Number of Unauthorized Immigrants in the U.S. Virtually Unchanged From 2009 to 2013 | Valley Fever | Phoenix | Phoenix New Times | The Leading Independent News Source in Phoenix, Arizona
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Number of Unauthorized Immigrants in the U.S. Virtually Unchanged From 2009 to 2013

The number of unauthorized immigrants living in the United States has stayed the same since 2009, according to the Pew Research Center. Researchers estimate that there were 11.3 million unauthorized immigrants living in the country in March 2013. The New Democrat Network, a lefty think-tank, has attributed the net-zero flow...
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The number of unauthorized immigrants living in the United States has stayed the same since 2009, according to the Pew Research Center.

Researchers estimate that there were 11.3 million unauthorized immigrants living in the country in March 2013.

The New Democrat Network, a lefty think-tank, has attributed the net-zero flow of unauthorized immigrants to the country to Obama Administration policies.

"There's been no increase in the undocumented population of the us during the entire Obama presidency," NDN President Simon Rosenberg tells New Times. "There are people who argue all the time that there are millions and millions of undocumented immigrants pouring into the country, and it's just not true."

See also: -2013: Illegal Immigration May Be on the Rise Again

Not only does Pew's new research show a leveling-off of illegal immigration, the organization is also reporting statistics that show the average unauthorized immigrant has been in the country a fairly long time.

"As growth of this group has stalled, there has been a recent sharp rise in the median length of time that unauthorized immigrants have lived in the U.S.," Pew's written explanation says. "In 2013, according to a preliminary estimate, unauthorized immigrant adults had been in the U.S. for a median time of nearly 13 years--meaning that half had been in the country at least that long. A decade earlier, in 2003, the median for adults was less than eight years."

About 62 percent of these immigrants have been in the country for more than a decade, according to Pew's research. In 2000, only 35 percent had lived in the country for a decade.

Additionally, about 38 percent of the unauthorized immigrant adults have U.S. citizen children who were born here. That's up from 30 percent in 2000.

In last year's annual report on the unauthorized population, Pew's research led them to believe that illegal immigration may have been on the rise again, although the rise was within the margin of error. The number of unauthorized immigrants in the country has pretty clearly leveled off since 2007, when there were more than 12 million unauthorized immigrants in the country.

The NDN's Rosenberg suggests various Obama Administration efforts to secure the border have caused the change, like more deterrence at the border.

"We've spent tens of billions of dollars securing the border, and it's had a real impact," he says.

The charts below, produced by Pew, show some of the main trends their researchers found in studying the population of unauthorized immigrants in the country:

Growth in Unauthorized Immigration Has Leveled Off

As Unauthorized Immigrant Population Growth Has Slowed, Median Length of Residence Has Grown

Share of Long-Term Unauthorized Immigrants Surpasses Share of Short-Term Immigrants

Unauthorized Immigrants, by Selected Categories, 2012

Total Removals by U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 1997-2012

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