Illegal immigrant population in Georgia doubles, confirms changing migration trends
By APTuesday, February 23, 2010
Illegal immigrants numbers rise in Southeast
ATLANTA — When the Olympic Games came to Atlanta in 1996, a building boom transformed the landscape of downtown and brought with it an influx of Latino immigrants — both legal and illegal.
In the years since, the number of illegal immigrants living in Georgia has skyrocketed. A new federal report says the illegal immigrant population in the state more than doubled from January 2000 to January 2009 to about 480,000.
Southeastern states, with the exception of Florida, had very few immigrants, legal or illegal, as recently as the 1980s. But demographers say the region, with a low cost of living and an abundance of work, has become a magnet for immigrants, especially illegal Mexican immigrants, over the last two decades.
