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Immigration

  

Since the passage of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), through the Office of Immigration Statistics, has:

  • Collected and disseminated data and information useful in evaluating the social, economic, environmental, and demographic impact of immigration laws; and
  • Established standards of reliability and validity for statistical immigration data collected by the Department’s operational Components.

As of September 2023, the Office of Immigration Statistics became the Office of Homeland Security Statistics. This newly expanded office is responsible for collecting, disseminating, and establishing standards for immigration data.

Immigration data is collected and disseminated from numerous homeland security agencies, including U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as well as the Department of Justice Executive Office for Immigration Review. The three homeland security operational Components oversee lawful immigration to the United States and safeguard the borders.

Office of Homeland Security Statistics Resources

  • Yearbook of Immigration Statistics — The Yearbook of Immigration Statistics is a collection of tables that provides data on foreign nationals who were granted lawful permanent residence, were admitted into the United States on a temporary basis, applied for asylum or refugee status, or were naturalized.
  • Lawful permanent residents — Lawful permanent residents, also known as “green card” holders, are non-citizens who are lawfully authorized to live permanently within the U.S.
  • Refugees and asylees — The United States provides protection to certain persons who have been persecuted or have a well-founded fear of persecution through both refugee and asylum programs.
  • U.S. naturalizations — Naturalization confers U.S. citizenship upon foreign nationals who have fulfilled the requirements Congress established in the Immigration and Nationality Act.
  • Nonimmigrants (temporary visitors) — Nonimmigrants are foreign nationals granted temporary admission into the United States.
  • Immigration enforcement actions — DHS engages in immigration enforcement actions to prevent unlawful entry into the United States and to apprehend and repatriate noncitizens who have violated or failed to comply with U.S. immigration laws.
  • Unauthorized immigrants — Most unauthorized residents either entered the United States without inspection or were admitted temporarily and stayed past the date they were required to leave.

Other Resources

The following resources are not Office of Homeland Security Statistics products and may adhere to different data and reporting review processes.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP)

  • Stats and Summaries — CBP provides data on encounters, seizures and other enforcement statistics, trade, travel, accountability and transparency, border rescues and mortality, and a typical day at CBP. They also publish annual reports and maintain a public data portal.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

  • ICE Annual Reports — ICE publishes statistics on administrative and criminal arrests and removals.
  • FOIA Library — As required by the Freedom of Information Act, ICE publishes records including detention facility statistics and immigration statistics through the ICE FOIA Library.
  • Detention Statistics — ICE publishes searchable and sortable data tables on detention, alternatives to detention, and facilities.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)

  • Immigration and Citizenship Data — USCIS provides a variety of data resources related to USCIS operations, including E-verify reports and data on processing times.
  • Historical Library — USCIS has historical documents, including the Statistical Yearbook of the Immigration and Naturalization Service for 1978-1995.
Last Updated: 02/07/2024
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