The estimated population of unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. stands at around ** million people. Although the number has stabilized, the United States has seen a spike in migrant encounters in the last few years, with over * million cases registered by the U.S. Border Patrol in 2023. This is a slight decrease from the previous year, when there were over *** million cases registered. Due to its proximity and shared border, Mexico remains the leading country of origin for most undocumented immigrants in the U.S., with California and Texas being home to the majority.

Immigration and political division

Despite the majority of the population having immigrant roots, the topic of immigration in the U.S. remains one of the country’s longest-standing political debates. Support among Republicans for restrictive immigration has grown alongside Democratic support for open immigration. This growing divide has deepened the polarization between the two major political parties, stifling constructive dialogue and impeding meaningful reform efforts and as a result, has led to dissatisfaction from all sides. In addition to general immigration policy, feelings toward illegal immigration in the U.S. also vary widely. For some, it's seen as a significant threat to national security, cultural identity, and economic stability. This perspective often aligns with support for stringent measures like Trump's proposed border wall and increased enforcement efforts. On the other hand, there are those who are more sympathetic toward undocumented immigrants, as demonstrated by support for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

This Dataset contains year, demography, citizenship wise total number of apprehensions in each US State. Note: 1) The U.S. federal government's fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 30. 2) Encounter data includes U.S. Border Patrol Title 8 apprehensions, Office of Field Operations Title 8 inadmissibles, and all Title 42 expulsions for fiscal years 2020 to date. 3) Data is available for the Northern Land Border, Southwest Land Border, and Nationwide (i.e., air, land, and sea modes of transportation) encounters. 4) Individuals in a Family Unit (FMUA): FMUA represents the number of encountered individuals within the family unit, not the number of units. A Family Unit is defined as a least one non citizen minor child and at least one noncitizen adult parent or legal guardian. For example, a family unit consisting of two or more individuals is encountered. (Continued on page two footer) The data would show two or more individuals, not one family unit. Beginning in March 2020, FMUA data also includes Title 42 Expulsions of a family group of at least one child and one related adult (regardless of whether the adult and child met the definition of a family unit

In the fiscal year of 2020, the United States Border Patrol apprehended ******* people trying to cross the Southwest border. This was a significant decrease from the previous year, when there were ******* apprehensions by Border Patrol at the Southwest border. This decrease is likely due to the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Comprised of data collected as part of a traveler or vehicle package during entry to the country.

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15,341 DAYS (October 1st, 1979 - September 30th, 2021)

This is a dataset that describes annual statistics regarding US immigration between the 1980-2021 fiscal years.

All data are official figures from the Department of Homeland Security's government website that have been compiled and structured by myself. There are several reasons for the decision to only examine immigration data from 1980 to 2021. Since 1976, a fiscal year for the US government has always started on October 1st and ended the following year on September 30th. If the years prior to 1976 were included, the data may be incorrectly represented and cause further confusion for viewers. Additionally, the United States only tracked refugee arrivals after the Refugee Act of 1980, a statistic that is prominently featured in the dataset. As a result, the start date of 1980 was chosen instead of 1976.

Data Sources

The primary data sources used were the "Yearbook of Immigration Statistics" webpages from the Department of Homeland Security. As a whole, the website not only provided figures about US immigration that were perfect for making time series analyses, but also explored the logistics behind the annual trends found.

1. The Department of Homeland Security's 2021 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics - The Office of Immigration Statistics' 2021 Flow Reports and Population Estimates provide text, tables, and charts on lawful permanent residents, refugees and asylees, nonimmigrant admissions, naturalizations, enforcement actions, and the unauthorized population. Being the latest version released to date, the 2021 yearbook is the most comprehensive report publicly available and tends to feature data of past years for reference.
2. The Department of Homeland Security's Directory of Past Immigration Yearbooks - Past yearbooks were referenced in order to find the missing data from the fiscal years during 2000-2021. There is a single yearbook covering the fiscal years during 1996-1999, but that was the oldest publications featured in the directory.
3. The Center for Immigration Studies's File Library - In order to procure immigration data during the fiscal years of 1980-1999, I found free versions of the Immigration and Naturalization Service's paywalled yearbooks from the Center for Immigration Studies. By doing so, I was able fill in the missing values and finish the dataset.

Statistics Being Tracked

• Immigrants Obtaining Lawful Permanent Resident Status - Number of immigrants who obtained lawful permanent resident status in the United States, otherwise known as green card holders.
• Refugee Arrivals - Number of refugees who arrived in the United States. Excludes Amerasian immigrants except for the fiscal years of 1989 and 1991. Figures are based on refugee's arrival date.
• Noncitizen Apprehensions - Number of noncitizens apprehended in the United States. Data from 2020 to 2021 includes U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) encounters that resulted in expulsion on public health grounds (due to the pandemic).
• Noncitizen Removals - Number of noncitizens removed from the United States. Removals are the compulsory and confirmed movement of an inadmissible or deportable noncitizen out of the United States based on an order of removal.
• Noncitizen Returns - Number of noncitizen returns from the United States. Returns are the confirmed movement of an inadmissible or deportable noncitizen out of the United States not based on an order of removal.

Dataset History

2023-01-07 - Dataset is created (465 days after the end of the 2021 fiscal year).

GitHub Repository - The same data but on GitHub.

Code Starter

Link to Notebook

This dataset is about books. It has 1 row and is filtered where the book is Refugee encounters at the Turkish-Syrian border : Antakya at the crossroads. It features 7 columns including author, publication date, language, and book publisher.

Immigration lawyers and attorneys recently experienced significant turbulence and unprecedented changes. When COVID-19 emerged, the US government implemented policy measures like visa suspensions and travel bans to curb migration and control the virus spread. Consequently, many migrants turned to immigration attorneys for support in navigating these restrictions, causing revenue to surge in 2020. In 2021, robust economic growth resulted in more spending on immigration services by individuals and businesses alike, inflating revenue in that year. The recent spike in inflation in 2022 and 2023 saw a notable decline in demand for the industry’s services as potential clients prioritized essential living expenditures, constraining revenue growth. More recently, providers have benefited from a major surge in immigration in the early 2020s, keeping revenue positive in 2022 and 2023 and producing a major surge in income in 2024. Over the past year, the US government has tightened immigration policies amid public concerns about asylum law abuse and a surge in migrants. In June 2024, former President Biden issued an order to suspend asylum rights for unauthorized individuals at the US-Mexico border when daily encounters exceed 2,500 individuals. This led to a significant drop in monthly migrant encounters and is expected to lead to a slowdown in revenue growth in 2025. Internal competition has mounted due to increased entry into the industry, constraining profit. Overall, revenue for immigration lawyers and attorneys has expanded at a CAGR of 3.3% over the past five years, reaching $9.9 billion in 2025. This includes a 2.2% climb in revenue in that year. Looking forward, the industry’s companies are poised for both challenges and opportunities. Steady economic growth is predicted over the next five years, potentially boosting disposable income, corporate profit and, therefore, revenue growth. However, looming policy changes by the Trump administration could dampen providers' prospects. The resurrection of restrictive policies, such as the "Remain in Mexico" rule, aims to limit migration, possibly slowing providers’ growth. Other policies, such as expanding the 287(g) program and attempting to end birthright citizenship, have sparked controversy and criticism. These policies may result in increased demand for immigration lawyers as pro-immigration groups seek to challenge them, potentially raising revenue for lawyers specializing in court activities. Overall, revenue for immigration lawyers and attorneys is forecast to inch upward at a CAGR of 1.7% over the next five years, reaching $10.8 billion in 2030.