Pew: Most Illegal Immigrants in US for More Than a Decade

A new report on Census Bureau data shows the typical illegal immigrant has lived inside the United States for 15 years – the longest on record.

In the Pew Research Center analysis, researchers found "the unauthorized immigrant population in the U.S. increasingly is made up of longer-term residents" since there has been a decline in illegal immigrants over the decade "largely due to decreases in new arrivals to the United States, especially by Mexicans."

"In 2017, only 20% of unauthorized immigrant adults lived in the U.S. for five years or less, down from 30% a decade earlier," the Pew reported stated. "About two-thirds of unauthorized immigrants have been in the U.S. for more than 10 years; a decade earlier, less than half had."

The Pew report also noted that in that same year, "the typical unauthorized immigrant adult had lived in the U.S. for 15 years."

"That is the longest median duration of residence since 1995, when Pew Research Center estimates began," the center noted.

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