The Misinformation About Immigrants in the United States

During the Trump administration (according to the Migration Policy Institute), the Trump administration signed over four hundred executive actions on immigration between January 2017 and July 2020. 

These executive action changes limited asylum, banned entry from a list of countries (initially seven, but later expanded to thirteen), sought to deter cross-border immigration from Mexico and Central America, rescinded temporary protected status for immigrants from a series of countries, expanded limits on legal immigration through the “public charge” rule, and drastically reduced admissions of refugees, among other policy shifts. Trump has not changed and is more vocal now.

Another reason for featuring The Pew Research Center article? The misinformation being touted by politicians, those fearful of immigrants, and the use of them in unlawful ways.

What the data says about immigrants in the U.S.

– By Mohamad Moslimani and Jeffrey S. Passel

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Who are unauthorized immigrants?

Virtually all unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S. entered the country without legal permission or arrived on a nonpermanent visa and stayed after it expired. There are reasons why they are here and much of this is lost to people in general.

A growing number of unauthorized immigrants have permission to live and work in the U.S. and are temporarily protected from deportation. In 2022, about 3 million unauthorized immigrants had these temporary legal protections. These immigrants fall into several groups:

• Asylum applicants: About 1.6 million immigrants have pending applications for asylum in the U.S. as of mid-2022 because of dangers faced in their home country. These immigrants can stay in the U.S. legally while they wait for a decision on their case.

• Other protections: Several hundred thousand individuals have applied for special visas to become lawful immigrants. These types of visas are offered to victims of trafficking and certain other criminal activities.

In addition, about 500,000 immigrants arrived in the U.S. by the end of 2023 under programs created for Ukrainians (U4U or Uniting for Ukraine) and people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela (CHNV parole). These immigrants mainly arrived too late to be counted in the 2022 estimates but may be included in future estimates.

Do all lawful immigrants choose to become U.S. citizens?

Immigrants who are lawful permanent residents can apply to become U.S. citizens if they meet certain requirements. In fiscal year 2022, almost 1 million lawful immigrants became U.S. citizens through naturalization. This is only slightly below record highs in 1996 and 2008.

Most immigrants eligible for naturalization apply for citizenship, but not all do. Top reasons for not applying include language and personal barriers, lack of interest and not being able to afford it, according to a 2015 Pew Research Center survey.

Where do most U.S. immigrants live?

In 2022, most of the nation’s 46.1 million immigrants lived in four states: California (10.4 million or 23% of the national total), Texas (5.2 million or 11%), Florida (4.8 million or 10%) and New York (4.5 million or 10%).

Most immigrants lived in the South (35%) and West (33%). Another 21% lived in the Northeast and 11% were in the Midwest.

In 2022, more than 29 million immigrants – 63% of the nation’s foreign-born population – lived in just 20 major metropolitan areas. The largest populations were in the New York, Los Angeles and Miami metro areas. Most of the nation’s unauthorized immigrant population (60%) lived in these metro areas as well.