After a sharp drop in two prior years, the illegal immigrant population in Arizona appears to be leveling off.
New figures Tuesday from the Pew Hispanic Center estimate the number of Arizonans who were in this country illegally last year at about 400,000. That compares to 500,000 just two years earlier.
But Jeffrey Passel, the senior demographer for the organization, said those 2010 figures are virtually unchanged from 2009.
Pew Hispanic reported similar results on a nationwide basis, with no real change between 2009 and 2010 and the number of illegal immigrants leveling off at about 11.2 million. But the drop nationwide since 2007 is in the 7 percent range, versus that estimated 20 percent decline in Arizona.
That sharp decrease coincides with Arizona implementing new laws making it illegal for employers to knowingly hire undocumented workers. Companies found guilty can have their licenses to do business suspended or even revoked.
I wonder if these figures are really correct. What do you think?
No comments:
Post a Comment