Nevada Immigration

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Illegal Immigration in Nevada

101,000 illegal aliens resided in Nevada as of 2000, according to INS figures. This is 321 percent higher than the previous INS estimate in 1996 and 461 percent higher than the estimate for 1992.30

Naturalization
Fewer immigrants in Nevada are becoming naturalized U.S. citizens. In 2000, only 37 percent of Nevada’s foreign-born were naturalized U.S. citizens, versus 41 percent in 1990.
The booming Las Vegas casino sector is attracting large numbers of immigrants to the city. Despite a required police background check for new hires that bars most illegal aliens seeking casino jobs, the city, nevertheless, is attracting large numbers of illegal aliens working in hotels and other jobs not requiring advanced education or skill levels and paying low wages. The presence of a large number of illegal aliens is attested to by the spread of money transfer and check cashing operations and the growth of immigration consultant services.31

The flood of illegal aliens moving to southern Nevada is so large that the Las Vegas INS office admits it can’t keep up. The Las Vegas INS office has about the same number of staff it had ten years ago, despite the fact that agents have seen a 49 percent increase in the number of illegal immigrants apprehended in the last five years.32

The large population of illegal aliens is straining the state’s health care and criminal justice infrastructure. Eighteen percent of Clark County residents do not have health insurance and rely on the valley’s crowded emergency room for routine care; health officials believe many are illegal aliens.33

Nevada authorities requested compensation from the federal government in FY’99 for $9.6 million in incarceration expenses for illegal aliens in state and local jails and prisons, but it received only $3.7 million, leaving $5.9 million in uncompensated costs to be borne by state taxpayers

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