Illegal Immigration Figures in West Virginia

West Virginia is not a popular destination for illegal immigration. Estimates place it among the U.S. states that serve as home to the lowest number of undocumented immigrants.

The Pew Research Center, the Department of Homeland Security and the Federation for American Immigration Reform are among entities that provide estimates about illegal immigration, a difficult task, according to the Center for Immigration Studies.

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The Pew Research Center estimated illegal immigrants in 2010 made up about 10,000 of West Virginia’s 1,806,000 residents, which is slightly more than one-half of 1 percent, according to Slate. The Mountain State finished in a tie with Maine, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming as the states with the lowest 2010 undocumented immigrant estimates, each with 10,000.

The Pew Research Center listed undocumented immigrant populations as being “not available” for those same seven states – but no others –in December 2014, when it released estimates for the number of illegal immigrants living in each state in 2012. The release indicated an estimated 11.2 million unauthorized immigrants lived in the U.S that year — down from a peak of 12.2 million in 2007 and unchanged since 2009.

Homeland Security estimated the nationwide illegal immigrant population in 2012 at 11.43 million, down from 11.59 million in 2010. Homeland Security estimates are available for only the 10 states thought to have the largest illegal immigration populations, according to the Federation for American Immigration Reform.

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FAIR estimated West Virginia’s illegal alien population for 2010 at about 5,000. FAIR projected the Mountain State’s illegal immigrant population would rise to 1,854,000 by 2050.

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