Data

Our data come from many sources. None of it represents a complete record of immigration, detention, or deportation. Below are examples of some of its limitations.

The Census estimates net migration and revises itself periodically, and it has some missing information. For instance, not all months are available for all years. Visas record permission to travel, not the arrival of immigrants. ICE removals within this data set are only recorded if they began with an ICE arrest. Border Patrol removals are not published by destination countries, so this data may also have incompleteness. Detention figures are averages, not counts of individual people.

We have tried to show each source as published, to label estimates and partial years, and to avoid reading more into the numbers than they can reasonably signify.

Sources

Measure	Source
Net international migration, 2001–2025	Census Bureau population estimates (Vintages 2009, 2020, 2025), nation, states and counties
Where immigrants live within a county	American Community Survey 2020–2024, foreign-born population by census tract; Census Gazetteer tracts
2026 projections	Census Bureau; Congressional Budget Office; Brookings / AEI
Visas issued	State Department nonimmigrant visa issuances, annual and monthly, by nationality and visa class
Ports of entry	NTTO I-94 arrivals by port and world region
Green cards	DHS Yearbook of Immigration Statistics; DHS green cards by county and country of birth
H-1B approvals	USCIS H-1B Employer Data Hub
International students	NCES IPEDS fall enrollment and institutional characteristics
ICE detention	ICE detention statistics, FY2019–FY2026
ICE removals	Deportation Data Project, ICE arrests table
BPS removals	DHS Office of Homeland Security Statistics, enforcement tables
Boundaries and places	Census cartographic boundaries and Gazetteer files; Natural Earth countries

Citations

Data sets

Deportation Data Project. (2026). ICE arrests table, October 2022 – August 2026 [Data set]. https://deportationdata.org/data/ice.html
National Center for Education Statistics. (2025). Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System: Fall enrollment 2024 (EF2024A) and institutional characteristics (HD2025) [Data set]. U.S. Department of Education. https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/DataFiles.aspx
National Travel and Tourism Office. (2021). I-94 arrivals: Region dictionary, 1999–2021 [Data set]. U.S. Department of Commerce. https://www.trade.gov/sites/default/files/2021-03/1999-2021%20Region%20Dictionary_0.xlsx
National Travel and Tourism Office. (2025). I-94 arrivals: Summary and analysis, December 2024 (Table J.2, port of entry by world region) [Data set]. U.S. Department of Commerce. https://www.trade.gov/sites/default/files/2025-02/FINAL_SummaryAnalysis_COR_December_2024.xlsx
Natural Earth. (n.d.). Admin 0 – countries, 1:110m [Data set]. https://www.naturalearthdata.com/
U.S. Census Bureau. (2009). State population totals and components of change: 2000–2009 (Vintage 2009, NST-EST2009-ALLDATA) [Data set]. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/datasets/
U.S. Census Bureau. (2010). County population totals and components of change: 2000–2009 (Vintage 2009, CO-EST2009-ALLDATA) [Data set]. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/datasets/2000-2009/counties/totals/co-est2009-alldata.csv
U.S. Census Bureau. (2020). State population totals and components of change: 2010–2020 (Vintage 2020, NST-EST2020-ALLDATA) [Data set]. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/datasets/
U.S. Census Bureau. (2021). County population totals and components of change: 2010–2020 (Vintage 2020, CO-EST2020-ALLDATA) [Data set]. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/datasets/
U.S. Census Bureau. (2026). State population totals and components of change: 2020–2025 (Vintage 2025, NST-EST2025-ALLDATA) [Data set]. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/datasets/
U.S. Census Bureau. (2026). County population totals and components of change: 2020–2025 (Vintage 2025, CO-EST2025-ALLDATA) [Data set]. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/datasets/
U.S. Census Bureau. (2025). American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates, table B05002: Place of birth by nativity and citizenship status [Data set]. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/summary_file/2024/table-based-SF/data/5YRData/acsdt5y2024-b05002.dat
U.S. Census Bureau. (2024). 2024 cartographic boundary files: States, 1:20,000,000 and counties, 1:5,000,000 [Data set]. https://www2.census.gov/geo/tiger/GENZ2024/shp/
U.S. Census Bureau. (n.d.). Gazetteer files: Counties (2020, 2023), census tracts (2024) and ZIP code tabulation areas (2025) [Data set]. https://www.census.gov/geographies/reference-files/time-series/geo/gazetteer-files.html
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. (n.d.). H-1B employer data hub, fiscal years 2009–2025 [Data set]. https://www.uscis.gov/tools/reports-and-studies/h-1b-employer-data-hub
U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Homeland Security Statistics. (2023). Yearbook of immigration statistics 2013: Lawful permanent residents, data tables [Data set]. https://ohss.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/2023-12/LPR%25202013_0.zip
U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Homeland Security Statistics. (n.d.). Yearbook of immigration statistics 2023: Table 1, persons obtaining lawful permanent resident status, fiscal years 1820 to 2023, and lawful permanent resident data tables [Data set]. https://ohss.dhs.gov/topics/immigration/yearbook/2023/table1
U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Homeland Security Statistics. (2026). Yearbook of immigration statistics 2024: Lawful permanent residents [Data set]. https://ohss.dhs.gov/system/files/2026-06/2026_0604_ohss_yearbook_lawful_permanent_residents_fy2024.xlsx
U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Homeland Security Statistics. (2026). Lawful permanent residents by county of residence and country of birth, top 200 counties, fiscal year 2024 [Data set]. https://ohss.dhs.gov/topics/immigration/lawful-permanent-residents/
U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Homeland Security Statistics. (2025). Immigration enforcement and legal processes monthly tables, November 2024 [Data set]. https://ohss.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/2025-01/2025_0116_ohss_immigration-enforcement-and-legal-processes-tables-november-2024.xlsx
U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs. (n.d.). Monthly nonimmigrant visa issuances by nationality and visa class [Data set]. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-statistics/nonimmigrant-visa-statistics/monthly-nonimmigrant-visa-issuances.html
U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs. (n.d.). Nonimmigrant visa statistics: Annual issuances by visa class and by nationality [Data set]. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-statistics/nonimmigrant-visa-statistics.html
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. (2026). Detention statistics, fiscal years 2019–2026: Average daily population by facility [Data set]. https://www.ice.gov/detain/detention-management

