In this article we are going to list the 20 cities invaded by illegal immigrants. Click to skip ahead and jump to the 10 cities with the most illegal immigrants.
Immigration and especially illegal immigration has been one of the hottest topics in the world and especially the US. While immigration is nothing new, the controversies surrounding it have become unprecedented especially when considering the fact that turmoil and civil unrest in several Middle Eastern countries have given rise to unprecedented levels of immigration, and accusations that immigrants are not integrating into new society and are rather trying to establish their own culture. There is some partial truth to it, as there are several instances of people adhering to their own rules and regulations rather than accepting the laws of the country, and integration should always be stressed upon. These instances are also extremely stretched by the far right extremists, who would rather have a ‘pure’ race within their country, rather than see people of different races mix, which is the very definition of unabashed racism, guised under the banner of preserving their own culture.
The US has long since been known as a melting pot of cultures, encouraging immigration from everywhere to pursue the American Dream, which is the national ethos of the country, which basically allows freedom regardless of race or religion, and showcases upwards mobility through pure hard work and appreciation of the opportunities allowed to such people. This was especially popular in the latter half of the 21st century, post World War II, which is why you can see many movies in that period, especially famous ones such as The Godfather, portray the same. It may be about the Italian Mafia and its influence in the US, but the movie starts with showcasing an Italian immigrant who builds a life for himself and his family through hard work, before veering into illegal activities.
However, in recent years, we have observing more instances of certain cohorts of the American population openly display their hostilities towards illegal immigrants. A lot of accusations have been made against immigrants, including that they’re taking away jobs from the locals. To paraphrase a famous comedian , if someone who is from another country and culture and who doesn’t even speak your local language is taking your job from you, then maybe you were never good enough in the first place. Another accusation especially against illegal immigrants is that they don’t contribute to society since they don’t pay taxes, and instead, leech on public funds. Well, undocumented immigrants actually pay billions in taxes. The truth of the matter is, that undocumented or illegal documents contribute a lot more than most people know, and they do that even while fighting attempts to ostracize them from society.
Fortunately, not everyone in the US is as blinded by the hatred as the extremists who would rather not see anyone who doesn’t look like them or act like them. Many cities, which can also unsurprisingly be found among the most gay friendly cities in the US. This is why we have seen the establishment of several sanctuary cities in the US, which have a large illegal immigrant population, but realizing the contributions that these people make to the city, the state and the country, have informally agreed to protect them and not take action against them, which would include deportation.
Mikael Damkier/Shutterstock.com
In fact, this led to a lot of tension even when President Trump threatened these sanctuaries with sanctions unless they complied with the federal government in helping to identify and deport these illegal immigrants. California was even sued by the Justice Department for not facilitating the directives of ICE, though a judge eventually ruled in favor of the state, dealing a blow to the governance of Donald Trump. The aims of ICE were to find and deport around 2,000 people though at the end of the day, only 35 arrests were actually made. Now that Joe Biden has become President Elect, we expect that this will help change the negative mindset that has gripped the country over the last four years if Joe Biden does the right thing for American workers.
We aren’t publishing this article to discuss the politics of immigration. We are publishing this article to discuss the economics of immigration. There will be resentment towards illegal immigrants as long as there are tens of millions of Americans who are left behind economically and have given up looking for a decent job. President Trump did the right thing by taking on China and trying to bring back manufacturing jobs. We hope that the new administration will follow Donald Trump’s footsteps and disincentivize offshore manufacturing. Printing trillions of dollars and spending them on bailouts won’t build a strong economy. We can build a more robust economy by rebuilding our infrastructure, investing in manufacturing capacity, and retraining hoards of “hidden” unemployed Americans for these new jobs.
We believe infrastructure stocks like U.S. Concrete, Inc. (NASDAQ:USCR), TimkenSteel Corporation (NYSE:TMST), Titan Machinery Inc. (NYSE:TITN), and Sterling Construction Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:STRL) are promising investment ideas for the next few years. In this article you are going to see that illegal immigrants are invading metropolitan areas mainly because that’s where the jobs are. We need to rebuild our infrastructure in the forgotten corners of our country and put in place incentives for manufacturing companies. We need to bring back so many jobs that there won’t be enough Americans to fill these jobs. That’s when immigrants will be welcomed.
