More Illegal Immigrants in Illinois than Arizona

Chicago - It turns out that when it comes to undocumented immigrants, Illinois has a much bigger population than immigration-flashpoint Arizona.

Officials estimate that Arizona has 283,000 illegal immigrants; Illinois' illegals total 432,000.

Native Mexicans comprise 90 percent of Arizona's undocumented population, but here in Illinois Mexicans are only 40.4 percent of the total. Asians are 24.2 percent, Europeans are 24.2 percent and other ethnicities,at 11.2 percent, make up the rest. With 100,000 or more of Chicago's illegals originally from Europe, the issue plays differently here than in Arizona.

There's another big difference between Illinois and Arizona: top Illinois Republicans, including Senate nominee Mark Kirk and candidate for governor Bill Brady, rarely even mention immigration. Both issued bland statements when FOX Chicago News asked for their positions.

Their Democratic opponents, Alexi Giannoulias and Pat Quinn, by contrast, both expressed angry opposition to Arizona's recently-enacted law.

We talked about the issue with State Rep. Susana Mendoza (D-1st) and Illinois Hispanic Tea Party founder Pedro Anaya.