A new study shows Kansas is among 14 states with a big decline in the number of immigrants who are living illegally in the United States.
A Pew Research Center report released Tuesday estimates 20,000 unauthorized immigrants left Kansas between 2009 and 2012. The group estimates that 75,000 immigrants were living unlawfully in Kansas in 2012.
The report attributes the immigrant population decreases in states like Kansas to a decline in the number of Mexican-born immigrants.
Pew estimates unauthorized immigrants account 3.5 percent of the Kansas labor force and 2.6 percent of the state’s population. About 7 percent of elementary and secondary school children in Kansas have a parent who is unlawfully in the United States.
The undocumented immigrant population rose in seven states and leveled off nationally.
