Increasing Immigrant Population

The United States’ undocumented immigrant population increased from about 8.4 million in March of 2000 to 10.3 million last March. That is a 23% increase, and equates to a net increase of approximately 485,000 between 2000 and 2004. One of the main reasons for this increase is the job opportunities in America compared to in their native countries. Undocumented immigrants refer mainly to those here illegally, because of an expired visa or a violation of their terms of admission. Also, there is a small percentage of legal immigrants included in the report. At 5.9 million, or 57% of the March 2004 estimate, Mexicans are the largest group of undocumented immigrants. Another 2.5 million, or 24%, are from Latin American countries. “Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other government officials have raised concerns about border security amid recent intelligence that al Qaeda terrorists have considered using the Southwest border to infiltrate the United States.” President Bush has promoted a guest-worker program that would allow migrants to work in the United States for a limited time as long as they already have work lined up. However, critics of this program argue that these migrants would cause wages to fall because they often work for lower pay and fewer benefits than U.S.-born residents. According to Steve Camorata of the private Center for Immigration Studies, the best way to protect wages and prevent some terrorists is better enforcement of borders and of worksites.

Sorry, forgot the link to increasing immigrant post.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/03/21/undocumented.immigrants.ap/index.html