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 Who are the Unauthorized?
The Story Behind the Latest Numbers

Washington -- The first series of informational reports from the Independent Task Force on Immigration and America’s Future describes the large and growing unauthorized immigrant population now estimated to exceed 10 million people in the United States.

“The unauthorized population was the first thing discussed by the task force because the issue is the clearest example of how badly the immigration system is broken,” said Task Force Director Doris Meissner.

Publications to be released June 14 include:

Unauthorized Migrants: Numbers and Characteristics
Written by Jeffrey S. Passel and prepared by the Pew Hispanic Center for the Task Force This report will be available from the Pew Hispanic Center at 9:00 a.m. at http://pewhispanic.org. Interviews can be arranged by calling 202/419-3606.

It details the size, growth and socioeconomic characteristics of the unauthorized population in the United States, including family make-up, income levels, and possible future growth.

Twilight Statuses: A Closer Examination of the Unauthorized Population
By MPI Nonresident Scholar David A. Martin
Approximately 1 – 1.5 million people hold current or eventual claims to legal status recognized by U.S. law because they are caught in processing or admissions quota backlogs or have been granted temporary protected status (TPS).
This report will be available on MPI’s website at www.migrationpolicy.org.

MPI will hold an afternoon briefing to discuss the authors’ findings and analyses:

" Who are the Unauthorized?: The Story Behind the Latest Numbers” Briefing

When: Tuesday, June 14, 2005, 2:00- 3:30 p.m.

Speakers:

Roberto Suro, Director, Pew Hispanic Center

Jeffrey S. Passel, Senior Research Associate, Pew Hispanic Center

David A. Martin, MPI Nonresident Fellow and Professor of International Law at the University of Virginia

Moderator: Doris Meissner, MPI Senior Fellow and Task Force Director

Where: 1400 16th Street, NW, Conference Rooms A & B (lobby level)

The bipartisan task force, co-chaired by former Senator Spencer Abraham (R-MI) and former Congressman Lee Hamilton (D-IN), will continue to meet throughout coming year. The Migration Policy Institute is partnering with Manhattan Institute and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars on the project.

In addition to Task Force publications, MPI will be releasing Backlogs in Immigration Processing Persist, the latest in the Immigration Fact Sheet series. This fact sheet evaluates the chronic problem of immigration application backlogs in the United States, with the number of pending applications for immigration benefits swelling from 540,688 to 6.08 million individuals between 1990 and 2003 – an increase of over 1,000 percent.

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The Migration Policy Institute is an independent, nonpartisan think tank dedicated to the study of the movement of people worldwide.  

The Manhattan Institute is a think tank that develops and disseminates new ideas that foster greater economic choice and individual responsibility.  

The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars is a nonpartisan institution that commemorates the ideals and concerns of President Woodrow Wilson by uniting the world of ideas to the world of policy through supporting pre-eminent scholarship and linking that scholarship to issues of concern to officials in Washington.