India accounts for 3 pc of illegal population in US

Washington, Aug 21: The latest number of illegals residing in the US is estimated to be around 11 million with the highest percentage coming from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and India.

While most illegal immigrants come from Mexico and other countries, the country with the highest percentage change is India, with a 133 percent growth in illegal population between 2000 and 2005, the period covered by the report released on Friday by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

India is listed as number four in the seven-page report and India now accounts for about three per cent of the illegal population in the US.

India had 280,000 illegals in 2005, up from 120,000 in 2000, accounting for about 2.6 per cent of the total, up from 1 per cent.

By contrast the percentage of US citizens of Indian origin as a total of the US population is less than 0.7 per cent (if you count 2 million out of 300 million).

Mexico continues to be the leading source of unauthorised immigration to the US. The estimated unauthorized immigrant population from Mexico increased from 4.7 million in 2000 to 6.0 million in January 2005. The annual average increase in Mexican unauthorised immigration to the United States was nearly 260,000 during the 2000-2005 period. The next leading source countries for unauthorised immigrants in 2005 were El Salvador (470,000), Guatemala (370,000), and India (280,000).

The top ten countries of origin, including Mexico, accounted for 79 per cent of the unauthorised immigrant population in 2005.

Although immigration from Mexico continues to dominate unauthorised population growth, the greatest percentage increases during 2000-2005 were among immigrants from India (133 per cent) and Brazil (70 per cent), according to the data provided by the USCIS report.

California remained the leading state of residence of the unauthorised resident population in 2005, with nearly 2.8 million.

The next leading state, Texas, had nearly 1.4 million, or one-half as many California's share of the national total declined from 30 per cent in 2000 to 26 per cent in 2005.

An estimated 6.1 million of the 10.5 million unauthorised residents in January 2005 lived in the five states with the largest unauthorised resident populations - California, Texas, Florida, New York, and Illinois.

These states accounted for 64 per cent of the total population in 2000 and 58 per cent in 2005, due largely to the decline in California's share.

The annual average increase in the unauthorised population from 2000 to 2005 was numerically greatest in Texas (54,000), California (52,000), and Georgia (50,000).

The greatest percentage increase in the unauthorised population from 2000 to 2005 occurred in Georgia (114 per cent), Arizona (45 per cent), Nevada (41 per cent),and North Carolina (38 percent).

The top ten countries of origin of the unauthorised immigrant population in 2005 were: (with their 2005 and 2000 numbers):-- Mexico (5.9 million/4.6 million), El Salvador (470,000/430,000), Guatemala (370,000/290,000), India (280,000/120,000), China (230,000/190,000), Korea (210,000/180,000), Phillipines (210,000/200,000), Honduras (180,000/160,000), Brazil (170,000/100,000) and Vietnam (160,000/160,000)

UNI