Immigration to the United States

Immigration to the United States has been a major source of population growth and cultural change throughout much of its history. In absolute numbers, the United States has by far the highest number of immigrant population in the world, with 50,661,149 people as of 2019.^[1][2] This represents 19.1% of the 244 million international migrants worldwide, and 14.4% of the United States' population. In 2018, there were almost 90 million immigrants and U.S.-born children of immigrants in the United States, accounting for 28% of the overall U.S. population.^[3]

A welcome notice to new immigrants

Naturalization ceremony at Oakton High School in Fairfax County, Virginia, December 2015

Immigrants to the United States take the Oath of Allegiance at a naturalization ceremony at the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, September 2010.

Population growth rate with and without migration in the U.S.

According to the 2016 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics, the United States admitted a total of 1.18 million legal immigrants (618k new arrivals, 565k status adjustments) in 2016.^[4] Of these, 48% were the immediate relatives of United States citizens, 20% were family-sponsored, 13% were refugees or asylum seekers, 12% were employment-based preferences, 4.2% were part of the Diversity Immigrant Visa program, 1.4% were victims of a crime (U1) or their family members were (U2 to U5),^[5] and 1.0% who were granted the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) for Iraqis and Afghans employed by the United States Government.^[4] The remaining 0.4% included small numbers from several other categories, including 0.2% who were granted suspension of deportation as an immediate relative of a citizen (Z13);^[6] persons admitted under the Nicaraguan and Central American Relief Act; children born after the issuance of a parent's visa; and certain parolees from the former Soviet Union, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam who were denied refugee status.^[4]

Between 1921 and 1965, policies such as the national origins formula limited immigration and naturalization opportunities for people from areas outside Northwestern Europe. Exclusion laws enacted as early as the 1880s generally prohibited or severely restricted immigration from Asia, and quota laws enacted in the 1920s curtailed Southern and Eastern European immigration. The civil rights movement led to the replacement^[7] of these ethnic quotas with per-country limits for family-sponsored and employment-based preference visas.^[8] Between 2018 and 2021, the number of first-generation immigrants living in the United States has quadrupled.^[9][10] Census estimates show 45.3 million foreign born residents in the United States as of March 2018 and 45.4 million in September 2021, the lowest three-year increase in decades.^[11]

In 2017, out of the U.S. foreign-born population, some 45% (20.7 million) were naturalized citizens, 27% (12.3 million) were lawful permanent residents, 6% (2.2 million) were temporary lawful residents, and 23% (10.5 million) were unauthorized immigrants.^[12] The United States led the world in refugee resettlement for decades, admitting more refugees than the rest of the world combined.^[13]

Some research suggests that immigration is beneficial to the United States economy. With few exceptions, the evidence suggests that on average, immigration has positive economic effects on the native population, but it is mixed as to whether low-skilled immigration adversely affects low-skilled natives. Studies also show that immigrants have lower crime rates than natives in the United States.^[14][15][16] The economic, social, and political aspects of immigration have caused controversy regarding such issues as maintaining ethnic homogeneity, workers for employers versus jobs for non-immigrants, settlement patterns, impact on upward social mobility, crime, and voting behavior.

History

Main article: History of immigration to the United States

See also: European immigration to the Americas

 

An 1887 illustration of immigrants on an ocean steamer passing the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor

American immigration history can be viewed in four epochs: the colonial period, the mid-19th century, the start of the 20th century, and post-1965. Each period brought distinct national groups, races, and ethnicities to the United States.