Due to the aforementioned fact that some cities have more lax laws for illegal immigrants while others are much harsher, the 20 cities invaded by illegal immigrants have a significantly higher proportion of the total illegal immigrants in the US. It is estimated that there are over 6 million immigrants in the country, a number which is larger than the total population of some of the smaller countries in the world and over 60% of these 6 million people reside in just the 20 metro areas that are in our list. This is according to a recent study carried out by the Pew Research Center.
One of the most important things to note here is that illegal immigrants have actually consistently declined over the last decade and more, falling by around 15% when compared to the number over a decade ago. This is aligned with a falling trend in total immigrants in the country, and many have hypothesized that this is happening because jobs are disappearing here and reappearing overseas. Mexicans still make up the vast majority of the illegal immigrants in the country, though they used to constitute more than half of the illegal immigrants, this figure has now reduced to less than 50%. In fact the overall decline in immigrants is mainly due to the decline of immigrants from Mexico, which have decreased by more than 10 million from just 2007 to 2017.
It is still too early to know for sure what the new U.S. administration will do about tariffs, manufacturing jobs, and infrastructure projects. We still like the infrastructure companies because they will be benefitting from the ultra low interest rate environment as we start vaccinating tens of millions of Americans and things start to go back to normal. But till we wait for things to improve on this end, let’s take a look at the cities with the most illegal immigrants over the years, starting with number 20:
20. Charlotte Metro Area
Total illegal immigrant population in the city: 100,000
One of the very few cities in the US to have seen an increase in the number of illegal immigrants is Charlotte, where numbers have risen by 20,000 over the last decade.
Pixabay/Public Domain
19. Austin Metro Area
Total illegal immigrant population in the city: 100,000
Texas has three cities in this list, with Austin kickstarting the process, and has over 100,000 illegal immigrants, maintaining the number over the past decade.
Pixabay/Public Domain
18. Denver Metro Area
Total illegal immigrant population in the city: 130,000
Of all the foreign born people, 37% are deemed to be illegal immigrants in Denver.
Pixabay/Public Domain
17. Seattle Metro Area
Total illegal immigrant population in the city: 140,000
Seattle has often been called one of the most liberal cities in the US, and supporting illegal immigrants is just one of the reasons behind this reputation.
Pixabay/Public Domain
16. San Jose Metro Area
Total illegal immigrant population in the city: 140,000
While San Jose is famous for being the hub of tech companies, it also has a healthy illegal immigrant population.
Pixabay / Public Domain
15. Philadelphia Metro Area
Total illegal immigrant population in the city: 160,000
Philadelphia is famous for being a sanctuary city, even though it had to fight tooth and nail against Trump and ICE to protect its illegal immigrants.
mandritoiu/Shutterstock.com
14. San Diego Metro Area
Total illegal immigrant population in the city: 160,000
Even though San Diego country has one of the highest arrest rates by ICE in the country, it still maintains a significant illegal population.
Joseph Sohm/Shutterstock.com
13. Las Vegas Metro Area
Total illegal immigrant population in the city: 180,000
Not only does Las Vegas attract gamblers by the thousands, it also does the same with illegal immigrants, though the population has dropped off by 20,000 over the past decade.
Pixabay/Public Domain
12. Phoenix Metro Area
Total illegal immigrant population in the city: 210,000
Phoenix has seen a large decrease of around 180,000 people which is why it has been left to languish at a lowly position in this list.
Pixabay/Public Domain
11. Boston Metro Area
Total illegal immigrant population in the city: 220,000
Boston has the second highest illegal immigrant population increase with around 30,000 over the past decade.
Click to continue reading and see the 10 cities with the most illegal immigrants.
Disclosure: No positions. 20 cities invaded by illegal immigrants is originally published at Insider Monkey.
