Illegals exceed number of legal immigrants, feds do nothing!

More immigrants came to the United States illegally from 2000 through 2004 than the number who were granted legal status in those years, according to a study released yesterday that attributed much of the historic shift to visa slowdowns since 2001 and to the nation's strong job market before that. The study by the Pew Hispanic Center said that immigration to the United States -- legal and illegal, from all regions of the world -- totaled about 1.1 million each year during the 1990s, peaked in 2000 at 1.5 million and declined substantially since 2001 to earlier levels. The number of new arrivals increased in 2004, the study said, though it is too early to say that the rise will last. Pew demographer Jeffrey S. Passel said he believes this was the first time in the nation's history that new illegal arrivals outnumbered new legal immigrants. "The presence of the undocumented makes a big difference," he said. "This is what differentiates this from 100 years ago. There really wasn't anything like what we call illegal immigration today." The report did not break out totals for the Washington area, one of the most popular destinations for new immigrants, but Passel said the region's strong economy probably dampened any immigration decline since 2001.