Since claiming the top spot among all immigrant groups in the 1980 census, the Mexican
immigrant population in the United States has continued to outsize other immigrant groups. In
2008, there were 11.4 million Mexican immigrants in the United States, accounting for 30.1
percent of all US immigrants and 10 percent of all Mexicans. Over half of all Mexican immigrants
reside in the United States illegally.
However, recent evidence suggests that immigration from Mexico has slowed in the context of the
deep recession that officially began in December 2007 but started earlier in some regions of the
country and sectors of the economy that are particularly important for immigrants.