Undocumented immigrant population of the United States
The actual size and the origin of the Undocumented Alien Population in the United States is uncertain and is difficult to ascertain because of difficulty in accurately counting individuals in this population. Figures from national surveys, administrative data and other sources of information vary widely. By all measures, the population of undocumented aliens in the US declined substantially from 2007 until at least 2018.[1][2][3] The number of border apprehensions substantially declined after 2000, reaching a low in 2017, but have recently rebounded to reach a new peak level as of 2021.[4]
Impact of the global financial crisis of 2008–2009[edit]
The 2008 global financial crisis had a large impact on the United States. The construction sector and other areas where undocumented immigrants traditionally seek employment shrank. The recession also led to a surplus of American labor, driving down the benefit of hiring undocumented immigrants.[17] According to the Pew Research Center, in 2007 the number of unauthorized Mexican immigrants peaked at 6.9 million and has dropped by more than 1 million to an estimated 5.6 million in 2014.[18]
After the Great Recession, more immigrants actually returned to Mexico rather than migrated to the United States.[7] From 2009 to 2014, 1 million Mexicans and their families left the US for Mexico. US census data for the same period show an estimated 870,000 Mexican nationals left Mexico to return to the US[7] It is hard to track of this because there is no official number of immigrants going to the United States or returning to Mexico every year.
Characteristics[edit]
Since about 2014, most undocumented immigrants living in the US have been long-term residents. In 2014, about two-thirds (66%) had been in the US for ten years or more, while just 14% had been in the US for less than five years.[8][7]
Just as the total population of undocumented immigrants in the US has declined since 2007, the proportion of undocumented immigrants in the workforce has also declined; in 2012, illegal immigrants made up 5.1% of the US's civilian labor force. Unauthorized immigrant workers are over-represented in certain economic sectors, making up 26% of farming, fisheries, and forest workers; 17% of cleaning, maintenance, and groundskeeping workers; 14% of construction workers; and 11% of food preparation workers.[19]
Origins[edit]
As of 2017, the majority of undocumented immigrants are not Mexicans, with the percentage of undocumented immigrants that are Mexican steadily declining over recent years.[20]
The number of Mexican documented and undocumented immigrants in the United States grew quite rapidly over the 35 years between 1970 and 2004; increasing almost 15-fold from about 760,000 in the 1970 Census to more than 11 million in 2004—an average annual growth rate of more than 8 percent, maintained over more than three decades. On average the net Mexican population, both documented and undocumented, living in the United States has grown by about 500,000 per year from 1995 to 2005 with 80 to 85 percent of the growth attributed to unauthorized immigration.[21] There was a net gain of 2,270,000 Mexican immigrants to the US between 1995 and 2000; a net loss of about 20,000 between 2005 and 2010; and a net loss of 140,000 between 2009 and 2014.[18]
The total number of Mexicans residing in the US, with and without authorization, was 11.7 million in 2014, down from the peak of 12.8 million in 2007.[18] The drop is primarily the result of the decrease in the number of unauthorized migrants—which make up 48% of the Mexican population in the US in 2014, down from 54% in 2007.[18]