Immigration & Migration

One-in-three (36%) of the nearly 54,000 unaccompanied children released to sponsors over the past year after their apprehension by immigration authorities have been placed in homes in three states – Texas, New York and California.

As the federal government gears up to offer deportation relief to about 4 million unauthorized immigrants, it’s worth looking back to 1986, when a new law established what was then the biggest legalization and citizenship process in U.S. history.

So far, about 702,000 unauthorized immigrants have had their applications accepted for review since the program began in August 2012, according to government data. Of the applicants, 87% have been approved for the renewable two-year permits.

The 5.8 million unauthorized immigrants not eligible for deportation relief under President Obama’s executive actions are more likely than those eligible to be unmarried and not have U.S.-born children living with them, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis.

President Obama’s executive action on immigration, expanding deportation relief to millions of undocumented immigrants, attracted strong public interest last week.

While President Obama’s executive order expanding deportation relief covered people from countries around the world, Mexicans were by far the group that will feel the most impact under existing and new guidelines.

There are eight states where at least four-in-ten unauthorized immigrants will be eligible to benefit from the executive order announced Thursday by President Obama, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis.

President Obama's executive action to protect millions of unauthorized immigrants from deportation is an act that both follows and departs from precedents set by his predecessors.