Red states have more illegal immigrants than Blue States.

1. Where most unauthorized immigrants live right now

Nationwide estimates place about 11 million people living in the U.S. without authorization, and an analysis by Scripps News found that 57% of those unauthorized immigrants lived in blue states (states with Democratic governors and D.C.) while 43% were in Republican‑governed states, and that per‑capita rates of unauthorized immigrants are higher in blue states when population is taken into account ^[1].

2. Absolute counts versus recent directional changes

Absolute state totals still concentrate unauthorized populations in a handful of large states — for example, California and Texas have very large undocumented populations ^{[2] [4]} — yet analysts report divergent trends: some recent studies and think‑tank analyses show substantial growth of noncitizen populations in many red states between 2019 and 2023, with Cato finding that much noncitizen population growth flowed to GOP‑leaning states during that period ^{[2] [5]}, and independent fact‑checks noting that while long‑standing concentrations remain in blue states, recent increases have occurred in several Republican states ^[3].

3. The important distinction: per‑capita vs. raw numbers

Counting raw numbers favors large, historically immigrant‑rich blue states like California and New York, but per‑capita measures and metro‑area concentration matter: researchers note that roughly 60% of foreign‑born people live in about 20 metro areas — many of which are blue cities — and per‑capita unauthorized rates can therefore be higher in blue states even if some red states have seen big gains in absolute noncitizen counts ^{[4] [6] [1]}.

4. Why patterns differ: jobs, networks, and relocation

Settlement patterns are shaped by where jobs, immigrant networks, and family ties exist — migrants often move beyond border states to join established communities in other regions ^[1] — and state policies vary: while some Republican‑led states have pursued restrictive laws, other GOP states have recognized immigrant labor’s economic role, producing a patchwork where policy does not map cleanly to partisan labels ^[7].

5. Politics, claims and what data contradicts

High‑profile political claims that Democrats are “allowing” or “importing” illegal immigrants to gain seats rely on selective readings; analyses ahead of and after the 2020 census concluded that excluding unauthorized immigrants would have been roughly a wash for apportionment, and more recent work finds growth in both blue and red states with no evidence of a simple partisan ploy ^{[2] [3]}. Tactical moves — such as governors bussing migrants between states — are political statements rather than evidence of a systematic partisan redistribution, a point illustrated when reporting noted the Martha’s Vineyard relocation after a GOP governor’s intervention ^[1].

6. Bottom line — answer to the claim

The factual bottom line is that red states do not currently host more unauthorized immigrants overall than blue states: most unauthorized immigrants live in blue states and per‑capita rates are higher in many blue states ^[1], but the notable caveat is that noncitizen and unauthorized populations have been growing faster in several Republican‑led states in recent years, so the partisan geography of unauthorized migration is dynamic rather than absolute ^{[2] [3] [4]}. Where the reporting does not give a definitive, up‑to‑the‑minute county‑level tally, that gap is acknowledged and would require primary census or DHS microdata to resolve with precision ^[8].