Illegal immigration rates have been trending downward over the last decade. Currently there are around 10.9 million undocumented immigrants, which is the lowest that population has been in 13 years. The following are a few reasons for those rates drifting lower:
- The undocumented population has effectively reached zero growth as a result of a fewer number of people coming in to the country from Mexico than the number of people returning;
- Harsher security measures are being taken at the U.S.-Mexico border and a stronger Mexican economy is resulting in less financial necessity for people to migrate the United States;
- Since 2008, the number of Mexican-born people residing within the United States unlawfully has dropped by more than a million people; and
- Over the past eight years, at least ten percent of immigrants in each state have become naturalized citizens.
The states with the greatest decline in unauthorized immigrants, from 2010 to 2014, have been California, New York, and Illinois. Despite the drop in immigrants present in the United States without permission, illegal immigration remains in the media spotlight and a major topic of discussion in this year’s presidential race.