Currently it is very clear that the number of immigrants residing in the United States is growing fast and that they are an important part of the economy and progress of the nation.
Currently they are being targeted by some as a problem, and toother citizens immigrants add instead of subtract.
The Pew Research Center conducted a study about the immigrants in the US in August this year.
We present the 15 facts that are worth knowing about the “illegal” immigrants:
1-Illegal immigrants represent 3.5% of the population of the United States; this translates to 11.3 million undocumented immigrants
2- The number of undocumented immigrants in the United States is declining. In 2007, 12.2 million people did not have documentation, which was equal to 4% of the population.
3- By 2009 around 6.4 million Mexicans were illegal. Currently they represent 5,9 million. Although it declined, they remain the dominant ethnic group representing 52% of the undocumented.
4- People used to think that Mexicans and Latinos in general are the immigrants who come to the United States, but in recent years the number of immigrants from Asia, the Caribbean, Central America and some Middle Eastern countries have increased significantly.
5- California, Texas, New York, Illinois, Jersey and Florida are the states with the highest concentration of undocumented immigrants
6- Even when the undocumented population has decreased, in seven states there was an increase: Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Nebraska and Idaho are the states in question.
7- On the other hand there are other states where the number of undocumented immigrants has declined, such as Arizona, Alabama, California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico, New York and Oregon
8- The state with the biggest number of immigrants without documents is Nevada. 8% of its inhabitants have no legal documents.
9- Immigrants make up 5.1% of the American workforce
10- The states with the largest working population who do not have documents are: 10% Nevada and California with 9%, followed by Texas with 9% and New Jersey with 8%
11- 7% of primary and secondary students have even one undocumented parent. 79% of these students are native to the United States.
12- 18% of the student population is made up of Nevada’s primary or secondary students with an undocumented parent
13 – 1.8 million of the undocumented immigrants living in the United States are children who came to the territory with less than 16 years. They are known as “Dreamers“. Most of these were brought by their parents.
14 – The Dreamers have been benefited by programs like DACA which has allowed them to legalize their situation temporarily; this helps in many ways, such as to go to a good college.
15- Immigrants and reforms promoted by Obama will be one of the strong points of the forthcoming elections to be held in 2016.