KPBS has a planned power outage, due to set up of our new backup generator, scheduled for Saturday, May 18th from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., impacting our live stream, FM and TV.

Fronteras: The Changing America Desk

Decreasing Number Of Undocumented Immigrants Living In US

Audio

Mexican Immigration Remains Low

By Erin Siegal

Aired 12/6/12

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.

Transcript

photo

— 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."

Forgot your password?