18 Quotes by Jeffrey Passel

We've seen a fairly steady growth in the number of undocumented immigrants living here, and this data shows very sizable numbers coming in. We're clearly not stopping them at the border.

When unemployment went up, unauthorized migration from Mexico went down. When unemployment went down, unauthorized migration from Mexico went up . . . What we're seeing is a labor migration that is tied to employment opportunities, both here and abroad.

The picture we get is that of young, working families.

The overall picture is that of young, working families coming to the U.S. to participate in the labor market.

We've built fences, and we've built more fences, and we've deployed a lot of high-tech equipment, and ... clearly people are still getting in in substantial numbers. It's more expensive, and more people are dying trying to get in, but the efforts there are clearly not stopping the migrants from getting in.

Even moderately high levels of fertility translate into large numbers of births.

Especially if we look at the Mexicans, these are people with fairly low levels of formal education. They're not able to get licensing or credentials in the United States because of their status, so the kinds of jobs available to them in the United States are somewhat limited.

There was a huge expansion in the jobs that the undocumented did.

The security has done more to keep people from going back to Mexico than it has to keep them from coming in.