About 678,000 college-educated Mexican immigrants live in the U.S. and 185,000 of them live in Texas, according to a new study from the Migration Policy Institute.

These Mexicans have degrees in STEM fields, high-skilled occupations and other professions -- qualities that are in high demand -- and some experts believe incorporating them into the workforce could be key to keeping Texas’ economic engine going.

But many of these immigrants face some major barriers: a lack of English proficiency, their degrees and credentials not being recognized in the U.S. and a lack of legal status. As a result, many are underemployed, unable to practice their trades.

The study released Thursday morning found that these Mexicans are concentrated in five major metro areas:

Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land: 39,000 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington: 33,000 El Paso: 24,000 McAllen-Edinburg-Mission: 21,000 San Antonio-New Braunfels: 18,000

Ariel Ruiz, MPI associate policy analyst, said the findings are a first look at how the Mexican immigrant population in the U.S. is changing.

“Overall, the Mexican college-educated population is now significantly higher than in other generations. Them moving here is breaking the stereotype that all Mexican immigrants are low-skilled,” Ruiz said.

This new wave of immigrants is writing a new chapter in the U.S.-Mexico story. As of 2017, 1 out of every 5 recent Mexican immigrants had a college degree. Compare that to 1 out of 10 back in 2000. And some are making big investments in the Texas economy.

The MPI report also found that most Mexican immigrants with a college degree and are at least 25 years old are living in Texas with legal status:

About 44% are naturalized citizens.

About 23% are green card holders.

About 6% are temporary visa holders.

And about 27% are unauthorized.

With a lack of language proficiency, lack of legal status and credentials not transferring over internationally standing in their way, many are underemployed. The MPI report found that many of these college-educated professionals are working in construction and the restaurant industry, a possible sign that many of these high-skilled immigrants aren’t plying their trade.

And while there’s nothing wrong with these jobs, said Luisa del Rosal, director of the Mission Foods Texas-Mexico Center at SMU, there's a lot of untapped potential for Texas here.

Del Rosal said there needs to be more of an effort to extend English-language learning courses to these migrants as well as more state recognition of their college degrees and technical certifications.

She adds that there needs to be more research about how these immigrants factor into the economy.

“What is their economic impact? Are they buying homes? We need to answer these questions in order to arrive at fact-based narratives,” del Rosal said.

Lorena Toffer, 41, a Mexico City native and architect, moved to the U.S. in 2002 to attend Texas A&M University to complete a master’s degree in architecture. After graduating, Toffer stayed and she’s worked in architecture since then. She’s lived in Dallas for about 14 years.

Lorena Toffer, 41, a Mexico City native and architect, moved to the U.S. in 2002 to attend Texas A&M to complete a master's degree in architecture. After graduating, Toffer stayed and she has worked in architecture ever since. (Rose Baca / Staff Photographer)

"Staying here long term wasn't part of my plan, but when I found a good job that really helped me decide to make this a permanent move. I started seeing the opportunities here, and I stayed," Toffer said. "I saw an opportunity to make an impact not just for myself but for my family back home and the community here."

With no relatives in the area and some culture shock, Toffer said life wasn't easy. But she adapted and now works for AECOM, a multinational engineering and architecture group. She also co-founded City Lab High School, a Dallas ISD school focused on urban planning and design.

“I’m invested in this community, and I want to keep being a voice to improve Dallas,” Toffer said.

Laura Collins, director of the George W. Bush Institute-SMU Economic Growth Initiative, said that this increase in high-skilled Mexicans is in line with the trend from recent immigrants coming from all countries. The Bush Center itself found that about 45% of recent immigrants to the U.S. since 2010 had at least a bachelor’s degree.

"Any time you have a group of highly educated immigrants coming in, it's good for the local economy. Overall, people with bachelor's degrees tend to earn more over their lifetimes," Collins said. "They have more savings and spend more. They pump in more to the system than they take."

Collins added that it would be in the state’s best interest to find ways to better incorporate these immigrants because they could be long-term contributors to the state economically and civically.

“Immigration is a two-way street. We have to look at what we can do for immigrants and what they will do to get themselves ahead,” Collins said.