The report said the Philippines tied with Honduras for as the fourth leading source of undocumented immigrants in the country.

Mexico remained the leading source of the undocumented with an estimated seven million noncitizens as of January 2008.

It is followed by El Salvador (570,000), and Guatemala (430,000).

Overall, a total of 11.6 million immigrants are estimated to be staying in the United States without documents, which declined from 11.8 million recorded a year earlier.

The DHS said an estimated 8.8 million of the total 11.6 million undocumented were from the North American region, including Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America.

The next leading regions of origin were Asia (1.2 million) and South America (850,000).

The department defines unauthorized residents as foreign-born persons who entered the United States without inspection or were admitted temporarily and stayed past the date they were required to leave.

Unauthorized immigrants applying for adjustment to lawful permanent residence under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) Section 245(i) are unauthorized until they have been granted legal permanent residency status, even though they may have been authorized to work.

The report also said California remained the leading state of residence of the unauthorized immigrants, with 2.9 million; followed by Texas (1.7 million), Florida (840,000) and New York (640,000).

California's share of the national total declined from 30 percent in 2000 to 25 percent in 2008.

The DHS said males represented 57 percent of the unauthorized immigrant population in 2008.

Males accounted for 62 percent of the unauthorized population in the 18 to 34 age group in 2008, while females accounted for 52 percent of the 45 and older age groups.

The DHS has said the number of Filipinos immigrating to the United States fell from 74,606 in 2006 to 72,596 the following year [2007], and to 54,030 in 2008 – a significant drop.

The Philippines slid from the third biggest source of immigrants in the United States, overtaken by India despite a slight decrease in their own numbers during the same period.

Mexico remained the top source of immigrants followed by China.

"The number of new legal permanent residents (LPRs) who were born in the Philippines decreased as a result of a decline in the use of recaptured visa numbers made available in the employment-based third preference class," the report said.