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An immigrant from Mexico kisses her four day-old son during a newborn care class at a community health center for low-income patients on December 1, 2009 in Aurora, Colorado. Health coverage for immigrants remains a contentious issue in the reform debate.

A study released today by the Pew Hispanic Center estimates the number of babies born in the United States to at least one unauthorized immigrant parent--340,000 of the 4.3 million newborns in 2008. The study, the first of its kind, also estimates that 8% of newborns and 7% of children in 2008 had a least one illegal immigrant parent. The estimate is based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau's March 2009 Current Population Survey. It is augmented with an analysis of the characteristics of unauthorized immigrants. In total, 4 million U.S.-born children of unauthorized immigrants resided in the United States in 2009.

Read the full report here.

Guest:

Jeffrey S. Passel, senior demographer at the Pew Hispanic Center