Immigration: Indians third largest “illegal” immigrants in the US, says Pew Research
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Not only have nearly eight lakh Indians officially renounced their citizenship since 2018, but the number of illegal immigrants from India to other countries, particularly to the West, is also growing steadily.
New research has revealed that Indians form the third-largest illegal immigrant population in the United States.
According to the Washington-based think tank Pew Research Centre, as of 2021, 10.5 million unauthorized immigrants represented about three percent of the total US population and 22 percent of the foreign-born population in that country.
America had about 725,000 Indian illegal immigrants—the third largest population of unauthorized immigrants after Mexico and El Salvador, according to new Pew Research estimates.
Almost every region in the world had a notable increase in the number of unauthorized immigrants in the US from 2007 to 2021, with the largest increase from Central America (240,000) and South and East Asia (180,000).
While the number of unauthorized immigrants from Mexico living in the US — 4.1 million in 2021 — was the lowest since the 1990s, El Salvador — 800,000 — and India with 725,000 immigrants saw an increase in the numbers, the report said.
Among countries with the largest numbers of US unauthorized immigrants, India, Brazil, Canada, and the countries that formed the former Soviet Union experienced growth from 2017 to 2021.
The six US states with the largest unauthorized immigrant populations in 2021 were: California (1.9 million), Texas (1.6 million), Florida (900,000), New York (600,000), New Jersey (450,000), and Illinois (400,000), the report said.
In 2021, the population of unauthorized immigrants from other countries was 6.4 million, up by 900,000 from 2017.
Other countries which accounted for the most unauthorized immigrants were Guatemala (700,000) and Honduras (525,000).
The report said India, Guatemala, and Honduras all saw increases from 2017 with the unauthorized immigrant population in the US reaching 10.5 million in 2021.
There were increases in unauthorized immigrants from nearly every other region of the world Central America, the Caribbean, South America, Asia, Europe, and sub-Saharan Africa.
Meanwhile, the lawful immigrant population grew by more than 8 million, a 29 percent increase, and the number of naturalized US citizens grew by 49 percent.
In 2021, naturalized citizens accounted for about half (49 percent) of all immigrants in the country, the report said.
