Number of illegals in US drops amid crisis

WASHINGTON, DC – The number of illegal immigrants entering the United States has dropped from an average of 800,000 a year from 2000 to 2004 to 500,000 a year from 2005 to 2008 because of the slowdown in US economic growth and stricter enforcement of immigration laws, the Pew Hispanic Center said.

It estimated the illegal immigrant population in the US is currently at 11.9 million, from 12.4 million in March 2007. The center said four out of every five of the immigrants came from Latin American countries, mainly Mexico.

Filipino-American immigration lawyer Januario Azarcon said based on anecdotal evidence, the number of Filipinos coming to the US as tourists and overstaying their visas appeared to be on the decline also.

Unlike citizens of border countries who can literally just walk over without any papers, Filipinos have to have visas to come and it’s not that easy to get visas, he said.

“Also if you don’t have a work permit when you come here it’s not as easy as before to get lost in the shadows and find a job,“ he added.

Of the 12 million illegal immigrants in the country, about 80 percent of them are from Mexico and Latin America, 15 percent are from Asia and the rest from other parts of the world.

Estimates of overstaying Filipinos range from a low of 100,000 to a high of 300,000.

Stricter enforcement of immigration laws has been reflected in the latest deportation figures of the Department of Homeland Security.

DHS said a record number of 280,523 illegal immigrants – including 521 Filipinos – were deported from the US in fiscal year 2007 compared with 186,000 a year earlier.

It was the largest number of undocumented immigrants ever removed from the US in a single year.

Meanwhile, in another study, Pew said the income of non-citizen immigrant households has dropped 7.3 percent from 2006 to 2007, particularly among Hispanics, as a result of the sluggish US economy.  – Jose Katigbak