Note: Data refer to adults aged 25 years and older. Recent immigrants are those who entered the United States between 2014 and 2019. Source: MPI tabulation of U.S. Census Bureau 2019 ACS data. Naturalizations reached a record high in FY 2008, rising from 660,000 the previous year to 1,047,000. This happened due to the impending increase in filing fees and the promotion of U.S. citizenship in the run-up to the 2008 presidential election. On September 26, 2019, the Trump administration announced plans to allow only 18,000 refugees to resettle in the United States in fiscal year 2020, the lowest level since the modern program began in 1980. [84] [85] [86] [87] The number of newcomers has decreased, mainly due to a decline in the number of unauthorized immigrants arriving in the United States. The decline in the unauthorized immigrant population can be attributed primarily to the fact that more Mexican immigrants leave the United States than they enter.
The 2.8 million nonimmigrant visas issued by the State Department in fiscal year 2021 — including tourists and other short-term visitors — represented a 30 percent drop from the 4 million in fiscal year 2020, marking the sixth consecutive year those numbers have declined. Fourteen percent of immigrants were poor (that is, family income was below the official poverty line of $25,750 for a family of four in 2019), compared with 12 percent of those born in the United States. By region of birth, immigrants from Asia together accounted for 28% of all immigrants, close to the proportion of immigrants from Mexico (25%). Other regions have a lower share: Europe, Canada and the rest of North America (13%), the Caribbean (10%), Central America (8%), South America (7%), the Middle East and North Africa (4%) and Sub-Saharan Africa (5%). Nearly half (45%) of the country`s immigrants live in just three states: California (24%), Texas (11%) and Florida (10%). California had the largest immigrant population of any state in 2018, at 10.6 million. Texas, Florida and New York each had more than 4 million immigrants. Asians are expected to be the largest immigrant group in the United States by 2055, surpassing Hispanics. According to Pew Research Center estimates, by 2065, those who identify as Asian will make up about 38 percent of all immigrants.
Hispanic, 31%; White, 20%; and Blacks, 9%. Between 1921 and 1965, measures such as the national origin formula limited immigration and naturalization opportunities for people from regions outside Western Europe. Exclusion laws enacted as early as the 1880s generally prohibited or severely restricted immigration from Asia, and quota laws enacted in the 1920s restricted immigration to Eastern Europe. The civil rights movement led to the replacement of these ethnic quotas[7] with country-specific restrictions on family-funded, employment-based preferential visas. [8] Since then, the number of first-generation immigrants living in the United States has quadrupled. [9] [10] The total number of immigrants has stagnated in recent years, especially since the election of Donald Trump and the COVID-19 pandemic. Census estimates show 45.3 million foreign-born residents in March 2018 and 45.4 million in September 2021; The smallest 3-year increase in decades. [11] The detailed nonimmigrant data in this report is based on I-94/I-94W information used by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to capture certain non-immigration records (collectively, I-94 nonimmigrant admissions).3 In previous editions of this report, data on nonimmigrant admissions have been delayed by a quarter as CBP supplements the data to supplement the data.
Data on non-immigrant admissions now follow the same timeline as the other data sources in this report. Refugee claimants: Like refugees, refugee claimants are granted permanent residence one year or more after approval. The Trump administration has blocked Central Americans from seeking asylum at the border and has made many other changes that are expected to reduce the number of asylum seekers approved each year. In general, most immigrants eligible for naturalization apply to become citizens. However, Mexican legal immigrants have the lowest naturalization rate overall. Language and personal barriers, lack of interest and financial barriers are among the top reasons for non-naturalization cited by Mexican-born green card holders, according to a 2015 Pew Research Center survey. Mexico is the main source country for the U.S. immigrant population.
In 2018, about 11.2 million immigrants living in the United States originated there, accounting for 25% of all U.S. immigrants. This was followed by China (6 per cent), India (6 per cent), the Philippines (4 per cent) and El Salvador (3 per cent). The level of education varies among immigrant groups in the country, particularly between immigrants from different parts of the world. Immigrants from Mexico and Central America are less likely to have a high school degree than those born in the United States (54% and 47%, respectively, do not have a high school diploma, compared with 8% of those born in the United States). On the other hand, immigrants from all regions except Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America were as likely or more likely than residents born in the United States to have a bachelor`s degree or higher. In 2019, 45% of immigrants said their race was classified as white, 27% Asian, 10% black and 15% other race. About 2% reported having two or more races. Since 1970, the proportion and number of immigrants have increased rapidly, mainly due to increased immigration from Latin America and Asia. Major changes in U.S.
immigration law have been responsible for this shift in migration flows, including the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which abolished admission quotas for national origin, the creation of an official refugee resettlement program with the Refugee Act of 1980, and the granting of preferential treatment to Cold War-era Cuban immigrants. Other factors include the growing economic and military presence of the United States in Asia and Latin America, as well as economic and social ties with the United States` southern neighbors, as well as major economic changes and political instability in countries around the world. In 2019, about 46% (20.7 million) of the 44.6 million immigrants aged 5 and older knew English with limited knowledge (LEP). Immigrants accounted for 81% of the country`s 25.5 million LEP people. In general, the requirements for naturalization are at least 18 years old, passed English and citizenship exams, and for most applicants at least five consecutive years in the United States with LPR status (three years for those married to a U.S. citizen). If you don`t see what you need here, our immigration research library contains over 1,300 studies from trusted sources, and new reports will be added as they become available. If you`re looking for more detailed data or want to study specific immigrant populations, you can request a free, personalized Immigration Data on Demand fact sheet from our partner, George Mason University`s Institute for Immigration Research, or explore our U.S. Immigration Data and Policy resource page. To learn more about immigrants from our home state of Massachusetts, visit our Quick Immigration Stats: Massachusetts page. If you have any questions or suggestions about our quick U.S. immigration statistics, please feel free to contact us at public.education@ilctr.org.
The large number of immigrants from Latin America and Asia in recent decades represents a sharp turnaround since the mid-1900s, when immigration came largely from Europe.
