News Americas, WASHINGTON, D.C., Fri. Mar. 11, 2011: For all the talk of economic prosperity in Brazil, one would think that would mean fewer of its nationals would be undocumented in the United States. Well think again.
According to U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials, there were an estimated 180,000 undocumented Brazilians in the U.S. as of last year. That’s a growth by 30,000 from 2009, according to latest immigration statistics from the DHS analyzed by News Americas.
The undocumented Brazilian population also showed a steady growth between 2000 and 2006. In 2000, there were 100,000 undocumented Brazilians but the number grew to 170,000 by 2005 and 210,000 in 2006.
There was a slight fall-off to 190,000 by 2007 and 180,000 in 2008. In 2009, the total of 150,000 was the lowest recorded in the 10 year period but by 2010 it had spiked again to levels of 2008.
Still Brazil was one of few Latin American countries to register fewer undocumented migrants when compared to Mexico, the leader with representing 62 percent of the unauthorized population, as well as El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. In 2010, El Salvador had an estimated 620,000 in the U.S. followed by Guatemala with 520,000 and Honduras with 330,000).
Overall, the unauthorized immigrant population living in the United States stood at 10.8 million in January 2010, unchanged from a year earlier but 8 percent below the peak of 11.8 million in January 2007. An estimated 8.6 million (80 percent) of the total 10.8 million unauthorized immigrants living in the United States in 2010 were from the North America region, including Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America. The next leading regions of origin were Asia (1.0 million) and South America (0.8 million). Between 2000 and 2010, the greatest increase in the unauthorized population occurred among natives of the North American region (2.5 million). The greatest decline occurred among natives of Asian countries (0.2 million).
