The top states with the largest unauthorized immigrant populations are consistently California, Texas, Florida, New York, and New Jersey, followed closely by Illinois, with California often holding the highest numbers, though these figures fluctuate slightly by source and year, with recent data from Pew Research placing California (2.3M), Texas (2.1M), Florida (1.6M), New York (825k), New Jersey (600k), and Illinois (550k) as the top six in 2023.
The six states with the largest unauthorized immigrant populations in 2023 were:
Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are the states which had the largest number of migrants among all the states. According to the 2011 Census, 20.9 million people migrated outside the state from the two states i.e: U.P and Bihar.
The top 5 countries of origin for immigrants in the U.S. are consistently Mexico, India, China, the Philippines, and El Salvador, with Mexico being the largest source by a significant margin, followed by substantial populations from India and China, and notable groups from the Philippines and El Salvador, based on data from around 2023-2025.
Texas and Florida led the nation in attracting new residents between 2023 and 2024, each gaining over half a million newcomers from other states. While overall mobility in the U.S. has reached historic lows, southern and Sun Belt states continue to see strong domestic migration trends.
The New York Metro Area: New York and New Jersey
These foreign-born residents are 47.6% of Queens County, the highest percentage of any county in New York. It's also a diverse population: Nearly half (47.8%) of Queens County immigrants are from Central or South America, 39.1% are from Asia, and 10.1% are from Europe.
The illegal migration of people into the United States across the Mexico-United States border has caused an ongoing migrant crisis. U.S. presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump both referred to surges in migrants at the border as a "crisis" during their tenure.
List of people granted executive clemency in the second Trump presidency. In his role as the 47th president of the United States (January 20, 2025 – present), Donald Trump granted executive clemency to more than 1,600 individuals as of July 23, 2025, all of whom were charged or convicted of federal criminal offenses.
The foreign national may be held in a detention center before trial or deportation. Find out how to locate someone detained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). After ICE detains a noncitizen, they may go before a judge in immigration court during the deportation process.
Demographically, 85 percent of the undocumented workforce comes from one of 13 countries, with Mexico (41 percent), Guatemala (8 percent), and El Salvador (7 percent) accounting for the highest shares.
The states with the most harmful immigration laws
Five states have the most aggressive anti-sanctuary laws in the country, requiring local agencies to become significantly involved in the deportation of undocumented residents: Florida (1.95), Georgia (2.55), Iowa (2.05), Texas (1.95), and West Virginia (2.4).
The six states with the largest unauthorized immigrant populations in 2022 were:
The United States takes in the most immigrants by total number, hosting tens of millions more than any other country, followed by countries like Germany, Saudi Arabia, and the UK. However, if looking at the percentage of immigrants relative to the total population, smaller nations like the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Kuwait have much higher shares of foreign-born residents.
Since January 20, 2025, DHS enforcement operations have resulted in more than 605,000 deportations. DHS has prioritized removing the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens as part of the Trump Administration's efforts to return law and order to the United States.
Where Americans Moved in 2025. In 2025, the data revealed inbound migration patterns to states across Southern regions, with a few exceptions. Inbound moves were led by Oregon (65%), West Virgina (62%) and South Carolina (61%).
Oregon and Illinois have strong laws that protect immigrants. California, New Jersey, and Washington have sanctuary laws that offer extra protection. Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, and Vermont have laws that stop local police from helping with immigration enforcement.
According to a December release by the Census Bureau, California, Illinois and New York—along with West Virginia, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Hawaii and Oregon — lost population in 2023 compared to 2022. Throughout the new Census first released in 2020, all three states have shown continuously sinking population numbers.