Report Reveals Decreasing Number Of New Unauthorized Immigrants

A recent report released by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center, revealed that the number of unauthorized immigrants entering the country has sharply decreased since 2005. 

Jeffrey Passel, Senior Demographer and co-author of the report, said that although the current population of unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. is “substantially larger” than it was in 2000, but is 8% lower than it was during its peak in 2007. Since 2007, Passel said there are nearly 1 million less new unauthorized immigrants entering the country. 

“We found the most marked drop was among immigrants from Latin America, other than Mexico,” Passel said. “Mexico remains, by far, the largest source of unauthorized immigrants.”

According to the report, Mexicans represent about 60% of the nearly 12 million unauthorized immigrants currently living in the country. 

Passel acknowledged that the general trend for the inflow of new unauthorized immigrants has sharply decreased over the past 2 years, he admitted that the report does not provide insight as to why. 

Passel said that a southern border that has greatly increased its security, along with a struggling economy may have played a role in the decreasing trend.

“We’ve seen in the past that flows have varied with the state of the U.S. economy,” he said. “We know that it’s harder and more dangerous for undocumented immigrants to sneak into the country.”