• Throughout the 1990s, the number of unauthorised workers swelled by 350,000 a year.
• The largest number, 2.2 million or 32 per cent, were in California. Other states with large illegal immigrant populations included Texas, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina and Illinois.
• The majority of the illegal immigrants - 69 per cent - came from Mexico. • • Six other countries - El Salvador, Guatemala, Colombia, Honduras, Ecuador and China - all had more than 100,000 illegal immigrants in the US.
• There were 3,000 illegal Irish in the US in 2000 - a decrease of 2,000 on the 1990 estimates.
Source: US Immigration and Naturalisation Service 2000 Census; http://uscis.gov/graphics/index.htm
