The Illegal-Immigrant Population Increased Dramatically in Biden’s First Year

According to this article on National Review, by STEVEN A. CAMAROTA

“Given the ongoing crisis at our southern border, it seems almost certain that the illegal-immigrant population in the U.S. has been growing — but by how much, exactly? Our latest research shows that the number of illegal immigrants living in the U.S. actually declined during the pandemic year of 2020, but then it rebounded sharply in 2021 with an increase of over 1 million in the last year. This is possibly the largest single-year increase ever, and it has brought the total illegal-immigrant population back to pre-pandemic levels.

Most estimates of the illegal-immigrant population, including those by the DHS, the Center for Migration Studies (CMS), and the Pew Research Center, are based on the Census Bureau’s annual American Community Survey (ACS), which does capture most illegal immigrants. The number of legal immigrants in the country can be estimated based on administrative data, and these allow researchers to then estimate the number of illegal immigrant in the survey, which is then adjusted upward to reflect undercount. Unfortunately, the Census Bureau was not able to properly collect the 2020 ACS due to Covid-19, and the 2021 ACS will not be out for many months, hence there are no recent estimates of illegal immigrants from the DHS, the CMS, and Pew.”