Pew Hispanic Center's estimates for the Executive Action
The Pew Hispanic Center performs the following arithmetic to explain the impact of Obama’s Executive Action:
Current undocumented population: 11.2 million
Pre-Action protected through Deferred
Action For Childhood Arrivals: 1.5 million
Per the Executive Action:
Additional protected by DACA 0.3 million
Parents with minor US-born children
and here for at least 5 years: 2.8 million
Parents with adult US-born children
And here for at least 5 years: 0.7 million
These estimates result in 3.5 million adults coming under provisional work authorization due to the Executive Action. Assuming a workforce participation rate of 65% (which is probably low), this means that about 2.25 million current members of the workforce shift from unauthorized to authorized to work.
The large majority of these workers are in agriculture, hospitality, institutional, and transportation.
The Pew Hispanic Center expects “44% of unauthorized immigrants from Mexico could apply for deportation protection under the new programs, compared with 24% of those from other parts of the world.”
It goes on to say that “Among the other policy changes announced in the president’s action are an increased number of visas for skilled workers and spouses of green card holders. There are several changes, including immigration enforcement that will now focus on recent arrivals and serious and repeat criminal offenders.”