Some highlights from the Pew Report

Just a quick (non-exhaustive) summary of some interesting points from the report:

-As immigration sholars across disciplines have been telling us for years, immigration levels rise and fall. Notwithstanding popular discourse to the contrary, the number of migrants (authorized and unauthorized) was actually  in  decline though the early part of this decade.  Click here for a story summarizing the point.

-The rise and fall of migration flows do not correlate in any meaningful way with the adoption of more restrictive immigration laws and policies.  Indeed massive spikes in migration occurred shortly after the adoption of AEDPA and IIRIRA. Instead, migrants’ decisions to come to the U.S. tend to respond to a variety of push and pull factors, most notably the health of the U.S. economy.

-There has been a shift in immigrant flows away from states with large foreign born populations like CA and NY, and toward new settlements, like North Carolina and Iowa (although the number of migrants going to TX and FL continues to grow).

-Unauthorized migrants account for about half of all migrants are entering the country.  The number of authorized migrants coming to the U.S. is below the level it reached in the mid-90s; the number of unauthorized migrants, after a dip, is back up to its mid-90s level.

-jc