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A study released on 14 June by the Pew Hispanic Forum shows that for the last 10 years, the arrival of illegal migrants to the US has been far greater than legal immigrants. The study that most undocumented migrants in the United States arrived since 1990, and that many belong to families made up of parents and children who are U.S. citizens.
The findings point out how badly the immigration system is broken and how difficult reform may be, analysts said.
"This report shows that the illegal alien population is becoming an integral part of the communities and workforces in a larger part of the country," said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution.
"This is much more of a mainstream phenomenon than people are thinking. It's not something you can either flip the stop switch on or keep going with," says Frey. "There will have to be a careful balance to ensure that our laws are observed, but recognize that these people are an established part of our community."
The report painted a picture of an immigrant community that is young, poor, uneducated, almost always employed and living in family groups that it described as "mixed," meaning a combination of U.S. citizens and undocumented immigrants.
"Most of the children living in these families are U.S. citizens," said Roberto Suro, director of the Pew Hispanic Center. He adds that this has implications for proposed guest worker programs that require immigrants to return home after a set period.