Colonial period

During the 17th century, approximately 400,000 English people migrated to America under European colonization.^[17] They comprised 83.5% of the white population at the time of the first census in 1790.^[18] From 1700 to 1775, between 350,000 and 500,000 Europeans immigrated: estimates vary in sources. Regarding English settlers of the 18th century, one source says 52,000 English migrated during the period of 1701 to 1775, although this figure is likely too low.^[19][20] 400,000–450,000 of the 18th-century migrants were Scots, Scots-Irish from Ulster, Germans, Swiss, and French Huguenots.^[21] Over half of all European immigrants to Colonial America during the 17th and 18th centuries arrived as indentured servants.^[22] They numbered 350,000.^[23] From 1770 to 1775 (the latter year being when the American Revolutionary War began), 7,000 English, 15,000 Scots, 13,200 Scots-Irish, 5,200 Germans, and 3,900 Irish Catholics migrated to the Thirteen Colonies.^[24] According to Butler (2000), up to half of English migrants in the 18th century may have been young, single men who were well-skilled, trained artisans, like the Huguenots.^[25] Based on scholarly analysis, English was the largest single ancestry in all U.S. states at the time of the first census in 1790, ranging from a high of 82% in Massachusetts to a low of 35.3% in Pennsylvania, where Germans accounted for 33.3%.

Origins of immigrant stock in 1790

The Census Bureau published preliminary estimates of the origins of the colonial American population by scholarly classification of the names of all White heads of families recorded in the 1790 census in a 1909 report entitled A Century of Population Growth.^[26] These initial estimates were scrutinized and rejected following passage of the Immigration Act of 1924, when the government required accurate official estimates of the origins of the colonial stock population as basis for computing National Origins Formula immigration quotas in the 1920s. In 1927, proposed quotas based on CPG figures were rejected by the President's Committee chaired by the Secretaries of State, Commerce, and Labor, with the President reporting to Congress "the statistical and historical information available raises grave doubts as to the whole value of these computations as the basis for the purposes intended".^[27] Concluding that CPG "had not been accepted by scholars as better than a first approximation of the truth", an extensive scientific revision was produced, in collaboration with the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), as basis for computing contemporary legal immigration quotas.^[28] For this task scholars estimated the proportion of names of unique derivation from each of the major national stocks present in the population as of the 1790 census. The final results, later also published in the journal of the American Historical Association, are presented below:^[27]

  Estimated Nationalities of the White American population in the Continental United States as of the 1790 Census ^[27]

