Would the real number change some views on amnesty?

The number being tossed around about how many illegals are in the United States is 11.5 million, but how can you be sure? The numbers are calculated in surveys done by the PEW Hispanic Center (a non-profit Hispanic advocacy group backed by Obama bundler George Kaisers family foundation) and parroted by DHS.

 On April 26, 2006 the Pew Hispanic Center (PHC) estimated that in March 2005 the number of illegal immigrants in the U.S. ranged from 11.5 to 12 million individuals.This number was derived by a statistical method known as the “residual method“.^[11] According to the General Accounting office the residual estimation (1) starts with a census count or survey estimate of the number of foreign-born residents who have not become U.S. citizens and (2) subtracts out estimated numbers of legally present individuals in various categories, based on administrative data and assumptions (because censuses and surveys do not ask about legal status). here

So the people asking questions don’t ask the question, brilliant!

Bear Stearns‘ investigators ^[8] came up with another way to attack this very difficult problem. They made the assumption that the amount of remittances (money sent back to Mexico) is directly proportional to the number of Mexican immigrants in the United States. They conclude that the number of illegal immigrants in the United States may well be twice the official number put out by the U.S. Census and may be 20 million people or higher. here

Bear Sterns method seems a bit more reliable than the guesses assumptions made by DHS and a Obama backed non-profit.

James Walsh, former associate general counsel to the INS, says in his paper, none of the government “experts” “has a clue as to the exact number,” he says, “but this does not keep them from crafting estimates to fit their own agenda. …My estimate of 38 million illegal aliens residing in the United States is calculated using a conservative annual rate of entry (allowing for deaths and returns to their homeland) of three illegal aliens entering the United States for each one apprehended,” he explains. here

38 Million! As determined by a person who actually worked for the INS.