Nevada leads all other states in illegal immigration as a percentage of population, according to a Pew Research Center study that observed the illegal immigrant population nationwide from 2010 to 2012.
Although the number of illegal immigrants fell by 20,000 during the three-year period, there were still 210,000 unauthorized immigrants, or 7.6 percent of the
state’s population, Reuters reported. Figures fluctuate over the years as the Pew Research Center showed illegal immigrants numbered about 190,000 or 7.2 percent of the state’s population in 2010.
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Nevada also has a higher share of illegal immigrants in its workforce than all other states. About 10 percent of the labor force in Nevada is made up of unauthorized immigrants,
according to the Pew research.
A study by the Perryman Group concluded that Nevada would lose some $9.7 billion in economic activity if unauthorized immigrants were removed from the state,
the American Immigration Council noted. Some 45,533 jobs would be vacated.
Illegal immigrants in Nevada paid $123.8 million in state and local taxes during 2010, according to the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy. This covered $108 million in sales taxes and $15.9 million in property taxes. The figure for state and local taxes would rise to $130 million if the unauthorized immigrants received legal status, according to the Immigration Policy Center of the American Immigration Council.
Overall, there were 522,463 immigrants in Nevada in 2011 with the share of foreign-born residents rising from 8.7 percent in 1990 to 19.2 percent in 2011, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Nearly 50 percent of immigrants in Nevada, or 213,675 people, were naturalized U.S. citizens in 2011.
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Latinos and Asians make up about one-third of the population in Nevada, according to the Immigration Policy Center. The Latino population in Nevada jumped from 10.4 percent of the population in 1990 to 27.1 percent of the state’s population in 2011. At the same time, the Asian share grew from 2.9 percent to 7.1 percent of the state’s population.
Immigrants in general made up more than 25 percent of the state’s workforce in 2011, or 348,671 employees, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
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