A Portrait of Unauthorized Immigrants in the United States

Pew Hispanic Center ^ | Apr 14, 2009 | Jeffrey S. Passel & D'Vera Cohn

[zaphod3000]

Unauthorized immigrants living in the United States are more geographically dispersed than in the past and are more likely than either U.S. born residents or legal immigrants to live in a household with a spouse and children. In addition, a growing share of the children of unauthorized immigrant parents--73%--were born in this country and are U.S. citizens.

These are among the key findings of a new analysis by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center, which builds on previous work estimating the size and growth of the U.S. unauthorized immigrant population. A 2008 report by the Center estimated that 11.9 million unauthorized immigrants lived in the United States; it concluded that the undocumented immigrant population grew rapidly from 1990 to 2006 but has since stabilized. In this new analysis, the Center estimates that the rapid growth of unauthorized immigrant workers also has halted; it finds that there were 8.3 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. labor force in March 2008.

Based on March 2008 data collected by the Census Bureau, the Center estimates that unauthorized immigrants are 4% of the nation's population and account for 5.4% of its workforce. Their children, both those who are unauthorized immigrants themselves and those who are U.S. citizens, make up 6.8% of the students enrolled in the nation's elementary and secondary schools.

[raybbr]

Those illegals. They are better than us in almost every way. Notice they don't use the word "married" but rather "couples".

The caption under the image says, "Couples may be married or cohabitating"

Are we really to believe that only 21% of American children are living with a "couple"?

That is a greater share than for households of U.S.-born residents (21%) or legal immigrants (35%). This difference stems in large part from the relatively youthful composition of the unauthorized immigrant population.

"Youthful"? Getting pregnant young is the first priority of illegal girls coming here.

We used to have a pool when a girl came to where I worked. It was obvious she was illegal. Invariably she would be pregnant within six months.