Mexican Lawful Immigrants Among the Least Likely to Become U.S. Citizens
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.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
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.
There were 8 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. working or looking for work in 2014, making up 5% of the civilian labor force.
The estimated total – 11.1 million in 2014 – has steadied since the end of the recession as the number declined from Mexico but grew from other countries.
Nearly six-in-ten U.S. Hispanics are Millennials or younger, making them the youngest major racial or ethnic group in the United States. In 2014, the median age of Hispanics was just 28 years.
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.
The nation’s foreign-born population has swelled from 10 million in 1965 to a record 45 million in 2015. By 2065, the U.S. will have a projected 78 million immigrants.
A record 33.2 million Hispanics in the U.S. speak English proficiently. While this share of Hispanics has been growing, the share that speaks Spanish at home has been declining over the past 13 years.
From 2009 to 2012, the population of unauthorized immigrants rose in seven states and fell in 14. Losses in 13 states were due to drops in the number of unauthorized immigrants from Mexico.
The number of unauthorized immigrants living in the United States has stabilized since the end of the Great Recession and shows no sign of rising, according to new Pew Research Center estimates. The marked slowdown in new arrivals means that those who remain are more likely to be long-term residents, and to live with their U.S.-born children.
The slowdown in growth of the Hispanic foreign-born population coincides with a decline in Mexican migration to the U.S.
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