A new Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) report analyzed the latest American Community Survey (ACS) data, conducted by the Census Bureau, and found that the immigrant population (legal and illegal) hit a record high of 43.3 million with about 1.5 million new immigrants settling in the U.S. each year.
Other top findings include:
• The just-released public-use data from the American Community Survey shows 1.5 million new immigrants (legal and illegal) arrived in 2014, and another 914,000 arrived in just the first six months of 2015.
• Between three-fourths and two-thirds of the 1.5 million new immigrants settling in the country are legal immigrants, including permanent residents as well as long-term visitors (e.g. guest workers and foreign students). The remainder are new illegal immigrants.
• Data released thus far for the first six months of the year indicate that new arrivals may have reached 1.6 million in 2015.2
• The number who arrived in 2014 represent a 17% increase over the number who came in 2013, and a 38% increase over the number who came in 2011.
• The overall immigrant population grew about twice as fast in the last two years as it did in the prior four years.3 The 1.9 million increase in the immigrant population in just the last two years almost equals the two million growth in the four-year period from 2009 to 2013.
• As a share of the U.S. population, 13.5% are now immigrants — the highest percentage in 105 years. As recently as 1970, less than 5% of the population were immigrants.
• Based on current trends and Census Bureau projections, the immigrant share of the population will surpass the highest level in American history seven years from now.5
• After the Great Recession began in 2007, 9.4 million new immigrants settled in the country from 2008 to 2015.7 This is a reminder that even though the U.S. economy experienced a prolonged recession and historically weak economic growth, the United States remains an attractive place for immigrants to settle.
You can read the full report at CIS.org.
