The Seattle Times reports: “An estimated 230,000 illegal immigrants were living in Washington state in 2010 — 35 percent more than three years earlier.”

That gives Washington State the seventh-highest rate of illegal immigrants in the country. 3 years ago, we didn’t place in the top ten!

Nationally, the numbers estimated of illegal aliens in the country remains virtually unchanged with a slight decrease, according to the Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C.

The director of the state’s Commission on Hispanic Affairs, Uriel Iñiguez says, “the fact that the illegal immigrant population nationally hasn’t declined shows people aren’t going anywhere,” adding “It’s one of the arguments I make all the time — passing laws won’t prevent people from being here undocumented.“

With a slate bills introduced in the Washington legislature this year, I have to wonder how strict enforcement of existing immigration laws would affect the situation?

Of equal concern, “A federal judge has temporarily stopped Washington from eliminating food benefits for thousands of legal immigrants,” according to the Seattle PI.

Cuts in the program was expected to shave $7.2 million from the deficit.

State Sen. Val Stevens says, “the illegal-immigrant cost to the state is $272 million a biennium for such functions as social services, health and corrections.”