Thursday, February 25, 2010

AZ has biggest drop in illegal immigrants in country - 18%

 The expert cited in this article agree that enforcement measures contributed to Arizona's steep decline. Enforcement measures led by Sheriff Arpaio, County Attorney Andrew Thomas, and State Senator Russell Pearce.

Some excerpts from the East Valley Tribune article -

Arizona's undocumented immigrant population dropped by more than 100,000 in 2008, the largest decrease of any state.

Experts agree the flow of new illegal immigrants entering the United States is decreasing, but they don't agree on whether the number of immigrants leaving has risen.

According to newly released estimates from the Department of Homeland Security, Arizona's illegal immigrant population fell from 560,000 in January 2008 to 460,000 in January 2009 — a drop of 18 percent.  


Experts cite a poor economy and tougher enforcement against illegal immigration for Arizona's decrease.
"It's the economy dropping off more than anything else, but I think enforcement also played a role," said Erik Lee, associate director of the North American Center for Transborder Studies, an Arizona State University think tank.
Nationally, the illegal immigrant population dropped 7 percent over the year, from 11.6 million to 10.8 million.
The decrease followed a surge that saw Arizona's illegal immigrant population grow by 70 percent and the national illegal immigrant population grow by 37 percent between January 2000 and January 2008.
  

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