US' unauthorised immigrants same in last 5 yrs: Report

Washington: The number of unauthorised immigrants in the US has remained almost same between 2009 and 2014 even as the count of those coming from India has gone up by 130,000 in the same period, according to a report.

As many as five lakh unauthorised immigrants were from India in 2014, the Pew Research Center said in latest report yesterday.

Pew said the US unauthorised immigrant population 11.1 million in 2014 has stabilised since the end of the Great Recession with the number from Mexico declined but the total from other regions of the world increased.

India is the country that saw the greatest increase in unauthorised immigrants since 2009 with a rise of about 130,000, for a total of 500,000 in 2014, Pew said.

Overall, the top five birth countries of unauthorised immigrants are Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, India and Honduras.

Mexicans remain the majority of the nation's unauthorised immigrant population, but their estimated number 5.8 million in 2014 has declined by about half a million people since 2009.

Meanwhile, the number of unauthorised immigrants from all other nations mainly those from Asia and Central America grew by 325,000 since 2009, to 5.3 million in 2014, it said.

"The decline in unauthorised immigrants from some parts of the world, mainly Mexico, was roughly balanced by an increase in unauthorised immigrants from other parts of the world, so the total US unauthorised immigrant population had no statistically significant change from 2009 to 2014," Pew said.

In 2014, 59 per cent of unauthorised immigrants lived in just six states California, Texas, Florida, New York, New Jersey and Illinois.

More than a third (36 per cent) lived in California and Texas combined.

Mexico is the leading birth country of unauthorised immigrants in at least 38 of the 50 states and District of Columbia. El Salvador is the leading birth country in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia.

The Philippines is the top birth country in Alaska and Hawaii.

Other top birth countries include Brazil in Massachusetts, India in New Hampshire and Guatemala in Rhode Island.

Indians constitute the second largest number of illegal immigrants in Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin.

India is the third largest constituent of illegal immigrants in Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Kentucky, Montana, Oregon and South Carolina.

In 2014, as many as 59 per cent of unauthorised immigrants lived in just six states California, Texas, Florida, New York, New Jersey and Illinois.

More than a third (36 per cent) lived in California and Texas combined.

The states with the highest shares of unauthorised immigrants in their overall populations in 2014 were Nevada (seven per cent) and California (six per cent).