Press release

US Citizens’ Spouses Targets for Deportation
New Study Shows Startlingly High Numbers of US Citizens Affected by Immigration Crackdown

Contact: Kim Anderson, National President

AmericanFamiliesUnited.org

612-715-9833

Paul Donnelly

[email protected]

301-537-3573

Minneapolis (Sept 30):  According to a new study by American Families United, a national grass roots organization, at least 350,000 American citizens are married to foreign-born spouses with significant problems with US immigration law. But the number could easily exceed half a million.

"US citizens are the most neglected constituency in the immigration debate," said Kim Anderson, AFU president.  "Yet recognizing that we are also the highest priority for legal immigration -- part of the only numerically unlimited category -- is the key to unlocking the debate."

AFU analyzed US Census data (PUMS -- the Public Use Microdata System) and found approximately 4.4 million US citizens are married to foreign-born spouses.  These can be broken down by state: more than 800,000 in California; nearly half a million in Texas and roughly 350,000 in New York. Nearly all states have significant numbers: more than 100,000 each in Washington, Virginia and Illinois; 40,000 in Wisconsin and 35,000 in Utah. 

“Even our lowest estimate of 350,000 US citizens married to spouses at immigration risk indicates that we are talking about significant constituencies in a number of key states, “Anderson noted, “nearly 150,000 US citizens in California, 80,000 in Texas, and thousands more even in relatively small, low-immigration states.”

"This is about our rights as US citizens," said Anderson. "American citizens should not be forced to choose between our marriages, and our country."

The American Families United summary analysis is attached. We invite reporters to contact AFU for individual stories in your area.

Summary Analysis

*The AFU analysis is based on the special report done by the US Census Current Population Survey in 2013: https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2013/cb13-157.html, updated to account for growth.  That study, which used 2011 data, found 4.091 million US citizens married to foreign-born spouses.

The 2010 Census counted 39,956,000 foreign-born persons in the US, which had increased to 43.2 million by 2015 (Pew, ACS).  We use the standard estimate of 11 million for the undocumented population.

Since the rate of increase the Census counts in the foreign-born population is in the range of 600,000 a year*, there are approximately 44 million foreign-born persons in the US.   The consensus is that 11 million are undocumented, which indicates 1 in 4 foreign-born persons in the US are unauthorized or even undocumented.  

Most of those 11 million population are not married to a US citizen.  Yet a significant number are.  

AFU analyzed the broad range of immigration offenses with serious consequences, which includes trivial and even technical violations, on which American Families United members have personal experience.  So AFU has made an intentionally conservative estimate that the percentage of foreign-born spouses of US citizens who have problems with immigration law is substantially lower than the overall percentage of undocumented within the foreign-born population as a whole.

The AFU analysis is that 8-15% of the total "Married Couple Households with Mixed Nativity" counted by the Census have had some potential problem of the kinds that afflict AFU families. While a smaller percentage, the absolute numbers are significant – particularly since, as AFU insists, this is about the rights of the US citizen.

SOURCE American Families United