The number of undocumented immigrants living in the United States is now estimated to be around 11 million, down from a peak of 12 million in 2007. For two years now, that number has held steady. In the year 2000, a reported 770,000 immigrants came to the U.S. from Mexico. Most were unauthorized. But by 2012, that number had dropped significantly—and, the Pew Center reports, most of those people came to the United States legally. Jeffrey Passel is a Senior Demographer at the Pew Hispanic Center. PASSEL: "By 2010, the flow had dropped to less than 20 percent of what it was ten years earlier, or about 140,000 Mexicans coming to the United States. And the majority of them were coming as legal immigrants. So, a very profound change in the nature of migration from Mexico." In San Diego, I'm Erin Siegal.
The number of undocumented immigrants living in the United States is now estimated to be around 11 million, down from a peak of 12 million in 2007. For two years now, that number has held steady.
In the year 2000, a reported 770,000 immigrants came to the U.S. from Mexico. Most were unauthorized. But by 2012, that number had dropped significantly—and, the Pew Center reports, most of those people came to the United States legally.
"By 2010, the flow had dropped to less than 20 percent of what it was ten years earlier, or about 140,000 Mexicans coming to the United States," said Jeffrey Passel, Senior Demographer at the Pew Hispanic Center. "And the majority of them were coming as legal immigrants. So, a very profound change in the nature of migration from Mexico."
