Immigration articles
How many people does ICE arrest?
149,070 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.
How many immigrants get green cards every year?
About 1.17 million during fiscal year (FY) 2023, 15.2% more than the previous year. That’s the number of people who became lawful permanent residents (LPR) of the U.S., commonly known as green card holders. Green cards grant immigrants the right to live and work permanently in the US with a path toward citizenship. The total includes individuals who obtained green cards through family sponsorship, employment, refugee or asylum status, and other avenues.
How many DACA recipients are there?
About 515,600 people at the end of June 2025 — about the same as the population of Killeen-Temple, TX Metro Area. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is a program created in 2012 for people who came to the US as children and who do not have legal immigration status. People accepted into DACA and who maintain active status with the program are protected from deportation and are allowed to apply for work authorization, but do not receive legal immigration status or have a path to citizenship.
What does the Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) 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.
What does the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) 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.
What does the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) 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.
How 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.
How many illegal crossings are attempted at the US-Mexico border each month?
About 8,400 attempted crossings were detected in September 2025, 84.4% fewer than in September 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.
What does the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) do?
The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) is a subdivision of the Department of Justice responsible for adjudicating immigration cases by interpreting and administering immigration laws. The agency conducts immigration court proceedings, appellate reviews, and administrative hearings. It aims to ensure the fair and uniform application of immigration laws. It was established in 1983.
What countries does the US recognize?
The US recognizes 196 other countries as independent states and has positive diplomatic relations with 193 of them — all but Bhutan, Iran, and North Korea. Along with the 196 nations, the US government recognizes 64 dependencies and other sovereign areas.
Are immigration judges keeping up with rising caseloads?
There’s long been a backlog of immigration cases — but it’s increased by a factor of nearly six from FY 2015 to 2024. In FY 2024, the case backlog reached 3.9 million. The backlog is a function of the number of new cases, the number of cases completed, and the number of available judges. Asylum applications are a large driver of new cases, but non-asylum cases have also increased in the last decade.
Which industries employ the most immigrant workers?
In 2024, close to 20% of the US workforce was foreign-born; of 161.1 million employees, about 30.8 million were immigrants. In 2010, immigrants were 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 organizations employed the most immigrants — 5.6 million in 2024, 18.1% of all foreign-born employees. This was followed by professional and business services with 4.7 million (15.4%) and construction with 3.5 million (11.4%).
How long can it take to become a US citizen?
There’s no single timeline for becoming a US citizen. For some, the journey is a few years; for others, it spans decades. Processing times, federally mandated annual visa limits, and mandatory waiting periods mean that the same goal — citizenship — is obtained in very different ways depending on where a person is from and how they begin their journey.
Where do foreign students attend school?
As of June 2025, 151,015 international students were studying in California, most of any state. This number reflects those who hold F-1 or M-1 student visas and maintain active student status.
What types of work visas and green cards does the US issue?
In FY 2024, 95.2% of work-related arrivals came on temporary visas, while 4.8% received green cards for work. People immigrating to the US for work have two visa options: temporary visas or employer-sponsored green cards that offer permanent residence. The government admits immigrants for multiple reasons: to reunite families, provide safety for refugees, and expand labor pools for seasonal work, among others.In FY 2024, most authorized immigrants — 40% — were admitted on work-related visas. Qualifying for either a temporary work visa or a green card depends on a range of factors, including offers of employment and measures of personal and professional achievement.
How does US law enforcement work? Who has jurisdiction?
High-profile law enforcement activity across the US in 2025 has raised questions about overlapping jurisdictions.How is law enforcement structured in the US?There are about 17,600 government agencies involved in law enforcement in the US, including nearly 100 federal agencies and 17,500 state and local agencies.Their jurisdictions are divided along a few lines: the type of crime, who’s involved, and geography, e.g.:The Drug Enforcement Administration within the Justice Department, as the name suggests, enforces laws and regulations having to do with controlled substances, and the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation division, within the Treasury, investigates potential tax compliance violations.The 72 Offices of Inspectors General in federal agencies investigate fraud and abuse within those agencies.State and local law enforcement agencies, along with some federal agencies, generally focus on crime within their geographical boundaries.This structure allows for considerable jurisdictional overlap, which in turn can create considerable confusion.When do state and local police have jurisdiction?Crime response is mainly the responsibility of state and local governments, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.State and local law enforcement agencies enforce laws according to their state and local legislation, which tends to be bound by geography: Local police departments are responsible for towns and cities. At the county level, there’s often an elected sheriff. State police perform statewide investigations across county or municipal borders, patrol highways, and cover areas with no local police of their own.
Are 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.
How 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.
What 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.
Where 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.
Where 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.Which states have the biggest immigrant communities?In 2023, the states with the largest shares of foreign-born residents were California (27.3%), New Jersey (24.2%), New York (23.1%), Florida (22.1%), and Nevada (19.3%).In each of these states, immigrants tend to be concentrated in counties with major metropolitan areas. Here’s a look at where foreign-born populations live, and how these populations vary by county and state.
Immigration 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.
What 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.
