A recent study by the Pew Research Center, a Washington-based think tank, has revealed that Indians represent the third-largest group of unauthorized immigrants in the United States with over 725,000 residing in the country. The majority of illegal migrants to the U.S. originated from neighboring Mexico, followed by El Salvador, which tallied 800,000 people, and then India during the period of 2017-2021. 

"There were increases in unauthorized immigrants from nearly every other region of the world – Central America, the Caribbean, South America, Asia, Europe, and sub-Saharan Africa," the researchers noted.

Overall, the number of unauthorized immigrants in the United States in 2021 was about 10.5 million, down from the peak of 12.2 million in 2007. Notably, other significant sources of unauthorized immigrants included Venezuela, Brazil, Canada, countries of the former Soviet Union, China, and the Dominican Republic. 

The states with the most significant unauthorized immigrant populations were California, Texas, Florida, New York, New Jersey, and Illinois. Increases were seen in Florida and Washington, while decreases were noted in California and Nevada. There was no change in the volume of unauthorized immigrants in the remaining states, as the Pew study reveals. 

“The total number of unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. from countries other than Mexico has grown rapidly. In 2021, this population was 6.4 million, up by 900,000 from 2017," the research says.

The report continues to provide some interesting numbers. It points out that at least 4.6 percent of the U.S. workforce in 2021 was made up of unauthorized immigrants. Furthermore, a growth of over 8 million people, translating to a 29 percent increase, was recorded in the lawful immigrant population between 2017 and 2021. This resulted in 14.1 percent of the U.S. population in 2021 being foreign-born, a marginal increase from the past five years. 

On a closer look at Indian immigrants, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection data showed an increase with 6,917 encounters from October 2022 to September 2023. Post the easing of COVID-19 border restrictions, the figures rose to 63,927 in the 2022 fiscal year and further to 97,000 encounters in 2023.