Immigrant Inclusion & Racial Justice

A national and state-by-state look at family members of the 11 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S.

March 16, 2017

By Silva Matthema, Center for American Progress

Data analysis by Manuel Pastor, Justin Scoggins,and Alejandro Sanchez-Lopez, USC Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration (CSII)

Please note: reports dated earlier than June 2020 were published under our previous names: the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE) or the USC Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration (CSII).

The USC Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration (CSII) and the Center for American Progress (CAP) released a research brief (and interactive data map) that shows millions of people, citizens or otherwise, live with at least one unauthorized family member in the same household.

Key findings include:

  • Nationwide, about 16.7 million people in the country have at least one unauthorized family member living with them in the same household.
  • More than 8 million U.S. citizens, of which 1.2 million are naturalized citizens, have at least one unauthorized family member living with them.
  • More than 5.9 million citizen children, U.S. born and naturalized, live with at least one family member who is unauthorized.
  • California, Texas, and Nevada, are the top three states that will be most heavily affected by an anti-immigrant policy because they have both the highest share of total population and highest percent of U.S.-born population with at least one unauthorized family member living with them.
  • But even states with smaller immigrant populations, such as Nebraska, Arkansas, and Kansas, will also be affected, because they have high percentages of naturalized citizens who have unauthorized family members living in the same household.

CAP website: Keeping Families Together: Why All Americans Should Care About What Happens to Unauthorized Immigrants >>

Download brief

Keeping Families Together: Why All Americans Should Care About What Happens to Unauthorized Immigrants

Interactive: State-by-state estimates of the family members of unauthorized immigrants

 

Click the map below to access the interactive map:

 

Click each state for detailed data (e.g. see screenshot of data for the state of California below):

Read our other publications by research area

    Immigrant Integration & Racial Justice

    Our work on immigrant integration and racial justice brings together three emphases: scholarship that draws on academic theory and rigorous research, data that provides information structured to highlight the process of immigrant integration over time, and engagement that seeks to create new dialogues with government, community organizers, business and civic leaders, immigrants and the voting public to advance immigrant integration and racial equity.

    Economic Inclusion & Climate Equity

    In the area of economic inclusion, we at ERI advance academic theory and practical applications linking economic growth, environmental quality, and civic health with bridging of racial and other gaps; produce accessible and actionable data and analysis through the data tools; and establish research partnerships to deepen and advance the dialogue, planning, and actions around racial equity, environmental justice, and the built environment.

    Social Movements & Governing Power

    ERI’s work in the area of governing power includes: conducting cross-disciplinary studies of today’s social movements, supporting learning and strategizing efforts to advance dialogues among organizers, funders, intermediaries, evaluators, and academics, and developing research-based social change frameworks and tools to inform—and be informed by—real-world, real-time efforts towards a vision of deep change.

    Publications Directory

    In 2020, the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE) and the USC Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration (CSII) merged to form the USC Equity Research Institute (ERI).

    The full list of publications published under our previous and current names can be found in our publications directory.

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