Facts on immigration in the United States
A section of the wall at the U.S.-Mexico border at Imperial Beach, California.
June 15th, 2012
11:14 AM ET

Facts on immigration in the United States

The Obama administration said Friday that it will stop deporting illegal immigrants younger than 30 if they were brought to the United States as children and meet certain other requirements. (See Department of Homeland Security's explanation of the new policy)

Below are a few facts about immigration in the United States:

- The number of illegal immigrants in the United States was estimated at 11.5 million in 2011, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.

- The illegal immigrant population grew by 27% between 2000 and 2009, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

- Sixty-three percent of the illegal immigrant population (approximately 6.8 million) entered the United States before 2000. (DHS)

- Fifty-eight percent of the illegal immigrant population is from Mexico. (Pew)

- Twenty-four percent of illegal immigrants reside in California; 16% reside in Texas. (DHS)

And here are recent developments relating to immigration in the United States:

- 2008: The Department of Homeland Security apprehended 792,000 foreign nationals. Eighty-eight percent of those arrested were natives of Mexico. Immigration and Customs Enforcement apprehended 379,000 people. (DHS)

- 2008: The Department of Homeland Security removed 359,000 illegal immigrants from the United States. Of those, 69% were repatriated to Mexico; 8% were repatriated to Honduras; 7.7% were repatriated to Guatemala. (DHS)

- 2008: More than 810,000 illegal immigrants accepted offers to return to their home countries without being forcibly removed. (DHS)

- 2008: The Department of Homeland Security removed 97,100 criminals who were also illegal immigrants. Of those, 36% had been convicted of drug-related crimes. (DHS)

- 2009: The number of children born to at least one unauthorized-immigrant parent was 350,000. These made up 8% of all U.S. births. (Pew)

- 2010: The total number of unauthorized immigrants in the nation's labor force in United States is 8 million. They made up 5.2% of the labor force in 2010. (Pew)

- 2010: About 1.04 million people received legal permanent resident status. Of those, 139,120 were born in Mexico, 70,863 were born in China, and 58,173 were born in the Philippines (DHS).

- 2011: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement removed 396,906 illegal immigrants from the United States, the largest number in the agency's history. Of those, 216,698 (nearly 55%) had been convicted of felonies or misdemeanors. (ICE)

- April 23, 2012: The Pew Hispanic Center announced that net migration from Mexico to the United States had stopped and possibly even reversed. The center noted that from 2005 to 2010, about 1.4 million Mexicans immigrated to the United States, and about 1.4 million Mexican immigrants and their U.S.-born children moved from the United States to Mexico.

Related stories:

Immigration shift sparks reaction from both sides

Photos: Putting a face on the immigration debate

Time: Family photos of an undocumented immigrant

CNN Money: On the rise - immigrant entrepreneurs

CNN Money: I'm a successful entrepreneur but might get deported

WSB: Teen to file paperwork fighting deportation

Immigration lessons for the U.S. from around the world

Does this affect you? Share with us on iReport

 Post by:
Filed under: Immigration
soundoff (92 Responses)
  1. REal Facts

    everybody doesn't know what illegals are going through they work in conditions what we would call inhospitable for lower then the what they need to working day and night for a better future and for there kids. Now tell me you wouldn't do that for you kids or your wife. I myself have seen some kids in mexico without shoes,a home,others without food and their parents are working hard every day and barely make around 100 dollars a week and they come here with a good intention but they are living in fear every day of being deported i will admit there are some bad immigrants but so are there bad american citizens too but most of them want a better future and were all stuck on this earth so we better learn how to get along

    July 9, 2012 at 1:21 pm | Report abuse |
  2. Olegk Witoskyp

    I am curious to find out what blog system you have been utilizing? I'm experiencing some minor security problems with my latest website and I would like to find something more safeguarded. Do you have any recommendations?

    July 15, 2012 at 4:03 pm | Report abuse |
  3. Brian

    Just how much money does it cost to repatriate illegals? A better idea would be the FairTax. Since only American citizens can get the prebate, the extra money spent by illegals could pay for Social Security. It's "the gift that keeps on giving."

    December 18, 2012 at 1:52 pm | Report abuse |
  4. Irina

    How about Legal Immigrants? Today illigal immigrants have more rights than any educated INternational Students who is qualified in every way to work in US, how come everyone always talks about illigal immigrants where are the laws to help those how go out of their way to stay in US legaly and help US economy to thrive

    January 30, 2013 at 3:25 pm | Report abuse |
    • ME....

      LEGAL IMMIGRANTS dont need to become legal do they? ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS DO!

      March 13, 2013 at 9:48 pm | Report abuse |
    • bebak

      Actually USA have lot of illegal kids who studied in US Schools and went to US Colleges.
      Most of them i know are very brilliant, USA won't need any legal immigrant for jobs if all illegal kids who went to schools and colleges are allowed to work legally.

      February 16, 2014 at 4:56 am | Report abuse |
  5. Zoe

    Ok, I am going to get technical here. What exactly is an American? Most of the Real Americans died out when the British came to America and killed them. So the real Americans were the "First Americans". Who actually built the buildings and transportation systems? Immigrants built the US in reality. You can't say your an "American" if your roots don't come from this country.

    April 1, 2013 at 12:42 am | Report abuse |
    • bebak

      They say they are American only in the on-line world.
      This is what they say in the real world when they talk, they say they are Italian or Irish or British or German or French or some other or some combination of these. Many of them might have never ever been to even those countries.
      Funny they call them self all this, even when many of the have parents born in USA.

      February 16, 2014 at 5:05 am | Report abuse |
  6. yo' momma

    u guys are racist

    April 24, 2013 at 3:40 pm | Report abuse |
  7. marshall

    i was just in class searchiong for how many legal immigrants are there can someone tell me

    May 3, 2013 at 11:01 am | Report abuse |
  8. howmanyimmigrants?

    311,000,000

    May 14, 2013 at 2:29 pm | Report abuse |
  9. Bill

    These are facts on ILLEGAL immigration in the United States.

    June 4, 2013 at 12:41 pm | Report abuse |
  10. bran

    hola amigos

    February 12, 2014 at 1:15 pm | Report abuse |
  11. DuckMuncher42000

    How many ducks can immigrants eat in an hour?, plus when is your next escape i would really like to tape you all running over that fence of yours

    Aka DuckMuncher42000

    February 27, 2014 at 10:25 am | Report abuse |
1 2 3 4
« Back to main