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What percentage of undocumented immigrants in the US are Latino/Hispanic, Black, Asian, White, and other races?
Executive summary
There is no single, authoritative breakdown of the racial or ethnic composition of the U.S. undocumented/unauthorized population in the search results provided; major estimates of total unauthorized population in 2022–2023 range from about 11–14 million (Pew, Migration Policy Institute, CMS) to higher figures from advocacy or restrictionist groups (FAIR) [1] [2] [3] [4]. Available sources describe methods and broad origin-region patterns (for example declines in Mexican origin share and growth in other origin groups) but do not provide a clear, single-percentage split by race (Latino/Hispanic, Black, Asian, White, other) in the material you supplied [5] [3] [4].
1. Big-picture totals and why precise racial percentages are missing
Researchers disagree on the size of the unauthorized population — Pew and MPI/CMS-style estimates placed the unauthorized population near 11–14 million in recent years, while FAIR produces a much larger 18.6 million estimate — and those methodological differences drive uncertainty in downstream demographic shares [1] [2] [4] [3]. The measurement methods (residual estimation, imputations from ACS/SIPP, administrative counts) and response-rate problems make it hard to produce a single, widely accepted racial breakdown for undocumented people using the documents you provided [6] [3] [5].
2. What the major academic and policy groups report about origins and race/ethnicity
Migration Policy Institute (MPI) and similar academic profiles focus on national origins and region-of-origin patterns rather than neat census-race columns; MPI’s 2023 profile estimates roughly 11.4 million unauthorized immigrants and emphasizes country/region of origin and tenure in the U.S., noting shifts such as a long-term decline in migrants from Mexico and greater heterogeneity overall [3]. Pew’s recent work documents overall population-size revisions and trends but in the sources given concentrates on totals, trends, and methodological updates rather than publishing a single racial-percentage table in these excerpts [1] [2] [5].
3. Common findings you can rely on (with caveats)
Multiple sources agree that the unauthorized population is heterogeneous and that Mexico’s share has declined from earlier decades, implying a more mixed origin profile today; Migration Policy Institute explicitly frames the population as diverse and provides origin-country detail [3]. Pew and MPI note that new methodological updates changed total estimates (Pew revised 2022 upward to 11.8 million in one Q&A and later reported 14 million for 2023), which means any racial/ethnic percentages tied to older totals may be outdated [1] [2].
4. Why headline racial percentages can be misleading
Race and Hispanic origin are measured differently across data products (Census race categories vs. Hispanic ethnicity); many immigration estimates classify by origin region or nationality rather than race. Residual estimation and survey imputations also rely on self‑reported or imputed characteristics, which are sensitive to nonresponse and to differing definitions of “unauthorized” [6] [3]. The social and political implications of labeling groups by race or “undocumented” status mean methodology choices can alter apparent shares [6].
5. Competing sources and what they imply, without overclaiming
Advocacy and restrictionist groups produce different totals: FAIR’s 18.6 million figure (restrictionist/advocacy) is far above MPI/Pew/CMS-style estimates [4]. These differences affect any implied racial shares: if the base population is uncertain by millions, percentage splits derived from one base will not match splits derived from another [4] [3] [1]. The sources you provided do not publish a consistent tabulation by the race labels you asked (Latino/Hispanic, Black, Asian, White, other), so reporting a definitive percentage table would overstate the certainty of the available material [1] [3] [4].
6. What a careful reader should do next
If you want specific percentage breakdowns by race/ethnicity, request or consult the full MPI data tool and Pew’s full reports and methodology appendices (MPI’s profile and Pew’s “U.S. Unauthorized Immigrant Population Reached a Record 14 Million in 2023”) and the Center for Migration Studies methodology pages; these sources use ACS/SIPP microdata imputation and sometimes provide cross-tabulations by Hispanic origin and region that can be translated into percentage shares [3] [2] [7]. Note that different groups will produce different percentages depending on the total they adopt and the imputation choices they make [4] [6].
Limitations: available sources do not mention a single unified table giving the percent of undocumented immigrants who are Latino/Hispanic, Black, Asian, White, and other races; instead they offer totals, origin-region breakdowns, methodological explanations, and competing estimates [1] [2] [4] [3] [6].