Illegal immigrants made up 3.7 percent of the U.S. population and 5.2 percent of the nation's workforce in 2010, according to Pew's Hispanic Center. Pew's study also indicates that births to immigrants in the country without permission account for about 8 percent of total births in the United States. But the overall number of illegal immigrants in the United States may be meandering slowly downward. The estimated number of illegal immigrants saw a two-year drop to 11.1 million from its 2007 peak at an estimated 12 million, followed by a slight bump up to 11.2 million in 2010. According to Pew, this number is still more than triple what it was in 20 years ago in 1990, when the estimated illegal population was 3.5 million. Meanwhile, the nation continues to wait for politicians in Washington to affect meaningful nationwide immigration reform, and several states, including Oklahoma, Virginia, Texas, and Colorado, are following Arizona's lead in pursuing anti-illegal immigration legislation.
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