Border Patrol apprehensions of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border are on the rise again. Yet the activity at the southwestern U.S. border is only one part of the overall story of unauthorized immigration. The unauthorized immigrant population’s size and composition has ebbed and flowed significantly over the past 30 years.
Here are some key facts about this population and its dynamics.
The U.S. unauthorized immigrant population rose rapidly from 1990 to 2007 before declining sharply for two years, and stabilizing at 10.5 million in 2017.
And, Mexican unauthorized immigrants are no longer the majority of those living illegally in the U.S.. As of 2017, 4.9 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. were born in Mexico, while 5.5 million were from other countries.