53% of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. are Mexicans

Around 11.3 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States (roughly 53% of the total) were born in Mexico , according to a study conducted by the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) .

The report, which constitutes the most important migration assessment tool in the United States , has confirmed that the undocumented population has remained stagnant since the Great Recession of 2008-2009 , and that the Mexican wave of migration has been displaced by the growing illegal inflow of migrants from Central America, Asia, and Africa .

“The stagnation of undocumented population growth is also due to the considerable investment that the U.S. government is making in the southeast border, as well as the rest of the territory,” the report states.

By national origin, undocumented immigrants that were born in Mexico represent a 53% of the total (based on the period 2012-2016) , which represents around 5.9 million people , followed by immigrants from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras . Even though Mexican immigration has dropped considerably in recent years, due to changes in labor relations and other demographic and economic transformations in Mexico, Mexicans are still a majority among the undocumented population in at least 36 of all 41 states in the country , for which there are detailed statistics.

Immigrants coming from the northern triangle of Central America (El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras) rank second place as a majority in most states of the U.S., except for the country’s western region, where there are more immigrants coming from China and India .

In 24 of all 135 counties where the MPI was able to conduct demographic profiling, more than 90% of the population identified was native to Mexico or Central America . The group encompasses counties in the west and southern region of the country, such as California, Texas, Washington, Oregon, New Mexico, Arizona, Georgia, and Arkansas .

The largest proportion of undocumented immigrants native to Mexico was found in the Yakima county, in the state of Washington, with 97%; in the Hidalgo county, Texas, with 96%, and in the Yuma county, in Arizona, with 96% .

By states, three out of five undocumented immigrants found between the years 2012 and 2016 resided in California, Texas, New York, Florida, and New Jersey . By herself, California holds 27% of the non-authorized population in the United States . The Los Angeles county alone accommodates almost 10% of the entire undocumented population in the U.S.

By stay period, 62% of undocumented immigrants have resided in the country for at least 10 years, while 21% has lived in the country for 20 years or more .

The MPI study has confirmed that there are many unauthorized immigrants that have strong family ties with U.S. citizens. Around 40% of all undocumented migrants over the age of 15 are either married or living with a partner .

Within this percentage, 29% of them were married to U.S. citizens, 17% were married to permanent residents and 53% of them were married to another non-authorized immigrant .

The IMP report states that around 80% of minors residing with undocumented parents were born in the United States , which places the population of American citizens born to undocumented parents at 4.1 million . Within that total, 1.3 million reside with undocumented parents, 909 thousand live with only one undocumented parent, and the remaining 1.8 million live with one undocumented parent and a legal resident or citizen .

Widespread poverty and inequality are the engines of international immigration

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