Georgia’s illegal immigration count: 440,000 in 2011
Georgia’s illegal immigration population as of January 2011 stood at 440,000 souls, according to a just-issued U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Last year, the DHS put Georgia’s “unauthorized immigrant population” — the agency’s term — at 460,000. Which would mean a decrease of 20,000, or 4 percent. Except that the agency now says the 2010 figure was off, and is not worthy of use. Presumably, that’s why the chart below doesn’t include anything from last year.
The nation as a whole has 11.5 million “unauthorized” immigrants, according to the annual estimate. That’s slightly lower than the 11.6 million judged to be in the country the previous year.
This latest report stays away from causation. And because the numbers are drawn from the U.S. census count, they don’t measure any impact from HB 87, the bill passed last spring by the Legislature giving law enforcement authorities greater responsibility for checking stopped individuals for proof of citizenship.
Here’s the chart:
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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145 comments Add your comment
soul man
March 23rd, 2012
3:48 pm
I don’t see black or white, only shades of grey.
Another Voice
March 23rd, 2012
3:49 pm
All these business owners Invite these folks to work here….but at the same time like the good republicans they are they love bashing them for being here Illegally, after they made them some money. They do not want to reform the immigration system because things are going good with the status quo. They make money and get to hate on them at the same time…..
Rick in Grayson
March 23rd, 2012
3:49 pm
Voice: the Italians, Polish… came into this country through the FRONT door….LEGALLY! Those here now are here illegally.
State that you understand this or I will assume that you don’t.
I am a Racist and a Bigot
March 23rd, 2012
3:50 pm
I admit I am a Racist and Bigot – but I don’t like nor want Illegal Immigrants here – and I don’t see anything wrong with the POLICE profiling them, asking them for documentation and then holding them for ICE when they can’t prove they are here legally. Quack Quack Quack!!!!!
Centrist
March 23rd, 2012
3:51 pm
Most ILLEGAL immigrants (not “undocumented”) don’t work for businesses that withhold federal, state, or FICA taxes.
But they DO get SSI and WIC payments from Social Security offices that have signs posted all around in both English and Spanish explaining their “rights”. They are in most government subsidy offices, get government subsidized housing – their networking of the overlapping government agencies and freebies is alive and well. Liberals are willing to ignore this is exchange for their ILLEGAL Democratic votes.
In addition to the welfare, SSI, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF – 60 months), WIC, housing, taxpayer supported free hospital care, schooling with free breakfast and lunch, and crime – according to the U.S. Treasury Department, illegal aliens are bilking the federal government for billions because they are filing fraudulent returns. Buying these undocumented Democrat votes and ignoring deportation laws is hurting us badly.
The Treasury reported that the Internal Revenue Service coughed up $4.2 billion in child tax credits for illegal aliens in 2010 rocketed from $924 million in 2005.
ILLEGALS are fraudulently using the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC), which was created to give more money to taxpayers who cannot claim a full tax credit for children.
Because all wages, even those earned illegally, are taxed, but since illegals cannot get valid Social Security numbers, the government needs a way to track their income and collect what is due. It does so using individual taxpayer identification numbers (ITINs), which, again, are for those taxpayers who cannot obtain a valid Social Security card. The refund credit can be claimed even even if no income tax was withheld or paid, up to $1,000 per child. An estimated additional $1.8 billion was going to illegals via the Earned Income Tax Credit, for which they are also ineligible because it can be claimed only by taxpayers with Social Security numbers.
Rick in Grayson
March 23rd, 2012
3:52 pm
Voice: If you are such an advocate for illegal aliens, are you bringing some into your own home to live and be care for?
Or is this something that you want your fellow (if that is true…maybe you are an illegal alien yourself) US citizens to do?
Another Voice
March 23rd, 2012
3:54 pm
You tell yourself that… that ALL Europeans came here illegally. I think your ancestors are not telling you the truth. Back then who ever did not get in thru Ellis Island came illegally the US had Immigration quotas back then. You think those folks were about to go back to Europe. Please inform yourself before you post some thing well you know what…. not here to insult anyone!!!
God
March 23rd, 2012
3:55 pm
rick,
God doesn’t believe in labeling. Your all my children.
