Both history and geography have placed Mexico in a unique position within the U.S. immigration system. The Mexico-United States migration flow is one of the largest in the world and Mexicans are the largest group of U.S. migrants across most types of immigration statuses. Today, the Mexican-born population in the United States consists of approximately 11.7 million people. Compared to other migrants, the Mexican born in the United States are more likely to: be unauthorized, be younger, have lower education levels, work in lower-skilled occupations, and have lower socio-economic status. Despite U.S. enforcement attempts to curb immigration from Mexico, migration rate steadily increased in the 25 years following the Immigration Reform and control Act, with the total Mexican-born population growing from about 2.8 million in 1979 to 11.5 million in 2009. Information indicates that two of every five Mexican immigrants moving to the United States in 2008 originated from six Mexican states: Chiapas (136,3888 or 14.2 percent), Guanajuato (82,701 or 8.6 percent), Oaxaca (69,473 or 7.2 percent), Sonora (66,826 or 6.9 percent), Mochoacan (62,108 or 6.5 percent), and Veracruz (56,185 or 5.8 percent). Mexico and Jalisco state also sent large numbers of migrants to the United States in 2008, 54,428 or 7.7 percent, and 51,443 or 5.3 percent respectively.
Data on Mexican immigrants in the United States indicates that almost 40 percent of employed Mexican-born men work in construction, extraction, and transportation. Among the 4.9 million Mexican-born male workers age 16 and older employed in the civilian labor force in 2008, 38.8 percent reported working in the industries mentioned above, and 22.8 percent reported working in services. In comparison, 25.9 percent of all foreign-born migrants reported working in construction, extraction, and transportation, and 17.4 percent reported working in services. A total of 17.9 percent of civilian employed Mexican-born males age 16 and older also reported working in manufacturing, installation, and repair, in contrast to 14.6 percent of all foreign-born men. The same data suggest that one-third of employed Mexican-born women worked in services. Among the 2.2 million Mexican-born female workers age 16 and older employed in the civilian labor force in 2008, 38.6 percent worked in service occupations and 14.9 percent in manufacturing, installation, and repair occupations. By contrast, 25.7 percent of all civilian employed immigrant women age 16 and older worked in services and 8.5 percent worked in manufacturing, installation, and repair occupations.
The number of unauthorized immigrants in the United States has stabilized in recent years after decades of rapid growth. Mexicans constitute about half of all unauthorized immigrants (49 percent), though their numbers have been declining in recent years. In 2014, there were 5.6 million Mexican unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S., down from 6.4 million in 2009. California is among the six states that account for 60% of unauthorized immigrants. From 2009 to 2012, several Western states experienced population decreases, however. These states included Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Oregon. Despite a decline, Nevada has the nation’s largest share (8 percent) of unauthorized immigrants in its state population. Unauthorized immigrants from Mexico comprise at least 75 percent of the total unauthorized immigrant population in ten states, including New Mexico (89 percent), Arizona (84 percent), Idaho (83 percent), Wyoming (82 percent), Colorado (78 percent), and Oregon (75 percent).
While this information pertains to Mexican immigrants throughout the country, the information presented throughout this website speaks specifically to those in the Western states. As evidenced, Mexican immigration is important in the United States as a whole, and in the Western United States specifically. The West has served, and continues to serve, as an opportunity for Mexican immigrants.
