New data estimates, from USC Equity Research Institute, of undocumented Fullertonians and their U.S. citizen relatives tell a story of a racially diverse population that is deeply settled, connected to thousands of U.S. citizens, and woven into the city’s fabric. Far from the stereotypes that dominate national headlines, these families are long-term residents—working, studying, paying taxes, and raising U.S. citizen children in Fullerton for decades.
Undocumented Fullertonians are racially diverse.
1. 76% of Undocumented Fullertonians are Latino, 20% are Asian, 3% are White
Undocumented Fullertonians are Extremely Long-Settled in our Community
- THREE QUARTERS of undocumented Fullertonians have lived in the U.S. a decade or longer, arriving before the first Trump era.
- HALF of undocumented Fullertonians have lived in the U.S. twenty years or longer, arriving well before the Obama era.
Source: USC Equity Research Institute analysis of 2023 5-year American Community Survey (ACS) micro data from IPUMS USA and the 2014 Survey of Income and Program Participation. All values are estimates and subject to error.
Fullerton’s undocumented and mixed-status immigrant families are thus racially diverse and deeply rooted with three quarters having lived here for more than a decade, and half living here for more than 20 years.
Contrary to false political and media narratives, these are not young single men who just arrived in the U.S. Fullerton is a family-oriented city built on community, hard work, and shared prosperity—and Latino and Asian immigrants, and other groups, are at the heart of that story. Because immigration enforcement generally targets men through racial and gender profiling, deportations frequently remove the main breadwinner, leaving mothers “suddenly single” and households economically unstable, which can “adultify” U.S. citizen children, forcing them to drop out of school and pushing them into the labor force at young ages…