Our First Podcast Is Here

Now that The Latino Newsletter is up and running, I decided to get behind the microphone and host a podcast again.

The name of the show?

The Latino Newsletter. Gotta keep the brand consistent.

I haven’t really hosted or co-hosted anything for close to a year, but the next few months are going to be a bit intense (they already are), and we need as many Latino shows out there to make sure our community remains central to the national dialogue.

I dropped the trailer last night on Spotify and plan to have the podcast up on other podcast platforms by next week.

What will The Latino Newsletter podcast cover?

Pretty much what I have covered as a journalist and commentator for the last 15 years. I have always been a political nerd, and I want to feature honest discussions about the 2024 election cycle (both in the United States and Puerto Rico) with journalist friends and other voices I admire. I also want to continue to explore the complexities of latinidad in the United States.

Like I said in the trailer, I don’t know who my first guest (or guests) will be, so if you have any suggestions, let me know. You can reply to this post or send me an email ([email protected]). You can also connect with me or The Latino Newsletter on Twitter.

Instagram or Facebook messages work too.

And if you don’t want to miss an episode, give the show a follow now on Spotify.

Pew: Unauthorized Immigrants in US Grew to 11 Million in 2022

A new study released Monday by Pew Research said that the U.S. unauthorized immigrant population “grew to 11.0 million in 2022,” an increase from 10.5 million in 2021. That increase “reversed a long-term downward trend from 2007 to 2019” and “is the first sustained increase in the unauthorized immigrant population since the period from 2005 to 2007.”

The study also shared these findings:

• The number of unauthorized immigrants from Mexico dropped to 4.0 million in 2022 from a peak of 6.9 million in 2007.

• The unauthorized immigrant population grew in six states from 2019 to 2022—Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Texas. Only California saw a decrease.

• About 8.3 million U.S. workers in 2022 were unauthorized immigrants, an increase from 7.4 million in 2019. The 2022 number is essentially the same as previous highs in 2008 and 2011.

• As of 2022, unauthorized immigrants represented 3.3% of the total U.S. population and 23% of the foreign-born population. These shares were lower than the peak values in 2007 but slightly higher than in 2019.

• Meanwhile, the lawful immigrant population grew steadily from 24.1 million in 2000 to 36.9 million in 2022.

You can read the complete study here for all the findings.

Last year, I wrote an MSNBC opinion piece about Pew’s 2021 study, which stated that the 10.5 million estimate was a 14% decrease from 2007. The latest study from Monday confirmed an increase from 2021 to 2022, but we are not back to 2007 levels.

Julio Ricardo Varela is the founder and interim publisher of The Latino Newsletter.