Supreme 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.
Border 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.
Eight 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.
How 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.
How 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.
Why 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.
How many student immigrants come to the US and what countries do they come from?
About 2.6 million authorized immigrants entered the US in 2022, mostly with visas, rebounding after a nearly 40% decline from 2019 to 2021, according to data from the Department of Homeland Security and Department of State.Work was the most common reason for immigration, accounting for 1.1 million or 41% of new immigrant arrivals that year.How many immigrants come to the US for school?School is the second most common reason new immigrants come to the US. In 2022, 701,945 people came to the US as students. This is comparable to 2019, when 728,739 students arrived.
How many refugees are entering the US?
There are 2.4 million refugees worldwide in need of resettlement, according to the United Nations.The United States Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) is a foreign policy tool to offer hope to persecuted individuals worldwide.What is the definition of a refugee?Refugees and asylum seekers both leave their home countries due to fears of persecution. However, the process for seeking protection and the requirements within the US immigration system necessitates designating these people into two categories.Refugees apply for refugee status before coming to the US, while asylees apply for asylum status while already in the US or at a port of entry.According to the USRAP, refugees are people who have experienced past persecution or have a well-founded fear of persecution based on their race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.How many refugees enter the US annually?Over 3.6 million refugees have entered the US since 1975 — more than the population of Utah.After hitting a 40-year annual low of 11,411 during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, over 60,000 refugees entered the country in 2023, the most since 2016. By June 30, 2024, the annual total had already eclipsed that at 68,000.
What will America’s population look like by 2100?
By 2100, the United States will be home to 366 million people, according to Census Bureau projections. That’s 32 million more people than in 2022, but it also indicates a slight decline from a projected peak down the road.The Census Bureau projects America’s population to grow older and more diverse by the end of the 21st century, with immigration and fertility rates driving most changes through 2100.The Census also projects immigration will be the largest driver of population growth through the rest of the century. Without any new immigration, the Bureau estimates the nation’s population would begin declining in 2024, resulting in approximately 107 million fewer people in 2100 than in 2022. Conversely, it also projects a high-immigration scenario in which the US could have an estimated 102 million additional people by then.How much is the US population predicted to grow by 2100?The Census projects the population will grow by 9.7%, or 33 million people, between 2022 and 2100. That’s roughly equivalent to the current population of Texas. According to these projections, the US population will peak at 369 million people in 2080 before declining through the rest of the century.What are the predicted birth and death rates for the US?US birth rates are predicted to decline throughout the remainder of the 21st century, from 10.8 births per 1,000 people in 2023 to 8.5 per 1,000 in 2100. Meanwhile, the death rate will increase from 8.5 per 1,000 people in 2023 to 11.9 per 1,000 in 2100.Fertility rates have generally declined in the US since the late 1950s, and the share of the population over 65 has increased. The Census expects these trends to continue, resulting in a death rate that exceeds the birth rate by 2038. By 2100, the Census Bureau estimates there will be 1.2 million more deaths in the US than births.
An overview of the US–Mexico border
The United States and Mexico share a nearly 2,000-mile land border. Along the way, the American states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas abut the Mexican states of Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas.How long is the US–Mexico border?The 1,954-miles-long border between the US and Mexico includes 18 miles of maritime boundary on the Pacific Coast and 12 miles extending into the Gulf of Mexico.The Rio Grande, which flows into the Gulf of Mexico, divides the nations for 1,255 miles. The remaining distance includes a stretch of land from El Paso, Texas, on the east to the southwestern tip of Arizona, where the border follows the Colorado River 24 miles north. There, it meets and follows the southern border of California to the Pacific Ocean.Where do people live on the border?The Department of Health and Human Services estimates that the US–Mexico border region, which extends 62.5 miles north and south from the border, is home to around 15 million people. More than 1 million live in 15 groups of sister cities established over decades of binational relations to coordinate emergency response plans.The largest US cities on the border are San Diego, California; El Paso, Texas; and Laredo, Texas.
What can the data tell us about unauthorized immigration?
Border officials encountered 11 million unauthorized migrants attempting to enter the US between October 2019 and June 2024.Data on these border encounters — which include people attempting to enter the country or apprehended trying to cross the border without inspection — helps the government estimate the number of individuals illegally entering the US.By understanding the demographics and origins of people encountered at the border, policymakers can better understand the complex factors driving immigration and make informed policy decisions.
The 90-year-old law that defines border crossing criminality
One issue at the heart of the current immigration debate is this question: should unauthorized entry int he US continue to be criminalized? The criminalization of unauthorized entry in the US. Criminalization began in 1929 under section 1325, but prosecution of unauthorized entry has been inconsistent.While the passage of 1325 led to thousands of illegal entry prosecutions after it first passed, usage of it declined throughout the 20th century. More recently, illegal entry prosecutions have been on the rise.Here’s a look at the numbers behind the law and who would be affected if a repeal was passed.What is Section 1325?In 1929, South Carolina Senator Coleman Blease proposed a change in the US Code that made unauthorized entry into the country a misdemeanor. Formally titled Section 1325, it was designed to target Latin American immigration, which unlike European and Asian immigration at the time, was not otherwise limited by quotas or bans.Under the law, unauthorized immigrants can either be deported without filing charges or authorities can choose to initiate federal criminal procedures. By 1940, 44,000 illegal entry cases had been filed through Section 1325. However, after that time, illegal entry prosecutions fell out of favor, and Section 1325 became somewhat irrelevant to immigration enforcement.
