Population

Immigrants Comprise 31 Percent of Workers in New York State Essential Businesses and 70 Percent of the State’s Undocumented Labor Force Works in Essential Businesses

This paper provides estimates on “essential” immigrant workers in New York State. These workers play a central role in safeguarding and sustaining state residents during the COVID-19 pandemic, often at great risk to their health and that of their families. Based on estimates drawn from 2018 US Census data, the Center for Migration Studies (CMS) estimates that 1.8 million immigrants work in jobs in the “essential businesses” identified by New York State. These businesses fall into 10 categories that meet the health, infrastructure, manufacturing, service, food, safety, and other needs of state residents. The majority of the New York foreign-born essential workers – 1.04 million – are naturalized citizens, 458,400 are legal noncitizens (mostly lawful permanent residents or LPRs), and 342,100 are undocumented.

Reverse Migration to Mexico Led to US Undocumented Population Decline: 2010 to 2018

This paper presents estimates of the undocumented population residing in the United States in 2018. Since 2010, the total undocumented population in the United States has declined because large numbers of undocumented residents returned to Mexico. From 2010 to 2018, a total of 2.6 million Mexican nationals left the US undocumented population; about 1.1 million, or 45 percent of them, returned to Mexico voluntarily. Additional findings include the following:

The total US undocumented population was 10.6 million in 2018, a decline of about 80,000 from 2017, and a drop of 1.2 million, or 10 percent, since 2010.
Since 2010, about two-thirds of new arrivals have overstayed temporary visas and one-third entered illegally across the border.
The total undocumented population in California was 2.3 million in 2018, a decline of about 600,000 compared to 2.9 million in 2010. The number from Mexico residing in the state dropped by 605,000 from 2010 to 2018.
The undocumented population in New York State fell by 230,000, or 25 percent, from 2010 to 2018. Declines were largest for Jamaica (−51 percent), Trinidad and Tobago (−50 percent), Ecuador (−44 percent), and Mexico (−34 percent).
Two countries had especially large population changes — in different directions — in the 2010 to 2018 period. The population from Poland dropped steadily, from 93,000 to 39,000, while the population from Venezuela increased from 65,000 to 172,000. Almost all the increase from Venezuela occurred after 2014.

Statelessness in the United States: A Study to Estimate and Profile the US Stateless Population

This report describes a unique methodology to produce estimates and set forth the characteristics of US residents who are potentially stateless or potentially at risk of statelessness. It also lifts up the voices and challenges of stateless persons, and outlines steps to reduce statelessness and to safeguard the rights of stateless persons in the United States.

As part of the study, CMS developed extensive, well-documented profiles of non-US citizen residents who are potentially stateless or potentially at risk of statelessness. It then used these profiles to query American Community Survey data in order to develop provisional estimates and determine the characteristics of these populations.

Detailed Estimates of the Overstay Population Residing in the United States in 2017

These three tables show detailed information about the overstay population residing in the United States in 2017. The tables augment the report on overstays released by CMS on April 24, 2019.

Immigrants, Evangelicals, and Politics in an Era of Demographic Change

Grace Yukich of Quinnipiac University reviews Immigrants, Evangelicals, and Politics in an Era of Demographic Change by Janelle S. Wong. Janelle S. Wong examines how immigration from Asia and Latin America reshapes the demographic composition of the U.S. While some analysts...

Barrio Dreams: Puerto Ricans, Latinos, and the Neoliberal City

Arturo Ignacio Sánchez of Barnard College reviews Barrio Dreams: Puerto Ricans, Latinos, and the Neoliberal City by Arlene Dávila. Arlene Dávila brilliantly considers the cultural politics of urban space in this lively exploration of Puerto Rican and Latino experience in New...

Land! Irish Pioneers in Mexican and Revolutionary Texas

Timothy Meagher of Catholic University of America reviews Land! Irish Pioneers in Mexican and Revolutionary Texas by Graham Davis. Graham Davis tells an Irish-Texan story of the search for land by recounting the experiences of the original empresarios John McMullen,...

Irregular Migration. The Dilemmas of Transnational Mobility

Thomas Faist of the University of Toronto reviews Irregular Migration. The Dilemmas of Transnational Mobility by Bill Jordan and Franck Düvell. Bill Jordan and Franck Düvell provide a theoretical framework for the analysis of mobility and border crossings in an...

Migration in European History

Barbara Schmitter Heisler of Gettysburg College reviews Migration in European History by Klaus Bade. Klaus Bade describes that since the fall of the Iron Curtain, migration has become a major cause for concern in many European countries, but migrations to,...

Transnational Politics: Turks and Kurds in Germany

Nedim Ögelman of University of Texas at Austin reviews Transnational Politics: Turks and Kurds in Germany by Eva Østergaard-Nielsen. Eva Østergaard-Nielsen uses the Turkish and Kurdish communities in Germany as a case study, offering a unique analysis of trans-state political loyalties...