New York Immigration

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Illegal Immigration in New York

489,000 illegal aliens resided in New York as of 2000, according to INS figures. This is 37 percent higher than the previous INS estimate in 1990, giving New York the third largest illegal immigrant population in the country.27 The Migration Policy Institute estimates that the illegal resident population could be as high as 700,000.28

The bulk of the state’s illegal aliens live in New York City, which has one of the country’s highest concentrations of illegal residents. Social service agencies there say they are seeing an increase of illegal aliens seeking help because they are homeless.29

In Farmingville, citizens have been protesting the growing numbers of illegal alien daylaborers soliciting work on the hamlet’s streets. Besides illegally working, the daylaborers have been cited as the source of increased drug dealing, prostitution, and a decline in property values.30

New York authorities requested $241 million in compensation from the federal government in FY ’99 for the incarceration of illegal aliens in state and local jails and prisons, but it received only $93 million, leaving $148 million in uncompensated costs to be borne by New York taxpayers.

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