Giving Compass' Take:

• Migration Policy Institute breaks down the facts and figures of the unauthorized immigrant population in the United States.

• How can facts like these help to anchor the immigration debate in reality to increase productivity? 

• Learn about practices to build an immigration consensus in a divided world. 

The unauthorized immigrant population in the United States has plateaued since the Great Recession of 2008-09. Even as unauthorized arrivals from Mexico have waned significantly amid a changing demographic, economic, and labor-market picture there, illegal immigration from Central America, Asia, and Africa has increased, mostly offsetting the reduced Mexican inflows. The flattening of growth in the unauthorized population is also due to a sizeable deployment of immigration enforcement resources at the Southwest border and in the U.S. interior.

This fact sheet provides an overview of the characteristics of the estimated 11.3 million unauthorized immigrants living in the United States, using a unique Migration Policy Institute (MPI) methodology of assign

While 53 percent of unauthorized immigrants are from Mexico, the remainder are from a diverse set of countries. The other top countries of origin are El Salvador, Guatemala, China (including Hong Kong), and Honduras. Mexico was the top origin of the unauthorized population in 36 of the 41 states for which more detailed analysis could be done. In Rhode Island, however, Guatemala was the leading country, in Hawaii the Philippines was the leading source, and El Salvador was the top origin in Virginia, Maryland, Massachusetts, and the District of Columbia.

Three out of every five unauthorized immigrants in the United States during the 2012-16 period resided in California, Texas, New York, Florida, and New Jersey. California alone accounted for 27 percent of the unauthorized population, with one county—Los Angeles—having nearly 10 percent of the U.S. total. analyzed, with 21 percent in the country for 20 years or more.