When President Obama outlined his immigration ideas in El Paso, Texas, Tuesday, he focused attention on what is really a complex problem with no easy solutions. Obama put emphasis on America's structure as a nation of immigrants, and noted the exploitative nature of the underground economy built around illegal immigration.
As much of the debate will be framed by inflammatory rhetoric, this piece looks to provide straight forward numbers to inform. While immigration is a topic ranging far beyond just the discussion of Mexico and the United States, these figures are limited to that interaction.
11.2 million: The number of undocumented persons living in America as of March 2010, according to the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center. The number was virtually unchanged from 2009, and down from the peak in 2007.
350,000: How many children were born to at least one unauthorized parent, representing 8 percent of all births in America for 2009.
41.5: Mexico's percent of GDP to public debt ratio, bringing in the country at number 66, according to the CIA World Factbook. That's better than the United States, whose 58.9 percent score landed America as the 37th worst country.
3.001 million: The number of barrels of oil Mexico produces each day.
2.078 million: How many barrels Mexico uses.
1.225 million: Barrels of oil exported daily, primarily to the United States.
-$5.263 billion dollars: The trade deficit between the United States and Mexico for February 2011.
$5.6 billion: The dollar value of Mexican imports to the state of Arizona, according to the Arizona Republic. 28 percent of which were fruits and vegetables.
$5 billion: Value of goods Arizona exported to Mexico, of which $1.5 billion was machinery and parts.
187: How many fraudulent driver's licenses a DMV employee in Las Vegas is alleged to have issued. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Nancy Brown was arrested after an investigation that included putting a camera above her work station. She was part of a group that would funnel illegal immigrants to her, where she would circumvent regulations and issue fraudulent licenses.
$1,700-$3,000: The price paid to the group for each illegally obtained license.
Almost $3,000: Money paid to "coyotes" for the average person to be smuggled from Mexico to the United States, according to the New York Times.
0: How many of the 11 most dangerous cities, according to U.S. News, in America are in border areas.
6: Of the 10 safest cities in America, as listed by Forbes magazine, that are in border states. The statistics include factors such as crime, auto accidents, and health care issues.
More than 34,000: How many people have been killed in Mexico since Mexican President Felipe Calderon declared an all-out assault on drug cartels in 2006, according to the Los Angeles Times.
90,000: the number of protesters police estimated protested Calderon's drug policies in Mexico City May 8. Organizers estimated the crowd at more than twice that.
35th: Mexico's rank out of 183 countries listed in the category "ease of doing business."
4,800: How many 18-wheelers cross from Mexico into the United States over the World Trade International Bridge at Laredo, Texas, each day, according to the Associated Press.
$21.1 billion: The amount of remittance persons in the United States sent back to Mexico in 2009. The amount represented a 16 percent drop, mostly due to the loss of jobs for immigrants in the U.S. construction and service industries. Remittance (people in America sending money to relatives in Mexico) comes in after oil as the second largest source of foreign currency in Mexico.
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