The estimated population of unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. stands at around 11 million people. Although the number has stabilized, the United States has seen a spike in migrant encounters in the last few years, with over two million cases registered by the U.S. Border Patrol in 2023. This is a slight decrease from the previous year, when there were over 2.2 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.

Nationality of migrants. containing estimates of Long-Term International Migration, International Passenger survey and pre 1975 archived data. annual table.

In 2023, the number of irregular cases of migration registered in Mexico increased around 77 percent when compared to the previous year. During that same year, Guatemala and Honduras topped the ranking of irregular migrant cases registered in Mexico by country of origin.

Tool to locate the datasets of Long-Term International Migration and International Passenger Survey estimates.

Relevant statistics on the activity of the General Inspectorate for Immigration

In 2019, California had the highest population of unauthorized immigrants, at around 2.74 million. The overall figure for the United States was estimated to be around 11.05 million unauthorized immigrants.

Acknowledgement

The following table is imported from the 2019 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics under the Department of Homeland Security:

The 2019 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics is a compendium of tables that provide data on foreign nationals who are granted lawful permanent residence (i.e., immigrants who receive a “green card”), admitted as temporary nonimmigrants, granted asylum or refugee status, or are naturalized. The Yearbook also presents data on immigration enforcement actions, including apprehensions and arrests, removals, and returns.

Table 33. Aliens Apprehended: Fiscal Years 1925 to 2019 (https://www.dhs.gov/immigration-statistics/yearbook/2019/table33)

Inspiration

The data was collected to observe trends in history reflecting the number of immigrants apprehended.

2011 Census internal migration statistics for the UK give estimates that classify people and households in areas within the UK and those having moved from each area to elsewhere within the UK in the year preceding the Census.

This statistic shows the share of adults who have seen a movie, TV show or docuseries addressing immigration in the United States as of June 2019. Around 38 percent of respondents stated that they had not seen any movies, TV shows or docuseries that addressed the topic of immigration in the last five years as of June 2019, and 32 percent said that they had seen several.

Composition of Long-Term International Migration estimates, annual table.

Data set is the result of commissioned questions in the Atlantic Quarterly omnibus public opinion survey conducted in February 2019. These commissioned questions relate to public opinion regarding perceptions of immigration. Results are provided for each question broken down by various demographic markers (age, gender, geographic region, education level and household income). Sample size consisted of 454 online surveys.

Migration flows are derived from the relationship between the location of current residence in the American Community Survey (ACS) sample and the responses given to the migration question "Where did you live 1 year ago?". There are flow statistics (moved in, moved out, and net moved) between county or minor civil division (MCD) of residence and county, MCD, or world region of residence 1 year ago. Estimates for MCDs are only available for the 12 strong-MCD states, where the MCDs have the same government functions as incorporated places. Migration flows between metropolitan statistical areas are available starting with the 2009-2013 5-year ACS dataset. Flow statistics are available by three or four variables for each dataset starting with the 2006-2010 5-year ACS datasets. The variables change for each dataset and do not repeat in overlapping datasets. In addition to the flow estimates, there are supplemental statistics files that contain migration/geographical mobility estimates (e.g., nonmovers, moved to a different state, moved from abroad) for each county, MCD, or metro area.

Number of persons in the labour force (employment and unemployment) and not in the labour force, unemployment rate, participation rate, and employment rate, by immigrant status and age group, last 5 years.

Components of international migratory increase, quarterly: immigrants, emigrants, returning emigrants, net temporary emigrants, net non-permanent residents.

The primary purpose of migrants entering or leaving UK. Estimates of Long-Term International Migration, annual table.

Abstract

This activity is intended to address gaps in knowledge regarding the impacts of migration and remittances on development. Understanding the causes, benefits and risks of migration is important for the development of Sub-Saharan Africa, where reliable data on migration and remittances are scarce. This study is to undertake surveys of representative samples of an average of 2,000 households and 1,000 return migrants in Senegal and the Gambia in 2019, to provide information on migration, economic and social consequences on households sending countries and return migrants.

The team proposes to generate the necessary (and missing) evidence along three key dimensions: 1. Determinants of international migration: (a) document socio-economics characteristics of potential migrants vis-à-vis the population, (b) understand decision-making and expectations among potential migrants, and (c) show additional push and pulls factors which shape the migration decision; 2. Economic and social consequences on households in sending countries: (a) describe contribution of remittances to household welfare, and (b) assess vulnerabilities of migrants' families left behind related to missing household members; 3. Return migrants, (a) show characteristics of return migrants and forced returnees, including skills acquired abroad, (b) document migration experience, and (c) highlight vulnerabilities such as potential traumas which challenges re-integration in the country of origin.

Geographic coverage

National coverage

Analysis unit

• Households
• Communities

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The survey is structured simply to collect quantitative data from households. The primary sampling unit of the survey being the household required that intervies are conducted at the household level. The survey was structured in parts in order to facilitate the operation and give maximum quality output. This includes questionnaire design, lister recruitment and training, listing of households, enumerator recruitment and training, field pilot, field data collection and quality control and data cleaning.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Nationality of short-term migrants by the primary purpose of their visit. Inflow and Outflow. Estimates from the International Passenger Survey, annual table.

This statistic shows the number of persons obtaining legal permanent resident status, also called "green card" recipients, in the U.S. who were born in NAFTA countries from 1986 to 2019. In 2019, 156,052 people born in Mexico received legal permanent resident status in the U.S.