Trends in Unauthorized Immigration: Undocumented Inflow Now Trails Legal Inflow by Jeffrey Passel, Senior Demographer, Pew Hispanic Center and D’Vera Cohn, Senior Writer, Pew Research Center, October 2, 2008
“There were 11.9 million unauthorized immigrants living in the United States in March 2008, according to new Pew Hispanic Center estimates. The size of the unauthorized population appears to have declined since 2007, but this finding is inconclusive because of the margin of error in these estimates. However, it is clear from the estimates that the unauthorized immigrant population grew more slowly in the period from 2005 to 2008 than it did earlier in the decade. It also is clear that from 2005 to 2008, the inflow of immigrants who are undocumented fell below that of immigrants who are legal permanent residents. That reverses a trend that began a decade ago. The turnaround appears to have occurred in 2007.”