Another Voice
March 23rd, 2012
3:57 pm
You do not speak for all USC Rick not for me, just because I choose not to buy into idiocy, nativism or ignorance does not make me any less american that you.
curious
March 23rd, 2012
3:58 pm
Is it still illegal in Georgia to commit adultery or sodomy?
We may have to build more prisons.
Rick in Grayson
March 23rd, 2012
3:59 pm
Voice: I don’t know who you think is being insulting. My post about previous immigrants were that they came in through the FRONT door.
Yes, maybe some did sneak in illegally 100 years ago. It was wrong/illegal then and it still is. It is time that we put a stop to it! Haven’t you noticed that the US government is running record deficits?
Do we have the money to provide “safety” nets for the poor and uneducated citizens of other foreign countries. Those that come into our country illegally and use the “welfare” system that we have developed to help our own poor and uneducated.
Shouldn’t we put the needs of US citizens and legal residents before those of foreign nationals in our country illegally?
patriot
March 23rd, 2012
4:00 pm
The melting pot needs a multitude of flavor.
Realist
March 23rd, 2012
4:00 pm
Another Voice seems to be OK with breaking the law. Calling people
who want to uphold the law and make people come here LEGALLY racist
is demagogery. All of our ancestors immigrated here LEGALLY! They
didn’t break into the country. You don’t have a sound argument for this
behavior so you call anyone who disagrees with you racist.
Rick in Grayson
March 23rd, 2012
4:05 pm
Voice: Please define the actions/beliefs you find behind the following statement:
… just because I choose not to buy into idiocy, nativism or ignorance does not make me any less american that you.
idiocy =
nativism =
ignorance =
I understand these terms, how do you apply them to what we are talking about here?
How is anyone who wants immigrants to enter legally:
(1) an idiot
(2) a nativist
(3) ignorant
Another Voice
March 23rd, 2012
4:05 pm
Well Rick perhaps you that there is a little thing called supply and demand that applies to many thing in economics one of those is called Labor. When the US needs labor and our Immigration laws do not match the labor needs there is an Imbalance that the market place correct called Illegal Immigration. The only reason these folks came here illegally is because in today’s immigration system there is no way for low skill workers to come here LEGALLY. Just ask the GA farmers….yet when they can make 10 times more in the GA fields that they could back home where they mostly face extreme poverty, they will choose to put food on the table even if it means to live here illegally. The math is simple…..
gandhi
March 23rd, 2012
4:06 pm
I call for a redneck peace summit in Gatlinburg, ya’ll need to calm down.
Another Voice
March 23rd, 2012
4:06 pm
I did not say you were those things but your arguments may fit there as they say if the shoe fits wear it!!!
Bud
March 23rd, 2012
4:08 pm
Jesus is illegal.
Another Voice
March 23rd, 2012
4:10 pm
Before the civil right it was legal to discriminate against african american that was “the law” back then….It was a very stupid law but never the less the law. For all of those sticklers for the law….. Immigration violations are misdemeanors much like a speeding tickets they are not crimes. In a misdemeanor you pay a fine and society tells you that your bad behivor is forgiven…. just go to traffic court!!
Rick in Grayson
March 23rd, 2012
4:12 pm
Voice: yes, I understand supply and demand. That would apply to a “fair” economy where “fair” wages are paid by employers. Those that employ cheap labor pass the TRUE cost of they labor onto their fellow taxpayers.
We pay for the healthcare, education, infrastructure that is not being paid for by workers who depress a “fair” labor market. Farmers would have plently of workers if they paid a “fair” wage. A “fair” wage is a wage that will motivate workers to take those jobs.
Farmers today only want to exploit illegal workers and that comes at an enormous cost to fellow taxpayers.
If a farmer can not harvest their crops and make a profit, then they don’t have a good business model. They need to move their farm to a country with a lower wage rate.
Another Voice
March 23rd, 2012
4:15 pm
Now you have a bleeding heart for farm workers….your argument falls flat when you match it against what the farmers are trying to do to recruit US workers. They could not even get probationers to take the jobs. There is competition in the market place, if you are an American, speak English have a better education level than these folks and you are getting out worked by them something is wrong with you and you need to get your act together. Not saying you Rick personally….
