Estimates of the Illegal Alien Population Residing in the United States: January 2015 (latest official figures)
Bryan Baker
DEFINITIONS
Legal Residents
The legally resident immigrant population as defined for these estimates includes persons granted lawful permanent residence, persons granted asylum, persons admitted as refugees, and persons admitted as nonimmigrants under classes of admission associated with residence (e.g., students and temporary workers, as opposed to tourists) and with authorized periods of admission ending after January 1, 2015.
Illegal Alien Residents
The resident illegal alien population is defined as all foreign- born non-citizens who are not legal residents (see above). Most illegal aliens either entered the United States without
- 1 The Department of Homeland Security refers to foreign-born non-citizens unlawfully present in the United States as “illegal aliens.” Previous versions of this report used the term “unauthorized immigrants” to refer to this population.
- 2 Previous editions of this report are available at:https://www.dhs.gov/immigration-statistics.
- 3 The estimates for Jan. 2013 and Jan. 2014 have been revised; see Appendix 2 for details and updated estimates.
inspection or were admitted temporarily and remained past the date they were required to depart. Persons who are beneficiaries of Temporary Protected Status (TPS), Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) or other forms of prosecutorial discretion, or who are residing in the United States while awaiting removal proceedings in immigration court are included among the illegal alien population estimates. Illegal aliens applying for adjustment to LPR status under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) are considered to be part of the resident illegal alien population until they have been granted lawful permanent residence. Here.
