Yes.

According to 2022 data from the Office of Homeland Security, the unauthorized immigration population was about 11 million, almost three times the population of Oklahoma, and a 2023 estimate from the Pew Research Center puts this figure at 14 million in 2023, or 3.5 times Oklahoma’s population. 

Unauthorized immigrants refers to noncitizens who are not legal residents, including both those who enter illegally, which is to say without inspection, and those who enter legally. Forty-two percent of the unauthorized immigrant population entered legally but overstayed their visas. 

Border Patrol releases account for 1 million immigrants, and another 1 million entered legally and were paroled into the country, meaning they were given temporary permission to enter and remain.

Many unauthorized immigrants, including asylum applicants, parolees, victims of crimes or violence, and those with Temporary Protected Status, had some protections from deportation in 2023, but that has changed under the current administration.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Oklahoma Watch partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims.

Sources

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