Illegal immigrants in the United States: stereotypes vs. reality

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Illegal immigrants to the United States are now a hot topic in politics and the media. We are talking about millions of people, but Americans do not always have the exact facts about what this group is.

Moreover, when talking about illegal immigrants, stereotypes often emerge that do not always correspond to reality. Edition NPR tried to develop the most common stereotypes with the help of facts and statistics.

About 11 million people live in the US illegally

According to Pew Research CenterThere are more naturalized citizens in the United States than illegal immigrants; the number of green card holders also exceeds the number of illegal immigrants in the United States.

There are significantly more illegal immigrants living in the United States than those who have recently arrived in the country.

The vast majority of people who currently live in the United States illegally have been in the country for more than ten years. The situation at the turn of the millennium was almost the opposite.

About two thirds of illegal immigrants reside in the US for 10 years or more. Only 14% have arrived in the country over the past 5 years.

At the end of the 1990s, the number of new arrivals was much higher.

Mexicans constitute the dominant but declining share of this group.

Mexico is the leading country of origin of illegal immigrants in the United States, but in recent years the share of immigrants from Mexico in the overall standings is constantly decreasing.

That is, Mexican immigrants are gradually losing the status of the majority in the group of illegal immigrants living in the United States.

Of the people living in the US illegally, more than half are from Mexico, but there are fewer undocumented Mexicans in the US now than there were 10 years ago.

The percentage of immigrants arriving from Mexico has decreased markedly, while the number of illegal immigrants arriving from Africa, Central America and Asia has increased.

The reasons for the change in the geography of immigration lie in military conflicts in Africa and some countries of Latin America. Their inhabitants are trying to escape from the war in the USA

Hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants entered the United States on valid visas

The Department of Homeland Security estimated that as of 4 in January of 2016, about 416 500 people remained in the United States after their visas expired in the 2015 fiscal year. This is less than 1% of visa holders who entered the United States during this period.

Official data on how much of the illegal immigrants in the United States arrived in the country with valid visas and remained after their expiration date.

Estimated Pew Research Center, such can be 45% of all illegal immigrants.

Tracking accurate information on this issue is difficult, because the government has not published data on the number of people who have expired visas in the United States for 20 years.

61% of illegal immigrants live in the suburbs of 20 major cities.

61% of illegal immigrants in the United States live in 20 major cities and their suburbs, such as New York, Los Angeles and Houston. This is very different from the statistics for the US as a whole - only 36% of the population lives in these areas.

Most illegal immigrants live in the suburbs, not in the city itself (the only exception to this rule is Phoenix, Arizona).

Most immigrants work in services and construction.

People living in the United States without legal status, as well as legal immigrants, are a significant part of the labor force in agriculture.

But there aren't many farm jobs in the US. Therefore, agriculture is not the main employment sector for the 11 million illegal immigrants - only 4% of them work in agriculture.

Many more illegal immigrants work in the service sector and in construction.

Read also on ForumDaily:

How illegal immigrants cross the US border

How the US deports illegal immigrants: a step-by-step procedure

How much does the deportation of one illegal man cost

Five applications for illegal immigrants

10 ways to stay in the USA

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