A MESSAGE FROM THE ELDERS. Nearly 80% of the terrestrial ecoregions are inhabited and protected by one or more Indigenous peoples. The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the peoples who are native to the Americas or the Western Hemisphere. Their ancestors are among the pre-Columbian populations of South, Central, and North America, as well as the Caribbean. Indigenous peoples live throughout the continent. While often minorities in their countries, Indigenous peoples are the majority in Greenland and close to a majority in Bolivia and Guatemala. There were approximately 14 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S., accounting for 3.3% of the population in 2014. This population included individuals, many Indigenous, who escaped from violence, disasters, and economic stagnation in their countries and entered at times without documentation, and others overstayed their permits.