Immigration Reality: Illegal Immigration Population Holds Steady, Pew Study Finds

Illegal Immigration Population Holds Steady, Pew Study Finds - ABC News: "The number of illegal immigrants living in the U.S. has steadily declined over the past three years, as a weakened economy and tougher enforcement of immigration laws deterred some would-be migrants and spurred others to return home.

But that trend has come to an end, at least temporarily, according to a new analysis of Census Bureau data by the Pew Hispanic Center. There were an estimated 11.2 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. in March, 2010, the Pew report finds, a number statistically unchanged from the year before.

"The U.S. economy is still doing better than the Mexican economy, and the figures suggest these immigrants are finding enough here to hang on," said Pew demographer Jeffrey Passel. "The downward trend may have lost steam. They've invested a lot of effort and money to get to the U.S. and this suggests they aren't going to leave easily.""