The number of unauthorized persons in the U.S. on December 2000 was 11-12 million. The number as of end of October 2025 is about 14 million. Below is how I arrived at this estimate.

Governmental and non-governmental organizations have differed by a lot on how many unauthorized persons are in the U.S. The disparity is due to several factors, including vague counts of persons permitted to enter temporarily under Biden and pure guesses (using modelling) as to those truly undocumented. 

Prior to the Biden administration there was a consensus that about 11-12 million persons were in the United States.  That included DACA recipients (about 600,000) and asylum applicants.  Both categories are persons here without legal status; their deportation was suspended.   There were small numbers of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and humanitarian parole.

During the Biden administration the following happened to swell the total number. The accounting expressly included persons whose legal status is vulnerable, asylum applicants, TPS and humanitarian parole (DACA numbers did not materially change). It is important to keep in mind that estimates of total “unauthorized” include these categories. They are in fact documented. The core number of truly undocumented – that is without any temporary protection – may be around 10-11 million.

The Biden years saw:

*Those crossing illegally or overstaying temporary visas – I see no count for these. A guess: upwards of 250,000 a year, or 1,000,000 in total

*Increase in asylum cases: about 2,500,000 million

*Temporary protected status: about 500,000 + additional

*Humanitarian parole: about 600,000

LESS those deported /removed or self-deported under Biden: roughly 1,500,000. This assumes a number who left voluntarily, as has been the pattern for decades.

Thus, total in December 2000: 11-12 million

Change under Biden: 4.6 million less 1.5 million = 3.1 million

Total in December 2024: about 14.5 million

In the first nine months of the Trump administration – DHS’s released estimates have been deemed unreliable. Assume 400,000 have been deported and a large number self-deported. The removal of TPS status does not by itself cause the total number to go down. Assume the arrival of undocumented persons is relatively very low, say 100,000.

Thus, as of October 31, 2025: about 14 million.

Here is an informative estimate of the number of unauthorized as of mid 2023. Here is Pew’s estimate for 2023.