How European and U.S. unauthorized immigrant populations compare
The size of Europe’s unauthorized immigrant population in 2017 was less than half the number in the United States.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
The size of Europe’s unauthorized immigrant population in 2017 was less than half the number in the United States.
The first full fiscal year of the Trump administration saw large increases in the number of people arrested and criminally prosecuted for immigration offenses.
The number of Mexican unauthorized immigrants has fallen since its peak of 6.9 million in 2007 and was lower in 2017 than in any year since 2001.
There were 10.5 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. in 2017. The number of Mexican unauthorized immigrants declined since 2007.
Jeffrey S. Passel, senior demographer, on the research techniques used to derive the unauthorized immigrant population estimate in the U.S. and the challenges involved.
There were nearly 467,000 apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2018. Family members accounted for about a third of those apprehensions.
In 2016, a third of unauthorized immigrant adults were proficient in English – up from a quarter in 2007.
Unauthorized immigrants make up a quarter of all U.S. foreign-born residents. Our new interactive offers data on unauthorized immigrants by state.
Proposals to change the U.S. immigration system have received renewed attention under the Trump administration. Read key details about U.S. immigration programs.
Nearly three-quarters of Americans favor granting permanent legal status to immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally when they were children.
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