Fullerton’s Immigrant Families are Racially Diverse and Long-Settled, Not New Arrivals, New USC Data Shows

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

1/6 Fullertonians are undocumented or live with someone who is. Mixed-status families are also racially diverse

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,

The data and personal networks of so many of us makes clear that undocumented Fullertonians and their family members are extremely long-settled: they are our neighbors, workers, parents, students, athletes, school and community leaders, and business owners—people who have been contributing to our community for decades via their labor, by paying sales and property taxes, and by helping to shape the family-oriented dynamic nature of Fullerton.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. Ultimately, because undocumented Fullertonians are so settled in our city and connected to families, every detention or deportation in our city has consequences that affect U.S. born citizens and that also increases social and financial pressures on schools and the city, from child welfare and housing instability, to educational delays, and significantly reduced consumer spending and reduced local sales taxes.

The data and personal networks of so many of us makes clear that undocumented Fullertonians and their family members are extremely long-settled: they are our neighbors, workers, parents, students, athletes, school, church and community leaders, and business owners—people who have been contributing to our community for decades via their labor, by paying sales and property taxes, and by helping to shape the family-oriented dynamic nature of Fullerton.

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Jody Agius Vallejo is Professor of Sociology and American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California and Associate Director of USC Equity Research Institute.

Manuel Pastor is Distinguished Professor of Sociology at USC and Director of USC Equity Research Institute. Justin Scoggins is Senior Data Manager at USC Equity Research Institute.

Jeffer Giang is Senior Data Analyst at USC Equity Research Institute.
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