State or Territory	English ^[a]		Scotch		Scotch-Irish		Irish		German		Dutch		French		Swedish ^[b]		Spanish		Other		Total
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Connecticut	155,598	67.00%	5,109	2.20%	4,180	1.80%	2,555	1.10%	697	0.30%	600	0.26%	2,100	0.90%	25	0.01%	−	-	61,372	26.43%	232,236
Delaware	27,786	60.00%	3,705	8.00%	2,918	6.30%	2,501	5.40%	509	1.10%	2,000	4.32%	750	1.62%	4,100	8.85%	−	-	2,041	4.41%	46,310
Georgia	30,357	57.40%	8,197	15.50%	6,082	11.50%	2,010	3.80%	4,019	7.60%	100	0.19%	1,200	2.27%	300	0.57%	−	-	621	1.17%	52,886
Kentucky &   Tennessee	53,874	57.90%	9,305	10.00%	6,513	7.00%	4,838	5.20%	13,026	14.00%	1,200	1.29%	2,000	2.15%	500	0.54%	−	-	1,790	1.92%	93,046
Maine	57,664	60.00%	4,325	4.50%	7,689	8.00%	3,556	3.70%	1,249	1.30%	100	0.10%	1,200	1.25%	−	-	−	-	20,324	21.15%	96,107
Maryland &   District of Columbia	134,579	64.50%	15,857	7.60%	12,102	5.80%	13,562	6.50%	24,412	11.70%	1,000	0.48%	2,500	1.20%	950	0.46%	−	-	3,687	1.77%	208,649
Massachusetts	306,013	82.00%	16,420	4.40%	9,703	2.60%	4,851	1.30%	1,120	0.30%	600	0.16%	3,000	0.80%	75	0.02%	−	-	31,405	8.42%	373,187
New Hampshire	86,078	61.00%	8,749	6.20%	6,491	4.60%	4,092	2.90%	564	0.40%	100	0.07%	1,000	0.71%	−	-	−	-	34,038	24.12%	141,112
New Jersey	79,878	47.00%	13,087	7.70%	10,707	6.30%	5,439	3.20%	15,636	9.20%	28,250	16.62%	4,000	2.35%	6,650	3.91%	−	-	6,307	3.71%	169,954
New York	163,470	52.00%	22,006	7.00%	16,033	5.10%	9,431	3.00%	25,778	8.20%	55,000	17.50%	12,000	3.82%	1,500	0.48%	−	-	9,148	2.91%	314,366
North Carolina	190,860	66.00%	42,799	14.80%	16,483	5.70%	15,616	5.40%	13,592	4.70%	800	0.28%	4,800	1.66%	700	0.24%	−	-	3,531	1.22%	289,181
Pennsylvania	149,451	35.30%	36,410	8.60%	46,571	11.00%	14,818	3.50%	140,983	33.30%	7,500	1.77%	7,500	1.77%	3,325	0.79%	−	-	16,815	3.97%	423,373
Rhode Island	45,916	71.00%	3,751	5.80%	1,293	2.00%	517	0.80%	323	0.50%	250	0.39%	500	0.77%	50	0.08%	−	-	12,070	18.66%	64,670
South Carolina	84,387	60.20%	21,167	15.10%	13,177	9.40%	6,168	4.40%	7,009	5.00%	500	0.36%	5,500	3.92%	325	0.23%	−	-	1,945	1.39%	140,178
Vermont	64,655	76.00%	4,339	5.10%	2,722	3.20%	1,616	1.90%	170	0.20%	500	0.59%	350	0.41%	−	-	−	-	10,720	12.60%	85,072
Virginia &   West Virginia	302,850	68.50%	45,096	10.20%	27,411	6.20%	24,316	5.50%	27,853	6.30%	1,500	0.34%	6,500	1.47%	2,600	0.59%	−	-	3,991	0.90%	442,117
1790 Census Area	1,933,416	60.94%	260,322	8.21%	190,075	5.99%	115,886	3.65%	276,940	8.73%	100,000	3.15%	54,900	1.73%	21,100	0.67%	−	-	219,805	6.93%	3,172,444
Northwest Territory	3,130	29.81%	428	4.08%	307	2.92%	190	1.81%	445	4.24%	−	-	6,000	57.14%	−	-	−	-	−	-	10,500
French America	2,240	11.20%	305	1.53%	220	1.10%	135	0.68%	1,750	8.75%	−	-	12,850	64.25%	−	-	2,500	12.50%	−	-	20,000
Spanish America	610	2.54%	83	0.35%	60	0.25%	37	0.15%	85	0.35%	−	-	−	-	−	-	23,125	96.35%	−	-	24,000
United States	1,939,396	60.10%	261,138	8.09%	190,662	5.91%	116,248	3.60%	279,220	8.65%	100,000	3.10%	73,750	2.29%	21,100	0.65%	25,625	0.79%	219,805	6.81%	3,226,944

1. and Welsh; ethnic Welsh people making up approximately 7-10% of settlers from England and Wales
2. and Finnish (including Forest Finns); ethnic Finns making up more than half of New Swedish colonial settlers^[29]

Historians estimate that fewer than one million immigrants moved to the United States from Europe between 1600 and 1799.^[30] By comparison, in the first federal census, in 1790, the population of the United States was enumerated to be 3,929,214.^[31]

Early United States era

 

Immigrants arriving at Ellis Island in 1902

The Naturalization Act of 1790 limited naturalization to "free white persons"; it was expanded to include black people in the 1860s and Asian people in the 1950s.^[32] This made the United States an outlier, since laws that made racial distinctions were uncommon in the world in the 18th century.^[33]

In the early years of the United States, immigration (not counting the enslaved, who were treated as merchandise rather than people) was fewer than 8,000 people a year,^[34] including French refugees from the slave revolt in Haiti. Legal importation of enslaved African was prohibited after 1808, though many were smuggled in to sell. After 1820, immigration gradually increased. From 1836 to 1914, over 30 million Europeans migrated to the United States.^[35] The death rate on these transatlantic voyages was high, during which one in seven travelers died.^[36]

After an initial wave of immigration from China following the California Gold Rush, Congress passed its first immigration law, the Page Act of 1875 which banned Chinese women.^[37] This was followed by the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, banning virtually all immigration from China until the law's repeal in 1943. In the late 1800s, immigration from other Asian countries, especially to the West Coast, became more common.

