Only 20 Percent of New Texas Jobs Went to Native-Born Americans

With jobs and immigration likely topics of sharp debate at tonight's Republican debate in Orlando, a new report estimates that newly arrived immigrants have filled a majority of new jobs created in Texas, home to GOP front-runner Gov. Rick Perry.

"Of jobs created in Texas since 2007, 81 percent were taken by newly arrived immigrant workers (legal and illegal)," says the Center for Immigration Studies, a group that advocates reduced levels of both legal and illegal immigration.

The report estimates that about 40 percent of the new jobs were taken by illegal immigrants, while 40 percent were taken by legal immigrants.

Native-born Americans filled just 20 percent of the new jobs in Texas, the report states, even though "the native-born accounted for 69 percent of the growth in Texas' working-age population."