The number of illegal immigrants in the United States has grown to as many as 12 million, and they now account for about one in every 20 workers

Stephen Ohlemacher:

Efforts to curb illegal immigration have not slowed the pace, said a report yesterday by the organization, the Pew Hispanic Center.

Instead, the report's author said, those efforts are having an unintended consequence: People who illegally enter the United States from Mexico are staying longer because it is harder than ever to move back and forth across the border.

"The security has done more to keep people from going back to Mexico than it has to keep them from coming in," said Jeffrey Passel, a senior research associate.

It is difficult to accurately measure the number of illegal immigrants in the United States, but most public agencies and private groups have settled on a figure of about 11 million.

The Pew Hispanic Center used Census Bureau data to estimate that the United States had 11.1 million illegal immigrants in March 2005. The center used monthly population estimates to project a current total of 11.5 million to 12 million.

The report says that about 850,000 illegal immigrants have arrived in United States each year since 2000.

President Bush has asked Congress to institute a program that would grant temporary worker status to those illegal immigrants who are already in the United States.

The House rejected the program, and instead passed a border security bill last year that leaned toward lawmakers who were calling for a crackdown.

The Senate is trying to address both border security and the temporary worker program. Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has said he hopes his panel will produce a bill by the end of the month.

There are about 7.2 million undocumented workers in the United States, or about 5 percent of the country's workforce, the Pew report said.

It estimated that illegal immigrants fill a quarter of all agricultural jobs, 17 percent of office and house-cleaning positions, 14 percent of construction jobs, and 12 percent of food preparation posts.

"Especially if we look at the Mexicans, these are people with fairly low levels of formal education," Passel said.

"They're not able to get licensing or credentials in the United States because of their status, so the kinds of jobs available to them . . . are somewhat limited."

Business leaders and advocates for immigrants' rights say the US economy would collapse if they were deported.

"Undocumented immigrants do pay taxes, and they do contribute to the economic, social, and cultural developments," said Peta Ikambana of the American Friends Service Committee.

That group was organizing a rally near the Capitol yesterday to protest the House bill.

"Just building walls will not stop immigration," Ikambana said. "Those that are here will just go underground."

Steven Camarota of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates tougher border enforcement, said he is not surprised that the number of illegal immigrants continues to climb. He called the government's crackdown halfhearted at best.

Camarota pointed to a recent government report showing that very few businesses are fined for hiring illegal immigrants.

The government filed only three notices that it intended to fine companies in 2004, down from 417 in 1999, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office.

Camarota said many Americans would be willing to accept jobs that are now being done by illegal immigrants if they paid adequate wages and benefits.

The report by the Pew Hispanic Center said Mexicans make up 56 percent of illegal immigrants.

An additional 22 percent come from other Latin American countries, mainly in Central America. About 13 percent are from Asia, and Europe and Canada combine for about 6 percent of the immigrants.

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