the 1990's the INS issues 1.5 million green cards to illegal aliens. The proportion of the illegal immigrants who are Mexican has increased to nearly 70 percent from less than 60 percent, the INS said (3) . If you are curious about the state statistic break down of illegal immigrants just click the link. The two main things which attract immigrants (legal and illegal) are jobs and family. The typical Mexican worker earns one-tenth that of an American, and numerous American businesses are willing to hire cheap, compliant labor from abroad. Our country lacks a viable system to verify new hires' work eligibility which is why millions of immigrants are able to work in the U.S. In addition, communities of recently arrived legal immigrants help create immigration networks used by illegal aliens and serve as protection and shelter for illegal immigration, providing jobs, housing, and entree to America for illegals, there relatives and fellow countrymen(4).


References Cited


1)http://www.cis.org/topics/illegalimmigration.html

2)http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis

3)http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/01/31/illegal.immigration/

4)http://www.cis.org/topics/illegalimmigration.html