The Department of Homeland Security just released a report estimating that the number of unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. has decreased about 7% from 2008 to 2009.  The report, titled "Estimates of the Unauthorized Immigrant Population Residing in the United States: January 2009", estimated that the unauthorized immigrant population decreased to 10.8 million in January 2009 from 11.6 million in January 2008.

The estimate was determined by comparing an estimate of the total foreign-born population obtained by the U.S. Census, with an estimate of the legal resident population obtained from data by the Department of Homeland Security.   The number of unauthorized residents declined by 1.0 million between 2007 and 2009, coincident with the U.S. economic downturn. The overall annual average increase in the unauthorized population during the 2000-2009 period was 250,000.

The state with the highest number of unauthorized immigrants is California at 2.6 million, followed by Texas at 1.6 million, and Florida at 720,000.