How many immigrants come to the US each year?
The US is home to almost 335 million people, some 46.2 million of whom (13.8%) were born outside of the country.In each year from 2021 to 2023, immigration has driven the nation’s population growth, with net migration outnumbering natural population growth that comes from having more births than deaths. Of the 1.6 million-person increase in the population from 2022 to 2023, 1.1 million (68%) came from immigration, while 504,000 (32%) came from natural growth.What types of immigration are there?Immigration can be thought of as having three different types:temporary authorized immigration with visas that offer no path to citizenshippermanent authorized immigration with a path to citizenshipunauthorized immigrationHow many temporary authorized immigrants are in the US?The first type includes foreign-born people living in the US with temporary visas including work visas, school visas, and visas to be with family. In 2022, the federal government awarded over 2 million such visas, including:1 million for work700,000 for school330,000 to people coming to the US to be with family members
What are the demographics of Hispanic voters?
Hispanics are the largest ethnic minority group in the US, and greater attention has been placed on the Hispanic vote over the past few election cycles. In 2020, around 13% of citizens over 18 were Hispanic, and Hispanic voters cast around 11% of ballots, according to Census data.Hispanic voters are younger on average, turn out at lower rates, and are most concentrated among states near the American Southwest.Where are most Hispanic voters located?Hispanic Americans hold the highest shares of the voting-age citizen population in states along the US-Mexico border. New Mexico had the highest, with 36% of this demographic identifying as Hispanic, followed by California, Texas, and Arizona. In 2020, these four states, in addition to Nevada and Florida, had at least 20% of eligible voters identify as Hispanic.These states also had the greatest Hispanic vote share in 2020. In four states (New Mexico, California, Texas, and Arizona), more than 20% of votes cast in 2020 were by Hispanic citizens. Maine had the least, with less than 1% of votes cast by Hispanic voters.
How many people seek asylum in the US?
Asylum seekers play a key role in the US immigration system, as they seek refuge from persecution in their home countries. The US provides a platform for individuals who fear persecution or harm based on their race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.Exploring the processes, statistics, and trends surrounding asylum seekers can clarify the challenges these migrants encounter when seeking safety in the US, and can focus immigration reform for those most vulnerable populations.What is asylum?Under current laws, migrants who arrive in the US may apply for asylum status if they have suffered persecution or fear they will suffer persecution if they return to their home country. These individuals fall under the category of asylum seekers.When someone seeks asylum in the US, they can follow one of two processes: affirmative or defensive asylum.What is affirmative asylum?An affirmative asylum seeker submits an asylum application to the Department of Homeland Security after entering the country. In this case, they proactively seek asylum status.What is defensive asylum?A defensive asylum seeker requests asylum as a defense against deportation during a standard removal proceeding. This means they are already being deported when they claim asylum to stay in the US.The processing of asylum claims falls under the jurisdiction of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the Department of Homeland Security.
How many people die crossing the US-Mexico border?
Since 1998, at least 8,000 undocumented migrants have died attempting to cross the border from Mexico to the US. Their journey often involves traveling through desert areas where there’s few sources of water, steep rocky terrain, and temperatures reaching 118°F during the summer.Extreme heat, drownings, and falls are some of the frequent causes of death for those trying to cross.
Where do US immigrants come from?
More than 2.6 million authorized immigrants came to the US in fiscal year 2022. About 41% of them, or 1.06 million people, came for work.What is the total number of immigrants in the US?There were 2.6 million new authorized immigrant arrivals in fiscal year 2022, according to data from the Department of Homeland Security and State Department. That’s an increase from 2020 and 2021, and similar to the 2017 level.
How common are multigenerational households?
In 2022, there were an estimated 4.8 million multigenerational households in the US — homes with three or more generations living under one roof — equal to 3.7% of all households in the country. Those households contain 26 million people, or 8.1% of the US population.Are multigenerational households becoming more common?Multigenerational households have consistently hovered at around 3.8% of all households in the US. 2022’s rate of 3.7% was the lowest since 2010.
Where do international adoptees come from?
American families adopted 1,517 children from abroad in fiscal year 2022, the lowest annual total in the 21st century. Nearly 40% of them were born in one of three countries: Colombia (235), India (223), and South Korea (141).How many children are adopted each year in the United States?Government data on adoptions is limited because many domestic adoptions happen privately (including stepparents adopting their stepchildren). These private adoptions don’t follow the same bureaucratic process, so government agencies are unable to track them.For adoptions that are trackable, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reports 54,240 public domestic adoptions through the child welfare system in fiscal year 2021. Internationally, the State Department reported 2,971 adoptions from overseas in 2019 and 1,622 in 2020.