Illegal immigration hit a record-high of 14 million in the US in 2023, Pew report finds

The number of people in the United States illegally surged to an all-time high of million in a research group reported Thursday a major increase that still falls well short of estimates from President Donald Trump and chosen critics of immigration The Pew Research Center s closely watched gauge rose from million a year earlier and surpassed the previous high of million in The increase was driven by certain million who were in the country with particular form of legal protection Trump has stripped a great number of of those protections since taking office in January Pew whose estimates date back to stated that while is its latest full analysis preliminary findings show the number rose in though at a slower rate after then-President Joe Biden severely restricted asylum at the limit in June of that year The number dropped this year under Trump but is still likely above million The overall U S immigrant population regardless of legal status reached an all-time high of more than million in January accounting for a record of the U S population The number has since dropped which Pew declared would be the first time it has shrunk since the s While the findings are unlikely to settle debate Pew s assessment is one of the majority complete attempts to measure illegal immigration Nearly all the increase came from countries other than Mexico Guatemala El Salvador Honduras and India accounted for the largest numbers after Mexico Totals from Venezuela Cuba Colombia Nicaragua Ecuador Ukraine and Peru each more than doubled in two years Trump noted in an address to Congress in March that million people poured into the United States during the previous four years far exceeding estimates from Pew and what figures on confines arrests suggest The Federation for American Immigration Restructuring a group largely aligned with his policies estimated million in March The Center for Immigration Studies a group that favors immigration restrictions broadcasted that there were million people in the U S illegally last month down from a peak of million in January Homeland Protection Secretary Kristi Noem touted the informed drop of million in six months This is massive she mentioned in a press release last week Noem s own department through its Office of Homeland Assurance Statistics estimates there were million people in the U S illegally in its majority of latest count The Center for Migration Studies author of another closely watched survey the majority in the past few days pegged the number at million in topping its previous high of million in Pew s findings based on details from the U S Census Bureau survey and Department of Homeland Safety reflect an increase in people bridging the margin illegally to exercise rights to seek asylum and Biden-era policies to grant temporary legal status Those policies included a edge appointment system called CBP One and permits for Cubans Haitians Nicaraguans and Venezuelans Trump has ended those policies and also sought to reverse Biden s expansion of Temporary Protected Status for people already in the United States whose countries are deemed unsafe to return to Mexicans were the largest nationality among people in the country illegally a number that grew slightly to million in The increase came almost entirely from other countries totaling million up from million two years earlier States with the largest numbers of people in the country illegally were in order California Texas Florida New York New Jersey and Illinois though Texas sharply narrowed its gap with California Even with the increases in up-to-date years six states had smaller numbers in than in the previous peak in Arizona California Nevada New Mexico New York and Oregon Pew estimated that a record million people without legal status were in the workforce or about of the U S labor force in with Nevada Florida New Jersey and Texas having the largest shares