Unauthorized Immigrant Population Peaked in 2012

The number of unauthorized immigrants in the United States has fallen by 1.7 million since the 2012 peak. There were 10.5 million unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S. in 2017, according to estimates by Pew Research Center's Jeffrey S. Passel and D'Vera Cohn. This is well below the 12.2 million of 2012. Behind the decline is a steep drop in unauthorized immigrants from Mexico, with the number falling from 6.9 million (57 percent of the total) in 2012 to 4.9 million (47 percent of the total) in 2017. The number from Mexico declined because, since 2012, more have left the U.S. than have arrived here.

The shift in the origin of unauthorized immigrants in the United States is a sign of change, says Pew. "A growing share of U.S. unauthorized immigrants do not cross the border illegally, but probably arrive with legal visas and overstay their required departure date," Pew explains.

Of the 46 million foreign-born residents of the United States, 23 percent are unauthorized immigrants, according to Pew estimates...

Total foreign-born population = 45.6 million in 2017
45% are naturalized citizens (20.7 million)
27% are lawful permanent residents (12.3 million)
23% are unauthorized immigrants (10.5 million)
5% are temporary lawful residents (2.2 million)

Source: Pew Research Center, Mexicans Decline to Less than Half the U.S. Unauthorized Immigrant Population for the First Time