Immigrants entering the United States without the correct legal documentation are avoiding states close to the border, such as California; instead, they are heading for the East Coast, new statistics demonstrate. California, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, Colorado and New Mexico have all witnessed a fall in illegal immigration.States such as New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Florida saw the number of undocumented immigrants increase between the years 2009 and 2012, although the total for the United States as a whole remained unaltered at 11.2 million. This is according to the Pew Research Center’s latest report, which was released yesterday. The biggest increase was seen in New Jersey, with a rise from 75,000 to 525,000 undocumented immigrants; most of these arrived from Ecuador and India.
Florida saw the second largest increase, rising from 50,000 to 925,000, while in third place sits Pennsylvania, up from 30,000 to 170,000. The undocumented immigrants came from a number of regions, including the Dominican Republic, Honduras and India. Maryland, Idaho, Nebraska and Virginia were among the other states that saw an increase, but fewer Mexicans have crossed the border.
“We’ve seen a continued decline in the number of unauthorized immigrants from Mexico, which shows up in two key indicators: the number of new arrivals from Mexico has slowed, and at the same time the number of Mexicans apprehended has reached a 40-year low,” said Pew senior demographer Jeffrey Passel.