On June 14^th the Pew Hispanic Center released the results of a study conducted on undocumented immigration (the study uses the term “unauthorized immigrants” and this article will use that term though this publication normally uses the term “undocumented” immigration) through the 2004 year.  The study was designed to lay a foundation of facts upon which the Independent Task Force on Immigration and America’s Future could deliberate and make recommendations.  The study has four main focus areas, which are condensed here into three headings:  (1) Number and trends of immigration, (2) Characteristics of the unauthorized immigrants, and (3) a detailed look at Mexican Migration.

Number and Trends

The study estimates that there are 10.3 million unauthorized migrants in the United States, which is roughly 30% of the total number of immigrants (unauthorized, authorized, naturalized and refugees) in the United States.  Of the unauthorized migrants, more than 80% are from Latin America and, specifically, 57% of the total from Mexico.  It appears that unauthorized immigration peaked between the years of 1995-1999 at almost 750,000 persons/year, which is most likely even higher because this number does not include those who left the United States or those who received documentation.  In the most recent period studied, 2000-2004, the number has dropped to about 700,000. 

The study also shows that unauthorized immigrants, although continuing to follow traditional settlement paths, have in increasing numbers settled into non-traditional areas.  In the 1990’s, unauthorized immigrants had settled most commonly in California, New York, Texas, Florida, Illinois or New Jersey.  Other areas, however, in 1990 had been home to only about 12% of the unauthorized migrant population, in 2004 hosted 39% of the population or about 3.9 million unauthorized migrants.  While California and other traditional migrant destinations continue with the highest numbers of unauthorized migrants, non-traditional states such as Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee have witnessed sizeable growth. 

New settlement states stretch across a wide geographic distribution.  States as diverse as Idaho, Minnesota and Mississippi now all rank among the states with the highest percentage (40-54%) of unauthorized migrants.  Although these numbers do necessarily correlate with high overall numbers of immigrants, the data do show a diversification of settlement among new migrants. 

Characteristics of Unauthorized Migrants

The Pew Hispanic Center study, as stated earlier, estimates the overall unauthorized population to be near 10.3 million.  The study also estimates that there are 13.9 million people in unauthorized families (family is defined to include married or unmarried couples with or without children, other adults with children or solo adults).  Adult men make up around 4.9 million or 56% of the adult unauthorized population.  Adult women number about 3.9 million.  There are an estimated 1.6 million unauthorized children in the United States, which is 14% of the total unauthorized population.  Unauthorized families also include 3.1 million children, who are U.S. citizens.

Concerning education, unauthorized migrants show dramatically lower graduation and college attendant rates.  The study shows that 50% of unauthorized migrants “dropout” of high school, compared with 21% of legal immigrants and 11% of natives.  This number does include migrants who never attended a high school in the U.S. and those that stopped attending before entering the U.S.  Of those who graduate from high school, only 48% of unauthorized migrants attend college versus 73% of legal immigrants and 70% of natives.  Unauthorized adults are shown to have had much less education than legal immigrants and natives.  Approximately one-third of unauthorized migrant adults have had less than a 9^th grade education, but the unauthorized population does contain about 15% who have at least a college degree.  The legal immigrant and native populations fair significantly better.  About one-third of all legal immigrants and natives have a college degree and only 2% of natives have less than a 9^th grade education. 

Unauthorized migrants account for about 4% of the nation’s labor force or approximately 6.3 million workers.  They are typically employed in lower wage jobs:  33% of unauthorized workers are in service occupations, 17% in construction and 16% in production, installation, and repair.  Unauthorized workers make up significant contributions of a variety of sectors such as farming, cleaning, and construction.  In certain specific occupations within those larger groupings, the concentration of unauthorized workers is extremely high - between 20-30% of all U.S. workers in drywall installation, masonry, roofing, painting, housekeeping, and agriculture are unauthorized workers.  Unauthorized workers, however, are not restricted to low wage jobs, as approximately 12% of all unauthorized workers are in the professional and business services sector. Unauthorized income is, however, dramatically low when compared to legal immigrants and natives.  The average unauthorized family has an income of $27,400, while legal immigrant families and native families have an income of about $48,000.  This is a larger problem in the context of family size. The study shows that families of unauthorized workers are larger than their native and legal immigrant counterparts.

Health insurance is also a dramatic problem for unauthorized families.  59% of unauthorized immigrant adults are uninsured, while only 14% of native adults are not.  More troubling is that 53% of children who are unauthorized or whose parents are unauthorized do not have health insurance, while only 9% of native children do not have insurance.

Mexican Migration

A large Mexican migration has led to about 9% of the Mexican-born population residing in the United States.  And an estimated one-half of those migrants are unauthorized.  The Mexican population has also moved away from traditional settlement states and expanded into new destinations.  The rise in Mexican migration, however, has coincided with a decrease in fertility.

More detailed information on this study can be found at www.pewhispanic.org.