Projections

Congressional Budget Office. (2026, January 7). The demographic outlook: 2026 to 2056. https://www.cbo.gov/publication/61879
Edelberg, W., Veuger, S., & Watson, T. (2026, January 13). Macroeconomic implications of immigration flows in 2025 and 2026: January 2026 update. Brookings Institution. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/macroeconomic-implications-of-immigration-flows-in-2025-and-2026-january-2026-update/
U.S. Census Bureau. (2026, January 27). New population estimates show historic decline in net international migration. Random Samplings. https://census.gov/newsroom/blogs/random-samplings/2026/01/historic-decline-in-net-international-migration.html

References

American Civil Liberties Union. (n.d.). Detained immigrants detail physical abuse and inhumane conditions at largest immigration detention center in the U.S.
BBC News. (n.d.). [Article on U.S. deportations]. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9p8gn55433jo
Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. (2025). 2024 country reports on human rights practices: Equatorial Guinea. U.S. Department of State. https://www.state.gov/reports/2024-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/equatorial-guinea
The Guardian. (2026, October 2). [Opinion on the United States deporting refugees to Equatorial Guinea, and torture]. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/oct/02/trump-refugees-equatorial-guinea-torture
Houston Public Media. (2025, January 31). Texans divided on immigration policies and border security, new survey finds.
Human Rights Watch. (2026, October 8). US: Deportations to African countries not their own [News release]. https://www.hrw.org/news/2026/10/08/us-deportations-to-african-countries-not-their-own
Hunt, J., Orrenius, P., & Zavodny, M. (2026, September 23). How did the post-pandemic migration surge affect labor and housing markets? Brookings Institution. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-did-the-post-pandemic-migration-surge-affect-labor-and-housing-markets/
Krugman, P. (2025, August 20). ICEing the U.S. economy. Paul Krugman. https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/iceing-the-us-economy
Mehta, S. (2025, November 6). Border Patrol agents replace top leadership at ICE offices despite human rights violations. American Civil Liberties Union. https://www.aclu.org/news/immigrants-rights/border-patrol-agents-replace-top-leadership-at-ice-offices-despite-human-rights-violations
The New York Times. (2026, February 12). [Reporting on Congress, the Trump administration, ICE and masked agents].
The New York Times. (2026, September 18). [Report on a hotel in Equatorial Guinea holding people deported by the United States]. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/18/world/africa/us-deportation-hotel-equatorial-guinea.html
The New York Times. (2026, September 25). [Reporting on the ICE surge and immigration arrests].
Office of the Texas Governor. (2024, January 12). Texas transports over 100,000 migrants to sanctuary cities [Press release]. https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/texas-transports-over-100000-migrants-to-sanctuary-cities
Toole, M. (2025, March 27). Video shows Tufts graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk detained by ICE on way to Ramadan iftar dinner. CBS News Boston. https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/tufts-graduate-student-detained-rumeysa-ozturk-video/