Unauthorized Immigration Demographics

As a number of Latin American countries continue to struggle with drug cartel violence, economic hardship, and food shortages, many Latinos depart their native country to escape those conditions. For a number of those Latinos, their goal is the United States (US) as their final destination. According to the 2010 US Census, the Latino population in Orleans Parish in New Orleans grew from 14,826 to 18,051 in a period of fewer than ten years. The number shows a significant increase, yet it does not account the number of Latino immigrants that avoided to be counted due to their undocumented status. The number of the Latino immigrants that were not counted during this period of time was estimated to be in the range of 10,000 to

According to U.S. Census Bureau population estimates as of July 1, 2013, there are roughly 54 million Latinos living in the United States, representing approximately 17% of the U.S. total population, making people of Latino origin the nation 's largest ethnic or race minority. About 11.7 million immigrants are living in the United States illegally, a population that has not varied much over the last three years, but has been recently increasing again, according to new estimates (United States).

The United States of America, being a country founded by immigrants, is known all over the world as the land of great opportunities. People from all walks of life travelled across the globe, taking a chance to find a better life for them and their family. Over the years, the population of immigrants has grown immensely, resulting in the currently controversial issue of illegal immigration. Illegal immigrants are the people who have overstayed the time granted on their US, visa or those who have broken the federal law by crossing the border illegally. Matt O’Brien stated in his article “The government thinks that 10.8 million illegal immigrants lived in the country in January 2009, down from a peak of nearly 12 million in 2007.”(Para, 2)

According to Jens Krogstad and Jeffrey Passel, senior demographers at the Pew Research Center, there were 11 million illegal (undocumented) immigrants living in the US in 2014 of 320 million and that number is growing by 700,000 a year.

Day in and day out many immigrants enter the United States of America in search of greener pastures. This greener pasture includes higher educational prospects and lucrative jobs. However, life usually does not turn out as many of them usually anticipate. The expectation they usually have prior to their entry to the United States is partly due to the all rosary and nice things they hear about America. They hear such nice things from the media and also from diaspora’s who return from America to their homeland who usually don’t share their entire experiences with them. There have been quite a number of reports and research findings that outline the various challenges that are faced by immigrants in America. I personally share some of these issues as an international student in a foreign country. Prior to coming to Metropolitan State University, I had colleagues who told me about the school and their excellent environments that facilitate learning. Also other friends who were in America made me aware of the opportunity to work alongside schooling which made me more interested as I needed financial aid. With all these palatable information in mind, I did apply for the school and even though the tuition fee was quite expensive considering my socio economic background, I did apply having the mindset of working to meet up certain financial needs. Upon arrival in America, I realized that I was given a fraction of the entire picture. I wasn't allowed to work outside of campus,

According to Migration Policy institute, the Census Bureau's 2009 American Community Survey, the US immigrant population was 38,517,234, or 12.5 percent of the total US population. They also state that nearly one-quarter of the 7.9 million children under 17 in 2009 had at least one immigrant parent. It is important to note that these

According to a study by the Migration Policy Institute, approximately 41.3 million immigrants were living in the United States in 2013, an all-time high for a nation historically built on immigration. Immigrants accounted for 13 percent of the total 316 million U.S. residents and adding the U.S.-born children of immigrants means that approximately 80 million people, or one-quarter of the overall U.S. population, is either of the first or second generation (Zong, Batalova).

Immigration is one of the most important issues that the United States faces and thus has misperceptions such as how immigration affects the workforce and economy, the size and composition of the immigrants, and the budgetary impact of unauthorized immigration. As of 2012, more than 40 million immigrants lived in the United States, the population accounting for about 13 percent of the total population of U.S. The same year showed that unauthorized immigrants were 11.7 million, accounting for 3.7 percent of all the people of the U.S and roughly 5.2 percent of the labor force. Most of the illegal immigrants are Latino who is primarily from Central America and Mexico. 46 percent of all the immigrants in the

For that reason, an in-depth analysis of Immigration Laws and Policies will be conducted in order to investigate the root cause of the problem with the immigration system in the United States. Past and current immigration laws in the U.S. have led to more than 11 million unauthorized immigrants in the United States, the majority of which are from Latin American countries, with almost half of the 11 million unauthorized migrants coming from Mexico. This investigation will examine the current state of the immigration system in the U.S.; The lack of enforcement mechanisms, backlogs, and the number of available visas among other

Undocumented immigrants refer to “people who presently possess no proof of any right to be present in the United States, whether or not they have been declared deportable by the US government (and the vast majority have not)” (Lyon, 2004, p581). According to the United States Census Bureau there are approximately eight to eleven million undocumented immigrants residing in the United States (Porter, 2006). Each year, approximately 500,000 more arrive without legal documentation. The number of undocumented immigrants now exceeds the number of documented immigrant arrivals. The majority of the undocumented immigrants arrive from Mexico (57 to 70%) and Latin America (23 to 24%), with a smaller number from Europe and Canada (5 to 6 %

“California, Texas, Florida, New York, New Jersey and Illinois alone account for sixty percent of the illegal immigrant in the United States” (Krogstad & Passel). In 2012 a little over five percent of the labor force was illegal immigrants in the United States. This made for over eight million illegal immigrants that held jobs or was looking for work in the U.S. According to Pew

In 2013, there were an estimated 41.3 million immigrants living in the United States. (Krogstad, 2014). According to present estimates, this foreign-born population consists of 18.6 million naturalized US citizens and 22.1 million noncitizens (Cenato, 2013). Among the noncitizens, approximately 13.3 million are permanent legal residents, while 11.3 million (28%) are unauthorized migrants. (Cenato, 2013). The majority of unauthorized immigrants are primarily from Mexico and other Latin American countries, they live Texas, Florida, California, New York and Arizona (Zong et. al 2015).

Every year, around one million people are immigrating into the United States both legally and illegally. As of now nearly 40 million immigrants live in the United States; 11.5 million of which came to the country illegally (CNN). That is nearly thirteen percent of the total United States population. The role the United States government plays in the handling of immigration from foreign countries both legal and illegal, plays a vital role in the security of the people of the United States and

Although many states have illegal immigrants, the majority of them reside in California and Texas. According to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services “California has 2,209,000 and Texas at 1,041,000 as of the last census in 2000. The next leading state is New York with 489,000. The state with the lowest amount is Hawaii, with only 2,000. The immigration population is between nine and 11 million people” (Statemaster.com).

If they reached the land before they were caught by the authorities, they were granted political refugee status (9). This, as well as other circumstances helped cause the number of foreign-born migrants to increase eighty-one percent in the 1990s-2000s (3). More than half of the Hispanic population resides in the following states: California, Texas, and Florida, with California having the highest number of immigrants (2). One main component of California’s high number of Hispanic immigrants is due to the entrance of migrants illegally. The National Research Council claimed that in the 1990s, “more than 200,000 immigrants came into the United States illegally” (7). With eighty percent of Latin Americans becoming naturalized US citizens and nineteen percent not becoming US citizens before the 1970s, the numbers were reversed after the 1970s and the latter became predominant (12). Legal immigration as well as illegal immigration of Hispanics were both non-prevalent in early American history; nevertheless, with the progression of years and opportunities, many Latin Americans came to America seeking jobs and a better life for their family.