Immigrant Children

An immigrant is someone who leaves one country to live in another on a permanent basis. First-generation immigrants are those who were born outside the United States, and second-generation immigrants are those who were born in the Unites States or its territories. This entry discusses the demographic characteristics of immigrant children and ways to support them.

The U.S. Census Bureau divides children into two groups by nativity: children born to native parents and those with at least one foreign-born parent. In this categorization, immigrant children include both foreign-born children with foreign-born parents and native children with at least one foreign-born parent. In government and scholarly reports, the term immigrant children refers to those who have at least one foreign-born parent, even though most of them are ...