WASHINGTON (AP)--An estimated 10.5 million illegal immigrants were living in the U.S. in 2005, the federal government said in a report Friday. That's up from an estimated 8.5 million living in the country in 2000, according to calculations by the Office of Immigration Statistics in the Department of Homeland Security.
The office said that with a national average rate of growth of 408,000, the illegal immigrant population is probably about 11 million this year.
In March, the Pew Hispanic Center used Census Bureau data to estimate that the U.S. had 11.1 million illegal immigrants in March 2005. The center used monthly population estimates to project a current total of 11.5 million to 12 million.