Passel, Jeffrey S., and Karen A. Woodrow. 1986. Answers to Inquiries about Undocumented Immigrants (Numbers Eligible for Amnesty under the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986). Internal Memorandum for the Record, U.S. Bureau of the Census, October 29.


Since Congressional approval of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 in mid-October, we have received numerous calls as to the demographic impact of the legislation, especially the size of the undocumented population that could be legalized. Although we do not have the specific information requested, this memorandum reviews our research on the size and growth of the undocumented population. We develop a range of 3 to 5 million for the undocumented population in 1986 based on an estimate of 2,057,000 undocumented aliens counted in the 1980 census, a range for the total in 1980 of 2.5 to 3.5 million, and estimated average annual growth of 100,000 to 300,000 in the undocumented population over 1980-1983. With some uncertainty, the range for the population eligible for amnesty under the new bill is stated as 2.5 to 4.0 million as living here as of January 1, 1982, but we have no basis for estimating how many of the undocumented aliens here at that time were remaining in the country in 1986.