Exclusion Era

The peak year of European immigration was in 1907, when 1,285,349 persons entered the country.^[38] By 1910, 13.5 million immigrants were living in the United States.^[39]

While the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 had already excluded immigrants from China, the immigration of people from Asian countries in addition to China was banned by the Immigration Act of 1917, also known as the Asiatic Barred Zone Act, which also banned homosexuals, people with intellectual disability, and people with an anarchist worldview.^[40] The Emergency Quota Act was enacted in 1921, limiting immigration from the Eastern Hemisphere by national quotas equal to 3 percent of the number of foreign-born from each nation in the 1910 census. The Act aimed to further restrict immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe, particularly Italian, Slavic, and Jewish people, who had begun to enter the country in large numbers beginning in the 1890s.^[41] The temporary quota system was superseded by the National Origins Formula of the Immigration Act of 1924, which computed national quotas as a fraction of 150,000 in proportion to the national origins of the entire White American population as of the 1920 census, except those having origins in the nonquota countries of the Western Hemisphere (which remained unrestricted).^[42][43]

Origins of immigrant stock in 1920

The National Origins Formula was a unique computation which attempted to measure the total contributions of "blood" from each national origin as a share of the total stock of White Americans in 1920, counting immigrants, children of immigrants, and the grandchildren of immigrants (and later generations), in addition to estimating the colonial stock descended from the population who had immigrated in the colonial period and were enumerated in the 1790 census. European Americans remained predominant, although there were shifts toward Southern, Central, and Eastern Europe from immigration in the period 1790 to 1920. The formula determined that ancestry derived from Great Britain accounted for over 40% of the American gene pool, followed by German ancestry at 16%, then Irish ancestry at 11%. The restrictive immigration quota system established by the Immigration Act of 1924, revised and re-affirmed by the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, sought to preserve this demographic makeup of America by allotting quotas in proportion to how much blood each national origin had contributed to the total stock of the population in 1920, as presented below:^[28]

 

The White Population of the United States in 1920, apportioned according to the National Origins Formula prescribed by §11(c) of the Immigration Act of 1924. About 56.5% of White Americans were deemed to be of postcolonial immigrant stock as of 1920, while 43.5% were deemed colonial stock. Consequent immigration quotas in effect until 1965 were based upon these calculations.^[44]

 

European Americans in 1790 by nationality, estimated by classification of family names, according to a 1909 preliminary estimate in Census Bureau report A Century of Population Growth (top half) and revised figures according to a scientific study by the Census Bureau in collaboration with the American Council of Learned Societies commissioned in the 1920s (bottom half)^[26][27]

