Immigration articles
These reports cover immigration in the US, including demographics, border security, and policy trends.
How many people does ICE arrest?
149,071 arrests by the two operational branches of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in fiscal year (FY) 2024. That includes 113,430 administrative arrests (76.1% of total arrests) conducted by ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), as well as criminal arrests: 3,032 by ERO and 32,608 by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the transnational criminal investigative division of ICE.
Updates monthlyAre immigrants eligible for government assistance?
Federal programs such as Medicaid, Social Security, and food assistance (e.g., SNAP) have strict eligibility rules that are often based on income or work history. For immigrants, there’s typically another requirement: an eligible immigration status.
Aug 15, 2025How many people apprehended at US borders have a prior criminal conviction?
About 17,000 in fiscal year (FY) 2024. The criminal arrests of people who are not US citizens — referred to as aliens in federal law — represents 1.1% of all border apprehensions by the US Border Patrol (USBP) through September 2024, the end of the federal fiscal year. Because one person may be arrested multiple times in the same fiscal year, it’s possible to have more arrests than people arrested.
Updates annuallyWhat does the Immigration and Customs Enforcement do?
The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a subdivision of the US Department of Homeland Security responsible for enforcing immigration laws, investigating criminal activities, and ensuring national security. ICE conducts investigations, detains and deports individuals who violate immigration laws, and works to dismantle criminal organizations involved in human trafficking, drug smuggling, and other illegal activities. It was established in 2003.
Updates annuallyWhat does the Customs and Border Protection do?
The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is a subdivision of the US Department of Homeland Security responsible for safeguarding the nation's borders and facilitating lawful international trade and travel. The agency enforces immigration laws, prevents the illegal entry of goods and individuals, and ensures the security of the US border. It also works to prevent the trafficking of drugs, weapons, and other contraband. It was established in 2003.
Updates annuallyWhat does the Citizenship and Immigration Services do?
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is a subdivision of the Department of Homeland Security responsible for overseeing lawful immigration to the United States. The agency administers the nation's naturalization and immigration system, processes applications for citizenship, and manages the issuance of various immigration benefits. It also ensures the integrity of the immigration system by preventing fraud and enhancing security measures. It was established in 2003.
Updates annuallyHow many illegal crossings are attempted at the US-Mexico border each month?
About 4.6K attempted crossings were detected in July 2025, 91.8% fewer than in July 2024. These attempted crossings, sometimes referred to as “encounters,” are instances when the US Border Patrol (USBP) apprehended or expelled someone attempting to illegally cross into the US between official ports of entry. This number does not necessarily represent individual people, as one person may be counted several times if they make multiple attempts to cross the border.
Updates monthlyHow many US businesses are owned by immigrants?
The Census Bureau categorizes businesses as either nonemployer (where the owner is the only employee) or employer (which have one or more employees beside the owner). Immigrants own nearly a fifth of all employer companies and almost a quarter of nonemployer businesses — higher than their percentages of the US population or the workforce generally.
May 9, 2025What is ICE and what does it do?
Since 2003, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) division of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been responsible for enforcing federal laws governing customs, trade, and immigration. ICE was created by the Homeland Security Act of 2002, which was passed after 9/11. This act created the DHS and reorganized existing agencies, merging the US Customs Service (formerly under the Treasury Department) and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (formerly under the Justice Department) to form ICE. ICE’s mission is to preserve American security and public safety, mainly within US borders, by enforcing immigration laws. This primarily involves detaining, deporting, and convicting unauthorized immigrants. It also assists international investigations into criminal organizations and terrorist networks that threaten or seek to exploit US customs and immigration laws. It operates with a staff of over 20,000 across 400+ global offices and an annual budget of around $8 billion.
Mar 21, 2025Where has diversity changed in recent years?
The US has become more diverse over the past few years – but that doesn’t just mean “less white.” The Census Bureau uses the Diversity Index, which measures the probability that two people selected at random will be from different racial and ethnic groups. Based on this, each locale is given a score between 0% and 100%, where 0% indicates similar racial and ethnic backgrounds, and 100% indicates completely different racial backgrounds.
Mar 14, 2025Which industries employ the most immigrant workers?
In 2023, close to a fifth of the workforce was foreign-born: out of the 160.2 million people in the US workforce, about 29.7 million were immigrants. That’s an increase from 2010, when immigrants made up 15.6% of the workforce. Immigrants are employed across industries, with concentrations in education, health, and professional services. Which industries employ the most immigrants?Educational and health services employed the most immigrants— 5.5 million, or 18.4% of all foreign-born employees in 2023. This is followed by professional and business services with 4.7 million (15.8%) and construction with 3.3 million (11.1%).
Jan 29, 2025Where are the largest immigrant communities in the US?
In 2023, the US was home to an estimated 335 million people, 13.8% of whom were immigrants. Those immigrant communities tended to cluster together and concentrate in some states, and even particular parts of states. Per the Census Bureau, an immigrant (or foreign-born person) is anyone who wasn’t a US citizen at birth, even if they later naturalized.California was home to the biggest immigrant population, with 10 million foreign-born residents — more than double the number in Texas, whose 5.1 million immigrants make up the second-largest foreign-born population among the 50 states.
