Immigration Numbers Update: 13 Million Mexicans Immigrated to US in 2013, But Chinese Migrants Outnumber Other Latin Americans
Mexican migrants have entered the U.S. in large numbers, but the United Nations' Department of Economic and Social Affairs revealed the second most common native country is not from Latin America.
The U.N. Population Division disclosed 12.95 million Mexican immigrants are living in the U.S. as of2013. The Mexican immigrant population in the U.S. is the largest movement of migrants between any two countries in the world.
According to Pew Research Center, "The Mexico-to-U.S. link is the most popular bilateral migration path in the world. As of 2013, more Mexican immigrants (13 million) were living in the U.S. than all immigrants to Russia combined (11 million)."
The U.N. Population Division clarified that an international migrant is an individual living for one year or longer in a country different from their original country, adding, "This means that many foreign workers and international students are counted as migrants. Additionally, the U.N. considers refugees and, in some cases, their descendants (such as Palestinians born in refugee camps) to be international migrants."
Individuals such as foreign-aid workers, temporary workers employed abroad for less than a year, tourists and overseas military personnel are not counted as a migrants.
Despite the recent influx of undocumented immigrants from Central America, China is the second most common country of origin for U.S. immigrants, at 2.25 million. Migration from Asia continued to outpace Latin America, as India and the Philippines ranked third and fourth with 2.06 million and 2 million migrants entering the U.S., respectively.
Puerto Rico, although a commonwealth to the U.S., was categorized as fifth place by the U.N. Population Division with 1.69 million Puerto Ricans entering the U.S. in 2013. Vietnam narrowly outnumbered more Latin American countries with 1.38 million migrants, ahead of El Salvador's 1.37 million and Cuba's 1.2 million.
The remaining Latin American countries accounted for less than one million migrants entering the U.S. The Dominican Republic, ranked 10th by the U.N. Population Division, had 970,000 migrants enter the U.S., 40,000 migrants more than Guatemala. The 2013 data calculated 720,000 Colombian migrants, ahead of Honduras' 550,000, Ecuador's 47,000 and Peru's 440,000 migrants.
Pew Research Center noted international migration has been "intrinsically tied" to employment opportunities.
From the U.S., Mexico ranked as the top destination for migrants as 850,000 individuals emigrated to Mexico from the states in 2013.
In total, 45,790,000 people living in the U.S. were born in another country during 2013. In return, 2.98 million born in the U.S. lived in another country.
As Latin Post reported, 2014 has seen an increase of undocumented minors enter the U.S. from Central American countries like El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
As of Aug. 31, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection revealed 66,127 unaccompanied immigrant minors aged 17 and younger, were apprehended along the southwest U.S. border between October 2013 and July 2014, an 88 percent increase from 2013's fiscal year. Numbers of unaccompanied and undocumented immigrant minors from Mexico declined during the 2014 fiscal year, from 17,240 in 2013 to 14,702 in 2014.