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Analysis: Who are the immigrants who come to the U.S.? Here's the data

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Summary
Nutrition label

83% Informative

As of the middle of 2023 , 51 million foreign-born people lived in the United States .

Jennifer Van Hook : Most immigrants are in the U.S. legally.

She says the number of undocumented immigrants held steady at around 11 million between 2007 and 2019 .

Van Hook says immigrants’ origins have been shifting away from Mexico since 1980 .

As of 2023 , 6.6 million immigrants reported on the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey that they moved to the United States in the past five years .

Most immigrants, whether they are in the U.S. legally or illegally, have lived in the country for many years .

Many of those who are likely to be targeted for deportation in the coming months are settled, long-term members of American society.

Over half of new arrivals live in just five states: California , Florida , Illinois , New York and Texas .

VR Score

85

Informative language

85

Neutral language

48

Article tone

formal

Language

English

Language complexity

59

Offensive language

possibly offensive

Hate speech

not hateful

Attention-grabbing headline

not detected

Known propaganda techniques

not detected

Time-value

short-lived

External references

30

https://www.uscis.gov/green-cardhttps://wearelatinequis.com/cultura/diversity-is-on-the-rise-in-urban-and-rural-communities-and-its-here-to-stayhttps://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/students-and-exchange-visitors/students-and-employmenthttps://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/temporary-protected-statushttps://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/01/05/immigrants-deport-thune-donald-trump/77476089007/https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/interactive/2025/trump-immigrants-mass-deportations/https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/great-recession-and-its-aftermathhttps://www.migrationpolicy.org/news/unauthorized-immigrant-population-mid-2023https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Fk9a3NEAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=aohttps://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/01/17/us/immigrants-trump-deportations.html?unlocked_article_code=1.qU4.KhEo.Gbqea6f8yZ7-&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleSharehttps://www.migrationpolicy.org/news/border-numbers-fy2023https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/temporary-nonimmigrant-workershttps://www.uscis.gov/DACAhttps://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/humanitarian_parolehttps://doi.org/10.1111/padr.12683https://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/statistics/publications/ois-smuggling-wp.pdfhttps://www.migrationpolicy.org/sites/default/files/publications/RMSG-MexicoFlows.pdfhttps://www.migrationpolicy.org/news/fy2024-us-border-encounters-plungehttps://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/other-visa-categories/visas-diplomats.htmlhttps://www.migrationpolicy.org/sites/default/files/publications/mpi-contemporary-border-policy-2024_final.pdfhttps://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2021/04/13/key-facts-about-the-changing-u-s-unauthorized-immigrant-population/https://theconversation.com/who-are-immigrants-to-the-us-where-do-they-come-from-and-where-do-they-live-247430https://www.npr.org/2025/01/20/g-s1-43650/trump-inauguration-day-one-immigrationhttps://www.iom.int/news/us-mexico-border-worlds-deadliest-migration-land-routehttps://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/07/22/how-the-origins-of-americas-immigrants-have-changed-since-1850/?tabItem=a06cb747-ca28-4d07-8e36-ac0f69f05099https://www.uscis.gov/citizenship/learn-about-citizenship/citizenship-and-naturalizationhttps://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acshttps://read.dukeupress.edu/demography/article-abstract/51/6/2203/169387/Explaining-the-Decline-in-Mexico-U-S-Migration-Thehttps://theconversation.com/ushttps://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/refugees-and-asylum/asylum

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