The Pew Research Center estimates that there are about 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States — and that approximately two-thirds of them have been here for more than a decade.
Journalist Frank Foer says that for many years, there was a tacit agreement among politicians of both parties that there would be a pathway to citizenship for many of the long-term undocumented immigrants.
“They rooted themselves within our communities. … They raise children who are U.S. citizens,” Foer says. “There had been this consensus that they could stay.”
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