Commentary
Four Out Of Five Unauthorized Immigrant Children Are U.S. Citizens
- by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, September 28, 2010
According to a new analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data by Jeffrey S. Passel, Senior Demographer, and Paul Taylor, Director, Pew Hispanic Center, an estimated 340,000 of the 4.3 million babies born in the United States in 2008 were the offspring of unauthorized immigrants,
Estimates Of Births In The US, Children Under 2, Annual Average 2008 In Millions | ||
Parents' Status | Number | Percent |
All births | 4.3MM | 100% |
US born parents | 3.3 | 76 |
Immigrant parents | 1.0 | 24 |
Legal immigrant parents | 0.7 | 16 |
Unauthorized immigrant parents | 0.3 | 8 |
Source: Pew Hispanic Center, September 2010 | ||
Unauthorized immigrants comprise slightly more than 4% of the adult population of the U.S., but because they are relatively young and have high birthrates, their children make up a much larger share of both the newborn population (8%) and the child population (7% of those younger than age 18) in this country.
Estimates Of Births In The US, Children Under 2, By Parents' Status 2009 In Millions | ||
All Children 17 And Younger | Number | Percent |
US born parents | 74.5 | 100% |
Immigrant parents | 17.1 | 77 |
Legal immigrant parents | 11.9 | 16 |
Unauthorized immigrant parents | 5.1 | 7 |
Source: Pew Hispanic Center, September 2010 | ||
The analysis finds that 79% of the 5.1 million children (younger than age 18) of unauthorized immigrants were born in this country and therefore are U.S. citizens. In total, 4 million U.S.-born children of unauthorized immigrant parents resided in this country in 2009, alongside 1.1 million foreign-born children of unauthorized immigrant parents.
Children With At Least One Unauthorized Immigrant Parent, 2009 | |
Birth Location | % Children 17 and Younger |
Born in the US | 79% |
Born abroad | 21 |
Source: Pew Hispanic Center, September 2010 | |
The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, adopted in
1868, grants an automatic right to citizenship to anyone born in the U.S. In recent weeks, a number of prominent elected officials have called for the repeal of birthright citizenship, says the
report, which they argue serves as one of the magnets that attract undocumented immigrants to the United States. A nationwide survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press in June
found that, by 56% to 41%, the public opposes changing this provision of the Constitution.
This report does not address the merits of the birthright citizenship debate. Rather, it analyzes the
family structure and parenting status of unauthorized immigrants. A follow-up Pew Hispanic Center report will examine trends in the size of the unauthorized population and key demographic
characteristics, including its geographic settlement patterns; its countries and regions of origin; and its economic circumstances.
You may read more from this report online and access the PDF format for charts and graphs here.
Jack Loechner is the Editor of The Center for Media Research's daily Research Brief. You can reach him at jack@mediapost.com.
I think this is a useful piece of data for sociologists or lawmarkers but not for those analyzing the media industry.
What is an "unauthorized immigrant"?
The opposite of legal is...?
Calling them 'unauthorized immigrants' doesn't change their immigration status in the eyes of the law. They're still in the US illegally.
I'm with Sean. What does this have to do with media?