Illegal Immigrant Population Falls To Record Low

The illegal immigrant population in the U.S. has fallen to its lowest level in a decade according to a Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. government data. In 2007, there were an estimated 12.2 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S. and by 2016, that had fallen to around 10.7 million. That trend can be directly attributed to a sharp drop in the number of Mexicans crossing the border without authorizations.

Back in 2007, an estimated 7 million Mexicans living in the U.S. illegally and that number fell to 5.4 million by 2016. Despite the decline, Mexico still accounts for half the country's share of unauthorized immigants. The border between the U.S. and Mexico is still a major crossing point for immigrants from Central America as well and the number of people from that region living in the U.S. illegally increased by 375,000 between 2007 and 2016.

After Mexico, El Salvador and Guatemala accounted for the second and highest share of the unauthorized immigrant population in 2016 at 7 and 5 percent respectively.