Top 10 Countries With Illegal Immigrants Coming to the U.S.
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El Salvador Total Salvadoran immigrants in the U.S.: 817,000 Number unautho rized: 300,000 Narciso Ramirez, who had no govern ing experience, recently became mayor of a small town in El Salvador based on his reputa tion for helping people sneak into the U.S.
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Mexico Total Mexican immigrants in the U.S.: 9.2 million Number unautho rized: 5.9 million The majority of immigrants (legal and illegal) live in California,Texas, Illinois, and Arizona, but the fastestgrowing population is in the South.
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Dominican Republic Total Dominican immigrants in the U.S.: 688,000 Number unautho rized: 91,000 The Dominican Republic is the largest exporter of legal immigrants to New York City. Dominicans repre sent 10 percent of the 1.1 million students in the New York City publicschool system.
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China Total Chinese immigrants in the U.S.: 1.5 million Number unautho rized: 500,000 South Carolina and Arkansas nearly tripled their Chinese-immigrant populations between 1990 and 2000.
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Philippines Total Filipino immi grants in the U.S.: 1.4 million Number unautho rized: 85,000 One fourth of all foreign-born in the U.S. armed forces were born in the Philippines.
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Guatemala Total Guatemalan immigrants in the U.S.: 481,000 Number unautho rized: 144,000 In Arizona, Guate malans now make up the majority of roofers, a dangerous occupation previ ously dominated by Mexicans.
Colombia Total Colombian immigrants in the U.S.: 510,000 Number unautho rized: 141,000 Every year, Colombia’s ongoing conflict drives more than half a million of its citizens from their homes. Over the past five years, 1.2 million Colom bians have fled their country.
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Ecuador Total Ecuadorian immigrants in the U.S.: 299,000 Number unautho rized: 108,000 Transparency International ranked Ecuador as the 20th most corrupt coun try out of 133. More than 60 percent of the population lives in poverty and only 40 percent has access to safe drink ing water.
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Honduras Total Honduran immigrants in the U.S.: 283,000 Number unautho rized: 138,000 In June 2006, the U.S. halted the issue of all new visas to Hondurans.The U.S. claims that thirdparty countries, par ticularly Cubans, easily obtain visas from Honduras for travel to the U.S.
Brazil Total Brazilian immigrants in the U.S.: 212,000 Number unautho rized: 77,000 After centuries of taking in immigrants from other conti nents, Brazil’s poor economy and high unemployment turned it into a country of net emi gration in the 1980s. Today, around 2 per cent of the national population are living abroad, and the United States is the biggest magnet.