Country of origin	Total		Colonial stock		Postcolonial stock
					Total		Immigrants		Children of		Grandchildren of
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Austria	843,051	0.89%	14,110	0.03%	828,951	1.55%	305,657	2.23%	414,794	2.16%	108,500	0.53%
Belgium	778,328	0.82%	602,300	1.46%	176,028	0.33%	62,686	0.46%	62,042	0.32%	51,300	0.25%
Czechoslovakia	1,715,128	1.81%	54,700	0.13%	1,660,428	3.10%	559,895	4.08%	903,933	4.71%	196,600	0.95%
Denmark	704,783	0.74%	93,200	0.23%	611,583	1.14%	189,934	1.39%	277,149	1.44%	144,500	0.70%
Estonia	69,013	0.07%	−	-	69,013	0.13%	33,612	0.25%	28,001	0.15%	7,400	0.04%
Finland	339,436	0.36%	4,300	0.01%	335,136	0.63%	149,824	1.09%	146,612	0.76%	38,700	0.19%
France	1,841,689	1.94%	767,100	1.86%	1,074,589	2.01%	155,019	1.13%	325,270	1.69%	594,300	2.88%
Germany	15,488,615	16.33%	3,036,800	7.36%	12,451,815	23.26%	1,672,375	12.20%	4,051,240	21.11%	6,728,200	32.61%
Greece	182,936	0.19%	−	-	182,936	0.34%	135,146	0.99%	46,890	0.24%	900	0.00%
Hungary	518,750	0.55%	−	-	518,750	0.97%	318,977	2.33%	183,773	0.96%	16,000	0.08%
Ireland	10,653,334	11.24%	1,821,500	4.41%	8,831,834	16.50%	820,970	5.99%	2,097,664	10.93%	5,913,200	28.66%
Italy	3,462,271	3.65%	−	-	3,462,271	6.47%	1,612,281	11.76%	1,671,490	8.71%	178,500	0.87%
Latvia	140,777	0.15%	−	-	140,777	0.26%	69,277	0.51%	56,000	0.29%	15,500	0.08%
Lithuania	230,445	0.24%	−	-	230,445	0.43%	117,000	0.85%	88,645	0.46%	24,800	0.12%
Netherlands	1,881,359	1.98%	1,366,800	3.31%	514,559	0.96%	133,478	0.97%	205,381	1.07%	175,700	0.85%
Norway	1,418,592	1.50%	75,200	0.18%	1,343,392	2.51%	363,862	2.65%	597,130	3.11%	382,400	1.85%
Poland	3,892,796	4.11%	8,600	0.02%	3,884,196	7.26%	1,814,426	13.23%	1,779,570	9.27%	290,200	1.41%
Portugal	262,804	0.28%	23,700	0.06%	239,104	0.45%	104,088	0.76%	105,416	0.55%	29,600	0.14%
Romania	175,697	0.19%	−	-	175,697	0.33%	88,942	0.65%	83,755	0.44%	3,000	0.02%
Russia	1,660,954	1.75%	4,300	0.01%	1,656,654	3.09%	767,324	5.60%	762,130	3.97%	127,200	0.62%
Spain	150,258	0.16%	38,400	0.09%	111,858	0.21%	50,027	0.36%	24,531	0.13%	37,300	0.18%
Sweden	1,977,234	2.09%	217,100	0.53%	1,760,134	3.29%	625,580	4.56%	774,854	4.04%	359,700	1.74%
Switzerland	1,018,706	1.07%	388,900	0.94%	629,806	1.18%	118,659	0.87%	203,547	1.06%	307,600	1.49%
Syria &  Leb.	73,442	0.08%	−	-	73,442	0.14%	42,039	0.31%	31,403	0.16%	−	-
Turkey	134,756	0.14%	−	-	134,756	0.25%	102,669	0.75%	31,487	0.16%	600	0.00%
United Kingdom	39,216,333	41.36%	31,803,900	77.02%	7,412,433	13.85%	1,365,314	9.96%	2,308,419	12.03%	3,738,700	18.12%
Yugoslavia	504,203	0.53%	−	-	504,203	0.94%	220,668	1.61%	265,735	1.38%	17,800	0.09%
Other Countries	170,868	0.18%	3,500	0.01%	167,368	0.31%	71,553	0.52%	93,815	0.49%	2,000	0.01%
All Quota Countries	89,506,558	100.00%	40,324,400	45.05%	49,182,158	54.95%	12,071,282	13.49%	17,620,676	19.69%	19,490,200	21.78%
Nonquota Countries	5,314,357	5.60%	964,170	2.34%	4,350,187	8.13%	1,641,472	11.97%	1,569,696	8.18%	1,139,019	5.52%
1920   USA Total	94,820,915	100.00%	41,288,570	43.54%	53,532,345	56.46%	13,712,754	14.46%	19,190,372	20.24%	20,629,219	21.76%

 

Polish immigrants working on a farm in 1909; the welfare system was practically non-existent before the 1930s and the economic pressures on the poor were giving rise to child labor.