Realist
March 23rd, 2012
4:21 pm
The Federal Government could eliminate all of this problem by
allowing work visas for people who come here from places like
Mexico when their work is needed and there aren’t Americans
available to do the job. California in fact had such a program
back in the 1940s I believe. This way everyone would be legal and
no one would be abused. Instead of calling people racist why
not lobby the Feds to implement such a program. There’s a job
for Homeland Insecurity!!!!
Centrist
March 23rd, 2012
4:23 pm
The vast majority of the electorate and their representatives have started to address the PROBLEM of ILLEGAL immigration in Georgia. The federal government has been shirking its duty, but even that is slowly changing. It will change more, just like photo ID voting laws. Liberals oppose photo ID to vote because it robs ILLEGAL immigrants the right to vote for them.
Rick in Grayson
March 23rd, 2012
4:24 pm
Voice: what I am saying is that the farmers need to keep raising their wages until enough LEGAL workers take the jobs to harvest their crops. They can raise the rates to $40.00/hour if need be to get workers. If they can’t make a profit, then we need to purchase those food products from another country until wage rates equally and those food products can again be grown here in the US.
Don’t have local taxpayers shelling out money to pay for heathcare and education for illegal aliens employed cheaply by farmers (any employer).
I would hope that you believe in the “rule of law”. The US doesn’t seem to want to enforce the “rule of law” anymore. Anything goes, anyone can enter the country and soon it will be just like any other poor, uneducated country.
Providing taxpayer resources to foreign nationals in the US legally sound great to you and other, but at some point the money will run out. In fact, it already has run out. We will see in the next 15 years just how many seniors will be able to put food on the table in their retirement years. It won’t be pretty…but we will have provided for foreign nationals with our tax dollars.
ld
March 23rd, 2012
4:26 pm
Most of these illegals are from across our southern border?
Either the USA needs to get control over the illegal immigration problem
or
begin talks w/Mexico about a MERGER of the two nations.
Whatever else federal officials do–specifically including each and every member of Congress–they should invite the illegals to go home. But…
Employers like that the illegals will work for less.
Polititions fear alienating the employer class and/or the Hispanic voters.
America’s business and political leadership: Greedy. Cowardly.
Another Voice
March 23rd, 2012
4:27 pm
Centrist get REAL Illegal voting bars anyone from ever regularizing thei Immigration status in the US. Now let’s think about this if you are in the US illegally and you have a glimmer of hope that politicians will some day fix the problem and allow you to be legal, would you vote!!!! Most of these folsk never voted in their country they will not vote here…..you got to know things before you post. Just saying other wise it does not help you look smart
Rick in Grayson
March 23rd, 2012
4:29 pm
Realist: I agree with the work visas as do many others. We do have to solve the problem of providing for US citizens who are able to work but prefer to collect their welfare checks. We have to plug the “holes” before we add any more water to the ship or it will surely sink.
We also will have to deal with providing US citizenship to those foreign nationals working on visas who would deliver children into the US. I don’t think we need to encourage any more anchor babies.
Another Voice
March 23rd, 2012
4:30 pm
Well Rick if you want to tell farmers how to make a profit and run their business fine by me. But I recommend you to read the report from the GA Agriculture commissioner, wages is not the issue here. The US workers do not want to do these jobs….. the immigrants do and do it well that is their gig they are farm workers. So you can increase wages we will all pay more for food, that does not mean that US workers will rush to these jobs, look at the 9% GA unemployment and GA Ag industry still losing millions of dollars and no US workers.
Another Voice
March 23rd, 2012
4:32 pm
Now you are for giving them visas Rick that is giving them legal status you know.. since you are so against them. You may want to rethink that one…..
Another Voice
March 23rd, 2012
4:35 pm
Anchor baby is a derogatory term they are US citizens just like you as long as the 14th amendment of the US constitution remains in it’s current form, and they can not help their parent until they are 21 years old so…. if you have small children as most Immigrants do your wait illegally is some 2 odd years before you can start the process that it will take another few years more before you can be legal, I m sure they are all going for that……..
ld
March 23rd, 2012
4:35 pm
I am registered as an independent voter. I consider myself a progressive but not a “liberal”–I’m far too ‘politically incorrect’ for that. I’m FOR a national photo ID law–but then I’m NOT a criminal and I don’t live in daily fear of hell or terror with regard to anything involving the number 666.
