“Nearly 5.5 million U.S. citizen children under age 18 live with at least one undocumented household member."
Nearly four decades after Congress last passed meaningful and positive immigration reform, more mixed-status families than ever face uncertainty about whether they could be separated from their family members and loved ones. Providing a pathway to citizenship for family members, particularly for undocumented spouses and undocumented parents, would bring important economic benefits, certainty to employers, and most importantly, certitude for millions of American families.
With some 11.3 million U.S. citizens living in mixed-status households, they are looking to Congress to provide their families a long-overdue chance at fairness, certainty, and a brighter future in the country they call home. A mixed-status household has at least one undocumented person (including those with protections such as Temporary Protected Status or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) living with at least one non-undocumented person (including a U.S. citizen, green card holder, or other lawful temporary immigrant). In all, FWD.us estimates nearly 22 million people, or 1 in every 15 U.S. residents, live in a mixed-status household.1
