Sunday Read: Undocumented immigrants from Asia grow to 1.5 million

AAPI communities' conceren about immigration continues to grow.

The number of unauthorized immigrants to the US from Asia has risen in the decade 2007 to 2017, from 1.3 million to 1.5 million, based on an analysis by the Pew Research Center.

During that same period, the number of Mexican unauthorized immigrants declined while the total from other Central America ticked up. Mexicans made up less than half of all unauthorized U.S. immigrants (47%) in 2017 for the first time, according to the Center’s estimate, compared with 57% in 2007. 

The number of unauthorized immigrants rose over the 2007-2017 decade from two birth regions: Asia and Central America. The numbers declined over the past decade from two others: South America and the combined regions of Europe and Canada. The decline was statistically significant among European-born unauthorized immigrants, but not among those from Canada.

The data released by Pew on June 12 also shows that unauthorized immigrants from Asia is led by those from India, China and the Philippines, according to Pew.

The decline in unauthorized immigrants from Mexico and rise from other parts of the world is one sign of a change in how recent arrivals to this population enter the country. 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. These “likely overstays” have made up a large majority of unauthorized immigrant arrivals since 2010, according to Pew Research Center analysis.

The Center’s estimate of unauthorized immigrants includes 1.5 million or more people who have temporary permission to stay in the U.S. but could be subject to deportation by changes in government policy. In 2017, they included about 320,000 people from 10 nations with Temporary Protected Status, and about 700,000 beneficiaries of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).  

A rising number of people who have applied for asylum and are awaiting a ruling. The majority of those refugees waiting to be interviewed by an understaffed and overwhelmed immigration force fall into this latter group.

As the number of unauthorized immigrants shrank by 14% from 2007 to 2017, the U.S. lawful immigrant population continued to grow. During this period, the population of lawful U.S. immigrants – citizens and noncitizens, on permanent and temporary visas – rose by almost a quarter, to 35.2 million.

Unauthorized immigrants were 23% of the 45.6 million foreign-born residents in the U.S. in 2017.

Despite the decline of unauthorized immigrants over the decade, the number of in 2017 was triple the 3.5 million in 1990.

While mainstream media continues to focus on immigrants from Mexico and Central America, the plight of immigrants from Asia, unauthorized and those who are here legally, continue to be overlooked.

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