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9h ago

Pew Finds First U.S. Immigrant Population Drop Since 1960s After 2023 Record

Researchers attribute the early‑2025 decline to stricter enforcement following curtailed protections, with estimates still provisional.

FILE - A family of five claiming to be from Guatemala and a man stating he was from Peru, in pink shirt, walk through the desert after crossing the border wall in the Tucson Sector of the U.S.-Mexico border, Aug. 29, 2023, in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument near Lukeville, Ariz. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)
FILE - Migrants wait to climb over concertina wire after they crossed the Rio Grande and entered the U.S. from Mexico, Sept. 23, 2023, in Eagle Pass, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
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Overview

  • Pew estimates the undocumented population hit a record 14 million in 2023 after a roughly 3.5 million rise since 2021, with more than 40% holding temporary protections from deportation.
  • After peaking at 53.3 million in January 2025, the overall foreign‑born population fell to an estimated 51.9 million by June, and immigrant workers declined by more than 750,000 in that span.
  • Pew links the 2025 drop to policy shifts that include Biden’s mid‑2024 asylum restrictions and the Trump administration’s expanded removals and rescission of protections, while cautioning the data are preliminary.
  • DHS Secretary Kristi Noem cited a Center for Immigration Studies estimate that 1.6 million left since January, a figure reported without DHS administrative data and not uniformly corroborated across sources.
  • Unauthorized workers reached a record 9.7 million in 2023, with the largest shares in construction, agriculture and hospitality, and growth since 2021 was driven largely by migrants from South America and other non‑Mexican countries.