{"id":10822,"date":"2019-06-12T14:03:41","date_gmt":"2019-06-12T19:03:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/us-unauthorized-immigrant-population-2017\/"},"modified":"2025-04-23T23:57:44","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T03:57:44","slug":"us-unauthorized-immigrant-population-2017","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2019\/06\/12\/us-unauthorized-immigrant-population-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Mexicans decline to less than half the U.S. unauthorized immigrant population for the first time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Number<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The number of Mexican unauthorized immigrants in the United States declined so sharply over the past decade that they no longer are the majority of those living in the country illegally, according to new Pew Research Center estimates based on government data. In 2017, there were 10.5 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S., including 4.9 million Mexicans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The decrease in the Mexican born was the major factor driving down the overall population of unauthorized immigrants in the U.S., which in 2017 was 1.7 million below its peak of 12.2 million in 2007.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The number of Mexican unauthorized immigrants declined because more left the U.S. than arrived. Mexicans remain a much larger percentage of all unauthorized immigrants than those from any other birth country. But their 47% share of U.S. unauthorized immigrants in 2017 amounted to less than a majority for the first time since the beginning of a long era of growth in illegal immigration a half century ago. That rise began after passage of a major overhaul of immigration policy in 1965<\/a>, which imposed the first limits on immigration<\/a> from Western Hemisphere countries, including Mexico, and coincided with the end of the Bracero program<\/a> that had allowed temporary farm workers from Mexico to work legally in the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The number of Mexican unauthorized immigrants has fallen by 2 million since its peak of 6.9 million in 2007 and was lower in 2017 than in any year since 2001. Similarly, the number of apprehensions of Mexicans at the U.S. border also has fallen over the decade, a trend that began even earlier. In fact, apprehensions of non-Mexicans<\/a> outnumbered those of Mexicans for the past three fiscal years, according to federal statistics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the number of Mexicans decreased, unauthorized immigrants from other parts of the world increased. There were 5.5 million non-Mexican unauthorized immigrants in 2017, compared with 5.3 million in 2007. The non-Mexican number also ticked up from 2016 to 2017, offsetting the decline of Mexicans. As a result, the overall population of unauthorized immigrants statistically did not change in 2017 from the year before; the total in both years was the lowest since 2004.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The decline in unauthorized immigrants from Mexico and rise from other parts of the world is one sign of a change in how recent arrivals to this population enter the country. A growing share of U.S. unauthorized immigrants do not cross the border illegally, but probably arrive with legal visas<\/a> and overstay their required departure date. These \u201clikely overstays\u201d have made up a large majority of unauthorized immigrant arrivals since 2010, according to Pew Research Center analysis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Center\u2019s estimate of unauthorized immigrants includes 1.5 million or more people who have temporary permission to stay in the U.S. but could be subject to deportation by changes in government policy<\/a>. In 2017, they included about 320,000 people from 10 nations with Temporary Protected Status<\/a>, about 700,000 beneficiaries of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals<\/a> and a rising number of people who have applied for asylum<\/a> and are awaiting a ruling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Unauthorized<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As the number of unauthorized immigrants shrank by 14% from 2007 to 2017, the U.S. lawful immigrant population continued to grow. During this period, the population of lawful U.S. immigrants \u2013 citizens and noncitizens, on permanent and temporary visas \u2013 rose by almost a quarter, to 35.2 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unauthorized immigrants were 23% of the 45.6 million foreign-born residents in the U.S. in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the decline over the decade, the number of unauthorized immigrants in 2017 was triple the 3.5 million in 1990.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rising numbers from Asia and Central America<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"Estimated<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The number of unauthorized immigrants rose over the 2007-2017 decade from two birth regions: Asia and Central America. The numbers declined over the past decade from two others: South America and the combined regions of Europe and Canada. The decline was statistically significant among European-born unauthorized immigrants, but not among those from Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the 20 birth countries with the largest number of U.S. unauthorized immigrants, there were statistically significant increases in five from 2007 to 2017. Reflecting the growth in unauthorized immigrants from Central America, they included the three Northern Triangle<\/a> nations of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, a trend also displayed in rising apprehensions of people from those countries at the border. India and Venezuela also had increases in their U.S. populations of unauthorized immigrants over the past decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, looking at change from a year earlier, Brazil was the only large birth nation whose total unauthorized immigrant population in the U.S. grew by a statistically significant amount from 2016 to 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n

Unauthorized immigrant totals for largest birth countries<\/div>