WASHINGTON — The number of immigrants in the U.S. without legal status has declined to its lowest level in more than a decade, according to a new report released Tuesday. The nonpartisan Pew Research Center said 10.7 million immigrants lacked legal status in 2016, down from 11 million a year earlier and from a peak of 12.2 million in 2007 before the U.S. economy slumped. During the same period, the number of immigrants from Central America without legal status increased to nearly 1.9 million from 1.5 million. Overall, immigrants without legal status are less likely to be recent arrivals, said D’Vera Cohn, who co-authored the report. The report also notes that the number of legal immigrants grew to 34.4 million from 28.3 million during the nine-year period, and that more than half of the country’s legal immigrants in 2016 were naturalized U.S. citizens.

Source: National Post November 27, 2018 21:56 UTC