Number of "illegals" triples earlier estimate.

• Position: Illegal immigrants - Brief article

While Federal officials insist that only 11-12,000,000 illegal immigrants currently live in America, a new book asserts the number is closer to 30,000,000--one-tenth of the entire U.S. population. Minutemen: The Battle to Secure America's Borders, written by Minuteman Project founder Jim Gilchrist and Jerome R. Corsi, documents the flaws in the government's estimates and offers a revised count of illegals on U.S. soil.

"Even defenders of the 'official' estimate of 12,000,000 illegal immigrants acknowledge that it is flawed, but the magnitude of the flaw is greater than anyone in Washington will admit;' notes Gilchrist.

"[In August], the Senate refused to approve the funds necessary to construct the same border fence that it authorized in May. Clearly, the Federal government does not want to close our nation's open borders, so why should we believe it is being honest in estimating the number of illegal immigrants already in the country? Telling the truth would make it too difficult to get political support for another amnesty...