Unauthorized immigrants usually reside in states that historically have welcomed them, such as California, Texas, Florida, New York, New Jersey, and Illinois. However, these states can provide only a limited number of jobs for the mostly unskilled illegal immigrant population. As the number of illegal immigrants swelled from about 3.6 million in 1990 to 11.1 million in 2009, illegal immigrants opted to explore new states for their livelihood.
A study by Harvard professor G. Borjas states that illegal immigrants hurt the unskilled population in the areas they moved into and benefited the other residents because the services previously provided by unskilled locals could now be purchased at a lower price. Any economist would tell you that an increase in the supply of unskilled labor will depress the wages for those services. It wouldn’t be a stretch to claim that unskilled illegal immigrants are one of the factors causing poverty (See the list of ten states with the highest poverty rates in America)...
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