Undocumented

Immigrants in the United

States – Fact Sheet

• There are approximately 11.4 million undocumented

immigrants in the United States as of January 2012. With
approximately a little more than half residing in CA (27%),
Texas (13%), New York (8%) and Florida (6%). Source: Migration
Policy institute.
• Of the roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants in the US,
7.9 million are estimated to come from Mexico and Central
America, 1.5 million from Asian counties, approx. 673,00 from
South America, approx. 432,00 from Europe, Canada and
Australia, 353,00 from Africa and approx. 232,00 from
Caribbean nations. Source: Migration Policy institute.
• The nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
estimates that undocumented immigrants contribute $11.74
billion a year via various taxes such as sales and excise, person
income tax and property tax. This challenges the discursal
notion that undocumented immigrants don’t pay taxes as aside
immigrants can use Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers
(ITIN) to pay income taxes in place of a SSN. Attempts to address illegal immigration via comprehensive reform have
• Despite contributions, undocumented immigrants, federal stalled, with the most recent effort with the introduction of S.744 – The
policy like the PWORA and IIRIRA bars this group from
accessing welfare/public benefits or access social security
Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization
funds. This group is also ineligible to benefit from legislation Act of 2013 ending in failure.
like the Affordable Care Act (ACA). • Attempts to provide relief for young undocumented men & women
• Estimates from the Pew Research Center note that the
have successively failed with multiple attempts to pass the Dream Act
American workforce includes 8 million undocumented
immigrants. This group largely works in the farming and first introduced in 2001 and which most recently failed slimly in 2010
construction sector and can be found in large shares of the despite general support from the public.
informal economy.
• Immigration reform was last successfully enacted in 1986 with the
Immigration Reform and Control Act (IIRCA) under Republican
President Ronald Regan which saw roughly 2.7 million
undocumented immigrants attain legal status along with a growth of
enforcement and border militarization.
Recent attempts at rectifying the issue of immigration have resulted in
various state, local and federal responses:
• In 2012 the Obama Administration enacted Deferred Action for
Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a controversial executive order which
allowed certain eligible undocumented individuals to receive a
reprieve from deportation and obtain temporary work
authorization. This policy was ended by the Trump
Administration in 2017.
o The 2010’s saw the challenge of DAPA, a policy similar to
DACA aimed at providing similar temporary relief to
those with US citizen children, this action was blocked by
Federal Courts in 2015.
• States have increasingly become involved in immigration battles
against the federal government as the decade saw the
enactment of anti-immigrant measures such as S.B.1070 which
inspired copycat bills in states like Alabama and Georgia. These
bills have since been challenged and dismantled.
• On the opposite end, in the face of increasing immigration
enforcement during the Obama and Trump Administrations,
states and cities have enacted sanctuary policies which aim to
end cooperation between law enforcement and immigration
agencies. Sanctuary States include CA, CO, IL, NM, OR and VT.
Cites include Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Ana, Denver,
Washington DC, Chicago, Boston and New York City.