The image of the undocumented immigrant has been, for years, that of a single man from Mexico who comes to the U.S. to work and lives alone. But according to the Pew Hispanic Center, a new study (PDF here) reveals a demographic shift which shows that undocumented immigrants tend now to be part of a family unit, with different immigration statuses between the members; some are married to documented immigrants, others have children who are U.S.-born, etc. From the Pew report:

Unauthorized immigrants living in the United States are more geographically dispersed than in the past and are more likely than either U.S. born residents or legal immigrants to live in a household with a spouse and children. In addition, a growing share of the children of unauthorized immigrant parents—73%—were born in this country and are U.S. citizens.

Most children of unauthorized immigrants—73% in 2008—are U.S. citizens by birth. The number of U.S.-born children in mixed-status families (unauthorized immigrant parents and citizen children) has expanded rapidly in recent years, to 4 million in 2008 from 2.7 million in 2003. By contrast, the number of children who are unauthorized immigrants themselves (1.5 million in 2008) hardly changed in the five-year period and may have declined slightly since 2005.

According to Pew, nearly half of undocumented immigrant households are families with children. In addition, a third of these children and a fifth of adult unauthorized immigrants lives in poverty, practically double the poverty rate for children of U.S.-born parents (18%) or U.S.-born adults (10%).

Why is any of this important? Because as we move closer to “immigration reform”, the Obama administration is going to have to take all of this into consideration as it develops new policy. This new reality is proof that policy must protect families — which over the past few years we’ve seen torn apart by raids and deportation — and that immigration status can no longer be only about the individual when families are involved.

Via / Pew Hispanic Center