INS: 7 million illegal immigrants in United States - Mexicans make up nearly 70 percent of total, figures show

By Terry Frieden, CNN News, February 1, 2003

More than a million illegal immigrants have slipped into the United States in the past few years, raising the total in the country to 7 million, the Immigration and Naturalization Service said Friday....

The figures show that between October 1996 and January 2000, the number of illegal immigrants grew from about 5.8 million to about 7 million, an increase of more than 300,000 annually....

The proportion of the illegal immigrants who are Mexican has increased to nearly 70 percent from less than 60 percent, the INS said....

Although California is home to the most undocumented immigrants, Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina have the greatest rate of increase, the figures showed.

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