Immigration patterns of the 1930s were affected by the Great Depression. In the final prosperous year, 1929, there were 279,678 immigrants recorded,^[45] but in 1933, only 23,068 moved to the U.S.^[30] In the early 1930s, more people emigrated from the United States than to it.^[46] The U.S. government sponsored a Mexican Repatriation program which was intended to encourage people to voluntarily move to Mexico, but thousands were deported against their will.^[47] Altogether, approximately 400,000 Mexicans were repatriated; half of them were US citizens.^[48] Most of the Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazis and World War II were barred from coming to the United States.^[49] In the post-war era, the Justice Department launched Operation Wetback, under which 1,075,168 Mexicans were deported in 1954.^[50]

Since 1965

 

Immigrant trunks from Sweden in the late 19th century (on left) and from a refugee camp in Thailand in 1993 (on right)

 

Boston's Chinatown in Boston in 2008

The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, also known as the Hart-Cellar Act, abolished the system of national-origin quotas. By equalizing immigration policies, the act resulted in new immigration from non-European nations, which changed the ethnic demographics of the United States.^[51] In 1970, 60% of immigrants were from Europe; this decreased to 15% by 2000.^[52] In 1990, George H. W. Bush signed the Immigration Act of 1990,^[53] which increased legal immigration to the United States by 40%.^[54] In 1991, Bush signed the Armed Forces Immigration Adjustment Act 1991, allowing foreign service members who had served 12 or more years in the US Armed Forces to qualify for permanent residency and, in some cases, citizenship.

In November 1994, California voters passed Proposition 187 amending the state constitution, denying state financial aid to illegal immigrants. The federal courts voided this change, ruling that it violated the federal constitution.^[55]

Appointed by President Bill Clinton,^[56] the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform recommended reducing legal immigration from about 800,000 people per year to approximately 550,000.^[57] While an influx of new residents from different cultures presents some challenges, "the United States has always been energized by its immigrant populations", said President Bill Clinton in 1998. "America has constantly drawn strength and spirit from wave after wave of immigrants ... They have proved to be the most restless, the most adventurous, the most innovative, the most industrious of people."^[58]

In 2001, President George W. Bush discussed an accord with Mexican President Vincente Fox. Due to the September 11 attacks, the possible accord did not occur. From 2005 to 2013, the US Congress discussed various ways of controlling immigration. The Senate and House were unable to reach an agreement.^[55]

Nearly 14 million immigrants entered the United States from 2000 to 2010,^[59] and over one million persons were naturalized as U.S. citizens in 2008. The per-country limit^[8] applies the same maximum on the number of visas to all countries regardless of their population and has therefore had the effect of significantly restricting immigration of persons born in populous nations such as Mexico, China, India, and the Philippines—the leading countries of origin for legally admitted immigrants to the United States in 2013;^[60] nevertheless, China, India, and Mexico were the leading countries of origin for immigrants overall to the United States in 2013, regardless of legal status, according to a U.S. Census Bureau study.^[61]

Nearly 8 million people immigrated to the United States from 2000 to 2005; 3.7 million of them entered without papers.^[62][63] In 1986 president Ronald Reagan signed immigration reform that gave amnesty to 3 million undocumented immigrants in the country.^[64] Hispanic immigrants suffered job losses during the late-2000s recession,^[65] but since the recession's end in June 2009, immigrants posted a net gain of 656,000 jobs.^[66] Over 1 million immigrants were granted legal residence in 2011.^[67]