If we cannot get a national photo ID law, then there at least needs to be a requirement that everyone must have a photo ID for receiving any and all kinds of income or benefit from gov’t–preferably both federal and state. If the US Congress is too cowardly and/or greedy to pass one, hopefully the states–state by state–eventually will. Otherwise, we need a new Constitutional Congress.
This is both a economic issue and a national security issue.
Rick in Grayson
March 23rd, 2012
4:36 pm
Voice: are you aware that Mexico requires all voters to show a government photo id before voting? I read recently that many Mexican citizens have a strong propensity for voting (something that I would not have guessed).
Makes you wonder why the federal government under Obama (US attorney – Eric Holder) is informing several states (South Carolina…maybe Texas) that they cannot require a government photo id. Mexico does it! It is a constitutional REQUIREMENT that you be a US citizen to vote in a federal/state election.
Why they don’t CHECK this citizenship requirement before allowing someone to vote is beyond me. They do check that drivers have drivers licenses
…oh well, you can get away with a driver license or insurance if you are an illegal alien.
Another Voice
March 23rd, 2012
4:36 pm
Baby turns 21 you can ask for your parents, then go for the process another 10years= legal. Good strategy!!
jconservative
March 23rd, 2012
4:38 pm
The market is driving the increase in the number from 2000 to 2011 and the apparent reduction from 2009 to 2011 (per other sources). There is a demand for illegal labor. As long as there is a demand, that demand will be filled. American capitalism.
The last 5 US presidents have not been very tough on illegals because illegals drive a portion of the US economy. And that portion of the economy are major contributors to political parties.
Congress has failed to get a handle on illegals because each party base will not allow a compromise.
This will get handled only when the base of the two parties allow a compromise.
Another Voice
March 23rd, 2012
4:38 pm
Rick we are talking the US not MEXICO your argument has no bearing here…..at ALL. As I said before illegal voting bars anyone from Immigration status. These people care more about that than anything else. Not sure if you know but living in GA illegally isn’t exactly a walk in the park…..
Rick in Grayson
March 23rd, 2012
4:44 pm
Voice: my intent on the voting issue is that immigration/citizenship status is not checked when voting in many (primarily Democratic) states. If no one is checking, how will anyone be “caught” voting illegally. Illegal aliens can vote under any name because we don’t have a real SS number/birth certificate/legal name changes to identify them.
The can be Jose Gonzales and vote as Romero Silva and no one would be the wiser. They would not jeopardize their immigration status because we can’t IDENTIFY them as anyone. That is the problem, they are here illegally, they are “undocumented”, they have no “identities”.
mambo
March 23rd, 2012
4:46 pm
Hey Jim they’re not “unauthorized”, they’re” illegal criminals”. It’s amazing how easy it is to get rid of them when they can’t get work. Good riddance!!
ld
March 23rd, 2012
4:48 pm
I suspect the reluctance to address the illegal immigration problem–especially on the GOP side of the aisle–stems from the same motivations that Reagan had in firing the air traffic controllers–the desire to break the unions and keep labor as cheap as possible and, therefore, profits as high as possible.
There is nothing wrong with having a guest worker program that is beneficial to agriculture–
but that has become a phoney argument; illegals now activly seeking the construction jobs that were once a living wage for families and, because those jobs increased in better summer weather, were ONCE UPON A TIME summer jobs for teen boys.
NOW, illegals keep wages and make insurance claims less likely–substantially decrease the cost of hiring an employee unless and until something tragic happens. “Getting caught” has little or no adverse effect. In fact, it has been rumored that employers sometimes quietly turn in some of their own less productive employees.
As long as illegals can find jobs and housing, they’ll keep coming. As long as the people that SHOULD be making certain our borders are secure are too cowardly or greedy to do so, they’ll keep coming. I cannot shake the feeling that this is a time bomb just waiting to explode.
DannyX
March 23rd, 2012
4:48 pm
“Hey Jim they’re not “unauthorized”, they’re” illegal criminals””
Um, no they are Christian immigrants from the south.
Another Voice
March 23rd, 2012
4:56 pm
Rick if they vote they can never be legal…..what part of that is hard for you to understand. They will never take that risk….ALL they want is to be here legally!!!
ld
March 23rd, 2012
4:57 pm
It was once unlawful to slap a man on the back in Georgia. Not sure if it still is.
