The number of people in the United States illegally jumped to an all-time high of 14 million in 2023, a research group said today, a big increase but still less than estimates by President Donald Trump and some immigration critics.
The number, according to a closely watched Pew Research Center report, rose from 11,8 million a year earlier and surpassed the previous record of 12,2 million in 2007. The increase was fueled by about six million immigrants who were in the country with some form of legal protection.
Trump has stripped many of these legal protections since taking office in January.
The Pew Center, which has been tracking immigration since 1990, said that while 2023 is the latest year for which it has a full analysis, preliminary findings for 2024 show that immigration rose that year, but at a slower pace than when then-President Joe Biden significantly restricted asylum at the border in June of that year. The number of illegal immigrants has fallen this year under Trump but is likely above 14 million.
The total immigrant population in the U.S., regardless of legal status, reached an all-time high of more than 53 million in January 2025, representing a record 15,8 percent of the U.S. population. That number has since fallen, and according to the Pew Center, it will be the first time the number has fallen since the 1960s.
Although the findings are not expected to settle the debate, the Pew Center reports are among the most comprehensive attempts to measure illegal immigration. Almost all of the increase in immigrants came from countries other than Mexico - Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and India. The number of immigrants from Venezuela, Cuba, Colombia, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Ukraine and Peru more than doubled for each country in two years.
Trump said in a March address to Congress that 21 million people had entered the United States over the past four years, far higher than the Pew Center estimate and border arrest data.
The Federation for American Immigration Reform, a group largely aligned with Trump's policies, estimated there were 18,6 million illegal immigrants in March.
The Center for Immigration Studies, a group that advocates for immigration restrictions, reported that there were 14,2 million people in the U.S. illegally last month, down from a peak of 15,8 million in January. Homeland Security Secretary Kris Noem touted the reported drop of 1,6 million in six months, calling it a huge number.
Her department, according to its statistics, estimated that there were 11 million people in the US illegally in 2022, which is their most recent data.
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