For those who enter the US illegally across the Mexico–United States border and elsewhere, migration is difficult, expensive and dangerous.^[68] Virtually all undocumented immigrants have no avenues for legal entry to the United States due to the restrictive legal limits on green cards, and lack of immigrant visas for low-skilled workers.^[69] Participants in debates on immigration in the early 21st century called for increasing enforcement of existing laws governing illegal immigration to the United States, building a barrier along some or all of the 2,000-mile (3,200 km) Mexico-U.S. border, or creating a new guest worker program. Through much of 2006 the country and Congress was engaged in a debate about these proposals. As of April 2010^[update] few of these proposals had become law, though a partial border fence had been approved and subsequently canceled.^[70]

Modern reform attempts

Beginning with Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, presidents from both political parties have steadily increased the number of border patrol agents and instituted harsher punitive measures for immigration violations. Examples of these policies include Ronald Reagan's Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 and the Clinton-era Prevention Through Deterrence strategy. The sociologist Douglas Massey has argued that these policies have succeeded at producing a perception of border enforcement but have largely failed at preventing emigration from Latin America. Notably, rather than curtailing illegal immigration, the increase in border patrol agents decreased circular migration across the U.S.–Mexico border, thus increasing the population of Hispanics in the U.S.^[71]

Presidents from both parties have employed anti-immigrant rhetoric to appeal to their political base or to garner bi-partisan support for their policies. While Republicans like Reagan and Donald Trump have led the way in framing Hispanic immigrants as criminals, Douglas Massey points out that "the current moment of open racism and xenophobia could not have happened with Democratic acquiescence".^[72] For example, while lobbying for his 1986 immigration bill, Reagan framed unauthorized immigration as a "national security" issue and warned that "terrorists and subversives are just two days' driving time" from the border.^[72] Later presidents, including Democrats Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, used similar "security" rhetoric in their efforts to court Republican support for comprehensive immigration reform. In his 2013 State of the Union Address, Obama said "real reform means strong border security, and we can build on the progress my administration has already made – putting more boots on the southern border than at any time in our history".^[73]

Trump administration policies

ICE reports that it removed 240,255 immigrants in fiscal year 2016, as well as 226,119 in FY2017 and 256,085 in FY2018. Citizens of Central American countries (including Mexico) made up over 90% of removals in FY2017 and over 80% in FY2018.^[74]

In January 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order temporarily suspending entry to the United States by nationals of seven Muslim-majority countries. It was replaced by another executive order in March 2017 and by a presidential proclamation in September 2017, with various changes to the list of countries and exemptions.^[75] The orders were temporarily suspended by federal courts but later allowed to proceed by the Supreme Court, pending a definite ruling on their legality.^[76] Another executive order called for the immediate construction of a wall across the U.S.–Mexico border, the hiring of 5,000 new border patrol agents and 10,000 new immigration officers, and federal funding penalties for sanctuary cities.^[77]

The "zero-tolerance" policy was put in place in 2018, which legally allows children to be separated from adults unlawfully entering the United States. This is justified by labeling all adults that enter unlawfully as criminals, thus subjecting them to criminal prosecution.^[78] The Trump Administration also argued that its policy had precedent under the Obama Administration, which had opened family detention centers in response to migrants increasingly using children as a way to get adults into the country. However, the Obama Administration detained families together in administrative, rather than criminal, detention.^[79][80]

Other policies focused on what it means for an asylum seeker to claim credible fear.^[81] To further decrease the amount of asylum seekers into the United States, Attorney General Jeff Sessions released a decision that restricts those fleeing gang violence and domestic abuse as "private crime", therefore making their claims ineligible for asylum.^[82] These new policies that have been put in place are putting many lives at risk, to the point that the ACLU has officially sued Jeff Sessions along with other members of the Trump Administration. The ACLU claims that the policies that are currently being put in place by this Presidential Administration is undermining the fundamental human rights of those immigrating into the United States, specifically women. They also claim that these policies violate decades of settle asylum law.^[83]

In April 2020, President Trump said he will sign an executive order to temporarily suspend immigration to the United States because of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.^[84][85]

