The perception of U.S. immigration hasn’t kept up with the fast-changing reality. Immigration from Mexico has been falling for several years, for example, and new arrivals are now more likely to come from Asia than from Latin America. Meanwhile the U.S. Latino population is increasingly native-born.
As the influx of new unauthorized immigrants has slowed, the unauthorized population as a whole has become, in Pew’s words, "more settled." The typical unauthorized immigrant has been here for nearly 13 years, up from about 9 years in 2007. Only 16 percent have been here under five years — an important cutoff because Obama’s plan doesn’t apply to anyone who’s been here for less time than that.
