Undocumented migrants in U.S.: vital workforce, low criminality

President Trump's immigration policies impact millions of undocumented migrants in the U.S., with significant implications for Indian immigrants.

United States President Donald Trump introduced sweeping changes immediately after being sworn in, which could have a lasting impact on millions of undocumented migrants in the U.S. and the hundreds of thousands of people seeking entry at the country’s borders. Mr. Trump pledged to “deport millions and millions of criminal aliens,” referring to undocumented migrants living in the country.

While Mr. Trump has frequently claimed that former President Joe Biden allowed 15-20 million illegal immigrants into the country, official figures estimate that there are around 11 million (Chart 1). Other estimates suggest that there are 13-14 million illegal immigrants. But none of these comes close to Mr. Trump’s assertions. Around 2.1 lakh Indians were included in these estimates (as of 2022).

Chart 1 | Estimates of illegal immigrants in the U.S. according to the Dept. of Homeland Security

Nearly 80% of the estimated 11 million undocumented migrants currently in the U.S. arrived before 2010. Chart 2 shows that 1.5 million of them entered decades ago, between 1980 and 1990.

Chart 2 | The chart shows the current illegal immigrant population estimates across various periods of entries

Reports state that Mr. Trump has also dismissed top immigration court officials who are responsible for deciding who gets asylum and who does not. There are more than 3 million cases pending in immigration courts. In addition, Mr. Trump has shut down the mobile app CBP One, the sole platform for requesting asylum in the U.S.

Chart 3 shows that in just over a year, the backlog in immigration courts increased from 2.4 million to 3.5 million (Q4 of 2023-Q4 of 2024)