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1h ago

Pew Finds U.S. Immigrant Total Down in 2025 After Record Undocumented Surge to 14 Million

Pew ties the early-2025 dip to stricter enforcement, calling the estimates preliminary.

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

  • Using Census data, Pew estimates the foreign-born population fell from a peak of 53.3 million in January 2025 to 51.9 million in June, marking the first decline since the 1960s.
  • The unauthorized population reached a record 14 million in 2023 after a two-year, 3.5 million increase, with more than 40% holding temporary protections such as asylum claims or parole.
  • Pew attributes the apparent 2025 decline to policy shifts that began under President Joe Biden and intensified under President Donald Trump, while cautioning that lower survey response by immigrant households could distort short-term readings.
  • Immigrants’ share of the workforce slipped by more than 750,000 workers from January to June 2025, even as unauthorized workers hit a record 9.7 million in 2023.
  • Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem promoted a 1.6 million departure estimate from the Center for Immigration Studies without DHS administrative corroboration, underscoring wide methodological differences across sources.