The flow of undocumented immigrants into the United States has slowedin the past three years, a major think tank reported Thursday.
The Pew Hispanic Center report cites no statistical reasons for thedecreased rate. It notes that the U.S. economy has suffered a downturnand that greater immigration enforcement measures have been enacted,which a Pew survey “indicates has generated worry among many Hispanics.”
According to the center’s estimates, 11.9 million undocumentedimmigrants were living in the United States as of March. There were11.1 million in 2005 and 8.4 million in 2000, the group said.
“Although the undocumented population has been rising, its net growthhas slowed substantially since 2005, compared with earlier in thedecade,” the report states.
Another Pew Hispanic Center study released Thursday looks at the economy,saying the current economic slowdown “has taken a far greater toll onnon-citizen immigrants than it has on the United States population as awhole.”
According to an analysis of new Census Bureau data, themedian annual income of non-citizen immigrant households fell 7.3percent from 2006 to 2007. In contrast, the median annual income of allU.S. households increased 1.3 percent during the same period, thereport says.
Immigrant heads of household who are not U.S.citizens are more vulnerable, the report says, because “most arrived inthe U.S. in recent years with only a high school education or less.Many are employed in blue-collar production and constructionoccupations or lower-rung occupations in the service sector.”