Unauthorized Immigrant Population: National and State Trends, 2010

New estimates from the Pew Hispanic Center reveal that the number of unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S in 2010 remains virtually unchanged from the number of unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S. in 2009.

This period of stability follows a two-year decline from a peak of 12 million unauthorized immigrants in 2007 to 11.1 million unauthorized immigrants in 2009. As of March 2010, 11.2 million unauthorized immigrants were living in the U.S. According to the Pew Hispanic Center, 3.7 percent of the nation’s population and 5.2 percent of its labor force is made up of unauthorized immigrants.

From March 2009 to March 2010, 350,000 children were born to at least one unauthorized-immigrant parent. This accounts for 8 percent of all newborns, according to the report. As with previous analyses, the report finds that among the 5.5 million children of unauthorized immigrants, a growing share was born in the U.S. An estimated 4.5 million of these children of unauthorized immigrants are U.S.-born.

The data are derived from the U.S. Census Bureau’s population surveys. The report notes that because the estimates are derived from sample surveys, they are subject to sampling error. The report also notes that the period covered by this analysis is marked by changes in immigrant enforcement strategies at the federal, state and local levels. 

The Pew Hispanic Center is a project of the Pew Research Center

Read the Report.