The Pew Hispanic Center just released its latest report on the number of illegal immigrants in the United States, and Illinois is, according to the report, seeing an increase in its immigrant population.

The report, “A Portrait of Unauthorized Immigrants in the United States,” states that Illinois ranks eighth in the country for the number of illegal immigrants, with an estimated 450,000 illegal immigrants living throughout the state.

California leads the United States with nearly 3 million illegal immigrants, but numbers are declining, said Steven Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration. Camarota said he believes the number of illegal immigrants throughout the country went down, but that Illinois may be an exception because of its different policies on immigration issues.

At the end of the George W. Bush administration, there was an increase in border patrolling, but now that President Barack Obama is in office, the amount of enforcement is likely to go down, Camarota said. Illinois has also had a history of immigration policies different than the rest of the country.

“Illinois has a somewhat different policy when it comes to immigrants,” Camarota said. “States like Georgia and Arizona are very strict with their policies, but Illinois has moved in the opposite direction. It’s the most welcoming state to illegal immigrants and has generally worked against law enforcement.”

In 2007, the state of Illinois was sued by the United States Attorney General because of noncompliance with federal immigration laws, and for not requiring employers to look up workers on a database to verify their citizenship status.

The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights is an advocacy organization that lobbies for all immigrants’ rights. ICIRR spokeswoman Catherine Salgado said Illinois is an “immigrant friendly state” and not nearly as restrictive as other states when it comes to federal immigration policy.

According to The Pew Hispanic Center’s report, 11.9 million illegal immigrants reside in the United States and they make up 5.4 percent of the United States workforce. The economy has played an important role in the increase and decrease in illegal immigrants across the country, Camarota said.

“The unemployment rate for illegal immigrants in Illinois is lower than other states,” Camarota said. “The unemployment rate in Illinois for immigrants is actually slightly lower than it is for natives and, nationally, that is not the case.”

Salgado said she thinks there may be so many illegal immigrants in the workforce because they are willing to work cheaply.

“Immigrants are probably being paid less because of the economy,” Salgado said. “Those kinds of abuses can be done because [immigrants] are undocumented and don’t have the same rights as other workers.”

Illinois has a very different system when it comes to helping immigrants become citizens, said Flavia Jimenez of the ICIRR.

Jimenez is the executive director of the New American Initiative program in Illinois. It is a system of helping grant citizenship to legal immigrants in the United States.

This, along with helping illegal immigrants recieve more rights, is another goal of the ICIRR

“In terms of assistance we provide, [Illinois] is unlike any other state,” Jimenez said. “We have a very unique, integrated system, and it’s easier for a person [to gain citizenship].”

Jimenez said she has helped 37,000 people go through the legal citizenship process and has provided citizenship information for more than 279,000 Illinois immigrants.

Despite such lofty numbers in her program, Jimenez’ program works only with legal immigrants, and illegal immigrants don’t qualify for the process.

More people, however, are becoming legal immigrants and applying for their program.

“We’ve seen a 56 percent increase in citizenship application since the inception of the program [in 2004],” Jimenez said.

Whether or not immigration trends will continue is unknown, but Illinois is taking steps to provide immigrants with more rights and protections under state legislation.

For more information on immigration issues in Illinois and the ICIRR, visit ICIRR.org.