High Rate of Noncitizens in Nevada

About one of every nine people living in Nevada is not a U.S. citizen, the second-highest percentage in the nation, according to a recently released Census Bureau report.

The report, based on surveys conducted throughout 2004, says that 263,507 people _ or 11.5 percent of Nevada’s population of 2.3 million people _ are not citizens.

California ranked highest in the nation, with 15.4 percent of its population lacking citizenship.

The survey did not distinguish between people who are legally in the country as residents _ the step below citizenship _ and those who have come to the country illegally.

But the state’s high ranking can be seen as “the continuation of a trend, more than a sea change, since for a decade the immigrant population (in Nevada) has been expanding,” said David Thronson, a director of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Boyd School of Law’s immigration law clinic.

That trend has polarized certain sectors of the valley in recent years, as groups have formed to express concerns about illegal immigrants, day laborers who gather on street corners to solicit work or about the overburdened health care and education systems.

One group put up a billboard last year that said, “Stop Immigration,” drawing protests from Hispanic groups.

“(We) need to look at all sides, not just the social costs of immigration. Immigrants are a critical part of the local economy, for example,” Thronson said. 

Source: Las Vegas Sun, Feb. 6, 2006

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