Before COVID-19, more Mexicans came to the U.S. than left for Mexico for the first time in years
An estimated 870,000 Mexican migrants came to the U.S. between 2013-18, while an estimated 710,000 left the U.S. for Mexico during that time.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
An estimated 870,000 Mexican migrants came to the U.S. between 2013-18, while an estimated 710,000 left the U.S. for Mexico during that time.
While Mexico is the United States’ largest source of immigrants, the number of Mexican immigrants living in the U.S. illegally has declined since 2007.
High intermarriage rates and declining immigration are changing how some Americans with Hispanic ancestry see their identity. Most U.S. adults with Hispanic ancestry self-identify as Hispanic, but 11%, or 5 million, do not.
The increase from these countries exceeded modest growth of the overall foreign-born population and came amid a decline in immigrants from Mexico.
While 67% of lawful immigrants eligible for naturalization had applied for and obtained U.S. citizenship by 2015, this share was only 42% among Mexicans.
The Obama administration deported 333,341 unauthorized immigrants in the 2015 fiscal year, a decline of about 81,000 (or 20%) from the prior year.
The number of migrant apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border rose by 42% in October and November of 2016 compared with the same two-month period in 2015.
The Obama administration deported 414,481 unauthorized immigrants in fiscal 2014, a drop from the prior year driven by a decline in deportations of immigrants with a criminal conviction.
This change comes after a period in which net migration of Mexicans to the U.S. had fallen to lows not seen since the 1940s.
Between 2009 and 2014, about 140,000 more Mexican immigrants have returned to Mexico from the U.S. than have migrated here, citing family reunification as the main reason for leaving.
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