The number of immigrants in the United States without permanent legal status has reached 14 million, as of 2023. This finding comes from a recent analysis by the Pew Research Center.
Pew’s latest numbers reveal a significant increase—most notably the largest ever recorded—from 2021 to 2023. This surge seems to align with the initial phase of the Biden administration, which began in January 2021, as well as the aftermath of the pandemic hitting lower-income countries especially hard.
Researchers at Pew indicated that while these individuals are often labeled “unauthorized immigrants,” the rise is largely due to an influx of people granted temporary entry for various reasons, such as asylum seekers and those crossing the border.
“These protections could be revoked by the federal government, and sometimes, the notice is pretty sudden,” Pew cautioned.
In terms of states, the largest numbers of unauthorized immigrants were found in California (2.3 million), Texas (2.1 million), Florida (1.6 million), and New York (825,000).
Additionally, in the past two years, eight other states saw their immigrant populations increase by over 75,000. These included New Jersey, Illinois, Georgia, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Ohio.
After a stringent approach to immigration during Trump’s first term, the Biden administration has allowed more migrants to gain asylum status, which eased border crossings and reassessed many cases for protective status.
Trump’s campaign for the 2024 election has focused heavily on removing individuals who are in the country illegally and those who he claims are improperly granted asylum. Meanwhile, Biden’s term was marked by unprecedented border crossings. Upon returning to office in January, Trump quickly rolled back several protections implemented by the Biden team. His administration reported a significant drop in illegal border crossings since taking office.
In December 2023 alone, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recorded over 302,000 encounters at the southern border, an all-time high. Illegal crossings saw a decrease after Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential elections.
Once back in the White House, Trump intensified restrictions on asylum and initiated an aggressive immigration crackdown targeting those unauthorized to live in the US.
Pew noted that “unauthorized immigrants” made up 27% of all immigrants in the United States in 2023, rising from 22% just two years prior.