Jan 24, 2025Immigration is down and so are births: Why population growth slowed down
The population of the United States grew by 1.5 million between July 1, 2018 and June 30, 2019 — the smallest annual growth since the 1940s.There are a few methods for measuring these population changes. First, there’s natural population change, which is the number of deaths in a given year subtracted from births. There’s also change from migration, which counts the number of immigrants arriving in a given year. Plus, migration between states needs to be counted for state populations.A drop in every facet of population change has led to slowing population growth. The graphic below breaks down population changes by state and region.
Jan 10, 2020What is the H-1B visa?
The H-1B visa is one of several temporary visas that allow people from other countries to live and work in the US, with 389,354 people who received or renewed an H-1B visa in 2019. Here is an explanation of the program, the lottery selection process, and the people who hold H-1B visas.
Oct 7, 2020Border recidivism: How common are repeat illegal border crossings?
Immigration remains a hot-button issue in the United States, with border recidivism being a key aspect of policy debates. Recidivism has risen in recent years, and reports cite Title 42’s lack of penalties for illegal reentry as a reason for the trend.What is border recidivism?Border recidivism is the rate at which people try to reenter the US illegally within one year of being caught and sent back to their home country.The word “recidivism” is often used to describe how likely a formerly incarcerated person is to re-offend. The same concept applies to border recidivism, which the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) defines as the percentage of people apprehended by the US Border Patrol more than once within a fiscal year (which begin on October 1 and end on September 30 of the following year) for attempting to enter the US illegally.It’s worth noting that an apprehension is not the same as an arrest. Apprehension is when Border Patrol detains someone who is unlawfully in the US. It may or may not lead to an arrest, according to the CBP’s definition.Why does the government track border recidivism?The federal government uses the border recidivism rate to measure how effective the Border Patrol is at preventing illegal immigration, according to a report from the US Government Accountability Office (GAO). However, the measure has some limitations.According to the GAO and the US Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General, the border recidivism rate does not account for a person’s apprehension history over multiple fiscal years, nor does it consider individuals who have been apprehended but have no record of removal, which can lead to an underestimation of recidivism.
Aug 1, 2024Supreme Court agrees to review 'Remain in Mexico' policy
On February 18, the Supreme Court agreed to review whether the Biden administration’s ending of the Migrant Protection Protocols was legal. The policy, otherwise known as Remain in Mexico, requires people fleeing persecution who arrive at the southern US land border to wait in Mexico as they wait for their immigration hearing. It only applies to people from countries other than Mexico.Beginning under the Trump administration in January 2019, the program was a change from the previous policy of allowing migrants seeking protection to stay in the United States while awaiting immigration proceedings.A federal district appeals court ruled in August 2021 that the policy must remain in place. According to new data released in February, 673 people have enrolled in the Migrant Protection Protocols since it was restarted.
Apr 11, 2022How many immigrants are in the American workforce?
Immigrants make up over 19% of the US workforce as of June 2024 — over 32 million out of a total of 169 million — and participate in the labor force at a higher rate than native-born workers, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).“Foreign-born workers” are people who “reside in the United States but who were not US citizens at birth. Specifically, they were born outside the United States (or one of its outlying areas such as Puerto Rico or Guam), and neither parent was a US citizen.” The BLS’s definition includes both legal and undocumented immigrants.How many immigrants are currently working in the US?There were 30.9 million foreign-born people employed in the US in June 2024. The total foreign-born labor force is 32.2 million people, including those who are employed and unemployed.That month, Foreign-born workers were 19% of the active labor force and 18% of the total possible labor force.
Aug 12, 2024Why do immigrants come to the US?
People immigrate to the US to work, reunite with family, study, or seek personal safety. In 2021, 42% of the 1.5 million people who immigrated to the US came for work.What reasons for immigration does the government track?The US government generally allows legal immigration for five broad reasons: work, school, family, safety, and encouraging diversity.People immigrating for work or school are often granted temporary entry rather than permanent residency. Immigration for family generally means the immigrant has a relative who is already in the US as a citizen, green card holder, or temporary visa holder with whom they want to be reunited with. Those who immigrate for safety are refugees or asylum-seekers. And finally, up to 50,000 immigrants obtain green cards annually through the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program lottery that grants entry to individuals from countries with low rates of immigration to the US.
Aug 1, 2024Eight ways the pandemic affected American life in data
During the pandemic, the number of jobs available grew, the number of people getting educated fell, and spending on things such as recreation and hotel stays plummeted. Here are eight charts showing some of the ways the pandemic reverberated in different realms of American life.
Jul 12, 2022How many people have received a US green card?
Green cards, officially known as Permanent Resident Cards, indicate a foreign-born person’s lawful permanent residency status in the US.In 2022, the US accepted 1.02 million green card applications, a 37.6% increase from 2021. As of January 2023, there were 12.7 million lawful permanent residents living in the US.
Dec 8, 2023