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Q&A – How Many Illegal Immigrants Are in Florida?
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Today’s Entry: Brian, I just saw a crazy report saying 20% of the US population will soon be illegals. I know DeSantis is pushing back against this but it doesn’t seem like there’s much he can do. Is there any way of telling how many illegals are in Florida and what this will look like in a few years if that projection proves true?
Bottom Line: Yeah, I agree that the thought of 20% of our country’s population being in the country illegally is crazy. Biden’s open border is no secret in this country or around the world for that matter. People from all around the world continue to pour across our southern border at record rates. US Border Patrol reporting showed 1.7 million migrants crossed our southern border last year (higher than the population of eleven states), with a total of right around a million in the most recent six months – indicating the pace has only continued to increase overtime. That’s all before the lifting of Trump’s Title 42 policy which is about to occur. This is what’s leading to the projections indicating that it’s possible for one in five in the US to not be here legally by the end of the Biden administration. It’s not possible to know exactly how many illegal immigrants are in any state in real-time, however there’s solid information on what’s been that provides a clue.
The Migration Policy Institute keeps updated records of unauthorized migrants within the United States. They do so by monitoring official government data and breaking down sociodemographic profiles at the county level. Now, the challenge with this data is that it’s backward looking – because that’s the way government data works. The most recent data available is based upon the 2019 fiscal year, (where the United States stood as of September 2020). This is obviously previous to the onset of the Biden administration which discounts the 1.7 million migrants which have crossed into the US over the past year. But by knowing where we were, in addition to knowing what’s happened since, I can estimate where we are in real-time, in addition to project what could happen if indeed up to 20% of the population of the country were eventually compromised of those who’re undocumented.
As of September 2020...
- 11 million unauthorized migrants in US
- 772,000 in Florida
So, Florida has about 7% of the illegal population nationally. Using that information, we can estimate Florida having taken in another 119,300+ undocumented migrants over the past year, or an average of greater than 325 undocumented migrants entering Florida daily. This means Florida likely has just under 900,000 illegal immigrants living here in real-time. There are 1,015 days remaining of President Biden’s current term. Without an increase in the rate of migrants crossing the border we’d have another approximate 330,000 illegal immigrants moving into our state by the end of his administration – leaving Florida with over 1.2 million residents who aren’t here legally.
While many of the undocumented migrants are asylum seekers, my analysis of asylum seekers under the Biden administration has shown 92.3% are found to be illegal immigrants, lacking legitimate asylum status, once fully processed (most commonly by never cooperating with authorities to attend hearings once processed). As for what could happen if the 20% projection were to become true... A total of greater than 4.6 million illegal immigrants in Florida. A total equaling the population of Florida’s two largest counties, Miami-Dade and Broward, combined. Will that happen in the coming years? I’m not so sure about the 20% figure, that seems unlikely to me. However, there’s every indication that we’ll soon have over one million illegal immigrants living in Florida. And where are these illegal immigrants coming from in Florida? The top five countries are Mexico, Venezuela, Guatemala, Honduras and Colombia. And who most commonly is coming to Florida? While people of all ages are here – the most common undocumented migrant is a 30-year-old unmarried male. Once again, many of the narratives about desperate families aren’t evidenced with known facts.