CHIRLA Action Fund

Our Constituency

  • In 2017, the United States had 44.4 million immigrants, about 13.6 percent of the population. A bit less than half, 19.8 million, were naturalized citizens, and another 11.9 million are legal residents. About 2.1 million have temporary legal status and 11 million lack legal status altogether. We also work with refugees who come to the U.S. fleeing persecution in their countries.
  • In California, immigrants are about 27 percent of the population, about 10.6 million people. They paid almost $39 billion in state and local taxes in 2018, and they contribute more than a third of the state’s GDP, about $715 billion annually. Undocumented immigrants by themselves paid $7 billion in total taxes in 2018, of which $2.5 billion was a state and local taxes.
  • We know that immigrant families often have mixed legal status, are multigenerational and multi-racial. Nearly half of California children have at least one immigrant parent. And we know that the undocumented immigrants we serve do the hardest jobs often for uncertain wages.
  • CHIRLA constituency is made up of members, partners, and community who help us achieve our mission to have a society fully inclusive of immigrants.

New American and Latino Voters

  • At least 11.6 million Latinos will cast ballots in 2022, a 71.4 percent increase in the number of Latino voters from 2014.
  • There were nearly 15.6 million Latinos in California in 2020. Around 8 million of them are eligible voters, the largest Latino voting bloc in the nation. (for reference
  • More than 23 million U.S. immigrants will be eligible to vote in the 2020 presidential election, making up roughly 10% of the nation’s overall electorate – both record highs, according to Pew Research Center estimates based on Census Bureau data.
  • There are 3.5 million immigrant eligible voters from Mexico, more than from any other country.
  • California has 5 million New Citizen voters eligible to cast a vote in 2022