Facts
-FACT #1: Immigrants are only a small portion of Texas’ population
The foreign-born population in Texas, which includes naturalized citizens, represented about 16% of the total population in 2008, according to the Migration Policy Institute. (U.S. average: The foreign-born population was 12.6% of the U.S. population.)
The Pew Hispanic Center estimated Texas’ population of undocumented immigrants at 1.4 million in 2008, or 6% of Texas’ 23.9 million population. (U.S. average: Undocumented immigrants represent 4% of the U.S. population.)
-FACT #2: Undocumented immigrants contribute to the Texas economy
Undocumented immigrants are only 6% of the Texas population but represent 7.9% of its workforce, according to the Pew Hispanic Center (U.S. average: Undocumented immigrants represent 5.4% of the U.S. labor force.)
A 2006 financial analysis by the Texas Comptroller found that undocumented immigrants contributed $17.7 billion to Texas’ gross state produce in 2005, creating $1.58 billion in state revenues, which exceeded the $1.16 billion in state services they received.
-FACT #3: Immigrants don’t increase crime in Texas
The Migration Policy Institute found that the incarceration rate of U.S.-born men (3.51%) is four times the rate for foreign-born men(.86%). In Texas, while the number of immigrants increased between 2000 and 2007, the overall crime rate actually decreased by 6.49%, and the rate of violent crime decreased by 6.17% (Texas Department of Public Safety).
-FACT #4: Mixed-status families are a reality in Texas
The Pew Hispanic Center estimated that about 73% of the children of undocumented immigrant parents were U.S.-born citizens in 2008. The report also estimated that at least one in 10 Texas school children has a parent in the country illegally.
Undocumented immigrants are far more likely than people born in the U.S. to live with a spouse and children. Some 47 percent of undocumented households involved a couple with a child in 2008, compared with 21 percent of U.S.-born homes, according to the report. Experts said that immigrant workers used to go back to their home countries on a regular basis, until the massive buildup of agents and infrastructure along the Southwest border made going back and forth too risky. Now, many undocumented immigrants bring their families to the U.S. to settle.
-FACT #5: Hispanics, native-born and immigrants, are a political force in Texas
There were 8.4 million Hispanics residing in Texas in 2008, 36% of the Texas population, the third highest Hispanic population in the nation.
In addition, 3.6 million Texas Hispanics are eligible voters, representing a quarter of Texas eligible voters, according to the Pew Hispanic Center, and 17% of these Hispanic voters are registered voters, that is, first-generation immigrants.