Those that have a soft spot for the illegals should at least be willing to join a call to register all of them–
If there is a law they must go get a Visitors photo ID or be jailed at some tent camp in the Arizona desert, then at least we could begin to get a more precise measure of the scope of the problem.
Rick in Grayson
March 23rd, 2012
4:57 pm
ld: yes, it is unfortunate that illegal aliens have taken fast food, construction, waiter/waitree…jobs that teens once did as a first job. Our teens are not learning job skills like being on time, working hard, etc.
Illegal aliens have also decimated US citizens who used to run small construction businesses. Hard to compete with illegal workers who will get food from food banks, live 10 to a home. I would also say they do work hard…harder that most US citizens at those jobs (this is a generalization).
How about the illegal workers that got hurt (one died) contructing a feature at the Atlanta Botanical Garders a couple of years ago. That “big” construction company didn’t suffer much for hiring illegal workers although they did get sued by some of those same workers or their families.
Unfortuately, we need to find a way to make US citizens do some kind of work for their welfare checks. Get a government check and they can still work in the underground economy…fleecing the US government (that would be US!).
ld
March 23rd, 2012
4:57 pm
no habla
ld
March 23rd, 2012
4:58 pm
Rick, we’re not disagreeing.
Julie
March 23rd, 2012
4:59 pm
It appears that Arizona’s laws regarding illegal aliens are working. Other states should follow their lead
ld
March 23rd, 2012
5:01 pm
I have to present my photo ID in Georgia when I vote; I have no problem with that.
You should know, though, that the poll workers do not look at the photo ID’s very closely.
The GSP made a mistake on mine that COULD have disqualified me from voting on Super Tuesday if anyone had noticed it. I did vote legally–where I’ve voted since I turned 18–put given the changed and inaccurate info on the face of my driver’s license, I probably should have at least been questioned.
Rick in Grayson
March 23rd, 2012
5:01 pm
Voice: I think you miss my point. They will not endanger their immigration status because we cannot PROVE that they voted. They don’t have traceable names here in the US and we don’t have their fingerprints or retinal scans.
You would be correct if we collected fingerprints from all those who voted and kept them in a database. Anyone attempting to get legal status could have their fingerprints checked in the database.
I’m not saying that illegal aliens are voting, but I am saying that they could get away with it in states where US citizenship is not verified before a voter is registered to vote and that voter must carry a government issued photo id (fingerprint scan) to verify they are who they say they are.
MyPatootie
March 23rd, 2012
5:04 pm
Unless it has changed about 50% of them would be in Whitfield County(Dalton) from what I saw and then read doing some research. Don’t know why unless it’s the carpet industry. Also would guess that about 25% of those in southern GA are in Colquitt Co. (Moultrie) due to agricultural work. Check out the Mon. and Tues. newspaper there and you will find anywhere from 3-5 arrests for no DL, DUI, etc. from the weekend. In addtion there have been several recent incidents of people there finding out their SSN had been used on income tax filings. Hmmmmm, wonder who could be doing that?
Rick in Grayson
March 23rd, 2012
5:07 pm
Julie: Arizona has a great law and it appears to be working. It would have worked better if the ACLU did not gut the law of it’s best enforcement clauses.
I believe the Supreme Court will be taking up the Arizona law before the next election. I hope they find in favor of the American people who have been betrayed by their politicans and place the interests of illegal aliens before those of US citizens and legal residents!
fire eater
March 23rd, 2012
5:12 pm
The campaign against illegal aliens by Georgia and other Red States is producing tangible good results. By further ramping up the pressure on illegals, even more will depart. Perhaps they will go to Kalifornia and other Blue states to further burden their social services and criminal justice systems. Maybe they will vote in even more radical Democrats. To all liberals there, ENJOY!
The best indictment of post-1965 immigration to the US has been penned by the conservative champion, Patrick J. Buchanan. It is “Suicide of a Superpower”…it’s publication brought Pat’s removal from MSNBC at the same time it hired Al Sharpton. “Not fit for a national dialogue” intoned the media masters at NSNBC. “Hate” and “bigotry” screeched the Thought Police at ADL and the human blights “activists” now busy raising riots in Florida.
Real conservatives must read and ponder Pat’s book.