Number of Undocumented Immigrants Is Greatly Overreported

You should read this opinion from the former census director Stephen Murdock in the February 24, 2011, Texas Capitol Report. He says the number of undocumented immigrants is grossly exaggerated in Texas and the United States. At the end of the article, he states that the conclusive proof is,"We get their bodies when they die and if there are really 25 million undocumented immigrants in the United States they are the healthiest group of people who ever lived in the United States."

He implies there is seldom any of the deceased from that group. For starters, people have to be in good health to withstand the rigors and dangers of sneaking across the border and evade the border patrol. So unless the person dies by violent or accidental means, then it is likely they will live many more years. It is going to take a long time for 10.8 million to 20-25 million undocumented immigrants to die for us to know these numbers. This is assuming the family is going to confess their undocumented status. His remark implies that there is a question about citizenship on the death certificate. I have been a genealogist for many years; no, there is not. The death certificate asks for the birthplaces of the deceased and of the deceased's parents. There is nothing about citizenship status. Sometimes on a death certificate, it is written that the birthplaces are unknown. However, in recent years, social security numbers are put on death certificates. But this is not proof positive that the social security number is valid. I doubt that a verification check is going to be run on a social security number to make sure it was not bought at the local flea market.

I suppose since Steve Murdock has been United States Census Director that he gets his numbers from the census. If so, I doubt that all undocumented immigrants come to the front door when the census taker shows up. With INS workplace raids in recent years fresh in their memories, they would not want INS to know where they live so they can pick them up later. And irregardless of citizenship status, anyone who is worried about the bill collector showing up will not answer the door.

What is his rationale or motivation to support the figure 10.8 million? Since he has also been the first Texas demographer and is a sociology professor at Rice, I am sure he has worked hard to insure that his census numbers are accurate. Hispanics were hired to be census takers in neighborhoods of predominantly undocumented workers. He believes these census workers were able to get full cooperation and disclosure from everyone.

Unlike Steve Murdock's certainty about his numbers, I do not believe there is conclusive proof about the numbers which are probably somewhere between his 10.8 million and the legislative group who thought the number were 20-25 million.