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A Sizable Impact - As the country moves closer to comprehensive immigration reform, a new report from the Center for American Progress (CAP) takes a closer look at Caribbean and African immigrants living in the United States. Some immigration advocates believe they have been overlooked in discussions regarding immigration policy. Keep reading for a snapshot of how Black immigrants help shape America’s landscape. – Britt Middleton (Photo: AP Photo/John Raoux)

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A Census Snapshot - More than half of Black immigrants come to the U.S. from Caribbean nations. The others largely migrate from Northern and sub-Saharan Africa and smaller majorities come from Europe and Canada, according to the Migration Policy Institute (MPI). Black immigrants comprise three million people in America, or eight percent of the U.S. foreign-born population.  (Photo: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

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Reuniting With Family - Sixty percent of Caribbean immigrants came to the U.S. through family channels, compared to 48 percent of Africans. Refugees from Ethiopia, Somalia, Liberia, Sudan and Eritrea represented 30 percent of all Black African immigrants in 2009, according to MPI’s findings. (Photo: Getty Images/STOCK)

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Seeking Diversity - About 22 percent of immigrants came to the U.S. through the diversity visa lottery program, according to the Population Reference Bureau (PRB). The program aims to attract immigrants from countries that are underrepresented among the U.S. foreign-born population. It provides some 55,000 visas each year. (Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

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Undocumented Cases - About 400,000 Black immigrants are estimated to be in the U.S. without legal documentation. (Photo: REUTERS/Charles Platiau)

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Meeting High Marks - According to a 2007 study of U.S. Census data, African immigrants ranked highest in attaining college degrees (43.8 percent) compared to all other immigrant groups, including Asian-Americans (42.5 percent) and Europeans (28.9 percent). The overall U.S. population made up 23.1 percent. (Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Photo By Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images

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Income Disparities - Despite being some of the most well-educated among immigrants, Africans are “frequently employed in low-skilled jobs, and this underemployment lowers their wages relative to other well-educated US workers,” according to a 2011 report from the MPI. (Photo: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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Unemployment and an Uncertain Future - “In 2011, Black immigrants had the highest unemployment rate — 12.5 percent — of any foreign-born group in the United States. Proposed immigration reforms such as reductions in family-based admissions and elimination of the diversity visa lottery could affect the flow of black immigrants to the United States, cutting off all legal means of entry into the country,” writes the Center for American Progress. (Photo: Chris Hondros/Getty Images)

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Fighting for Rights - Nigerian-born Tolu Olubunmi, now a U.S.-educated engineer, addressed Capitol Hill in May as an undocumented immigrant rallying support for the passage of the DREAM Act, which grants permanent residency for certain immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as minors. In June 2012, President Obama passed a similar plan that temporarily deferred the deportation of young people brought to the U.S. before age 16. (Photo: Tolu Olubunmi/Twitter)

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Speaking Out for Reform - “Haitian Americans in Miami also came out in large numbers last year to protest U.S. immigration policies that favor groups such as Cuban migrants — allowing, for example, any Cuban who makes it onto American soil to stay — but discriminate against Haitians seeking asylum in the United States,” according the CAP’s report.(Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)