Biden administration policies

Main article: Immigration policy of the Joe Biden administration

In January 2023, regarding the southern border crisis, Joe Biden announced a new immigration policy that would allow 30,000 migrants per month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela^[86] but will also expel the migrants from those countries who violate US laws of immigration.^[87] The policy has faced criticism from "immigration reform advocates and lawyers who decry any expansion of Title 42."^[86]

Origins of the U.S. immigrant population, 1960–2016

% of foreign-born population residing in the U.S. who were born in ...^[88]

	1960	1970	1980	1990	2000	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2018
Europe-Canada	84%	68%	42%	26%	19%	15%	15%	14%	14%	14%	14%	13%	13%
South and East Asia	4%	7%	15%	22%	23%	25%	25%	26%	26%	26%	27%	27%	28%
Other Latin America	4%	11%	16%	21%	22%	24%	24%	24%	24%	24%	24%	25%	25%
Mexico	6%	8%	16%	22%	29%	29%	29%	28%	28%	28%	27%	26%	25%

Note: "Other Latin America" includes Central America, South America and the Caribbean.

Persons obtaining legal permanent resident status by fiscal year^{[89][90][91][92]}

Year		Year		Year		Year		Year		Year		Year		Year
1890	455,302	1910	1,041,570	1930	241,700	1950	249,187	1970	373,326	1990	1,535,872	2010	1,042,625	2018	1,096,611
1895	258,536	1915	326,700	1935	34,956	1955	237,790	1975	385,378	1995	720,177	2015	1,051,031	2019	1,031,765
1900	448,572	1920	430,001	1940	70,756	1960	265,398	1980	524,295	2000	841,002	2016	1,183,505	2020	707,362
1905	1,026,499	1925	294,314	1945	38,119	1965	296,697	1985	568,149	2005	1,122,257	2017	1,127,167	2021	740,002

Decade	Average per year
1890–99	369,100
1900–09	745,100
1910–19	634,400
1920–29	429,600
1930–39	69,900
1940–49	85,700
1950–59	249,900
1960–69	321,400
1970–79	424,800
1980–89	624,400
1990–99	977,500
2000–09	1,029,900
2010–19	1,063,300

Refugee numbers

Main article: Asylum in the United States

 

Operation Allies Refuge with Afghans being evacuated on a U.S. Air Force Boeing C-17 plane during the fall of Kabul in 2021

According to the Department of State, in the 2016 fiscal year 84,988 refugees were accepted into the US from around the world. In the fiscal year of 2017, 53,691 refugees were accepted to the US. There was a significant decrease after Trump took office; it continued in the fiscal year of 2018 when only 22,405 refugees were accepted into the US. This displays a massive drop in acceptance of refugees since the Trump Administration has been in place.^{[93][original research?]}

On September 26, 2019, The Trump administration announced it plans to allow only 18,000 refugees to resettle in the United States in the 2020 fiscal year, its lowest level since the modern program began in 1980.^{[94][95][96][97]}

In 2020 The Trump administration announces that it plans to slash refugee admissions to U.S. for 2021 to a record low, 15,000 refugees down from a cap of 18,000 for 2020. This is the fourth consecutive year of declining refugee admissions under the Trump term.^{[98][99][100]}

Period	Refugee Program ^[101]^[102]^[98]^[99]^[100]
2018	45,000
2019	30,000
2020	18,000
2021	15,000

Contemporary immigration

 

Legal immigration to the United States over time

 

A naturalization ceremony in Salem, Massachusetts in 2007

As of 2018^[update], approximately half of immigrants living in the United States are from Mexico and other Latin American countries.^[103] Many Central Americans are fleeing because of desperate social and economic circumstances in their countries. Some believe that the large number of Central American refugees arriving in the United States can be explained as a "blowback" to policies such as United States military interventions and covert operations that installed or maintained in power authoritarian leaders allied with wealthy land owners and multinational corporations who stop family farming and democratic efforts, which have caused drastically sharp social inequality, wide-scale poverty and rampant crime.^[104] Economic austerity dictated by neoliberal policies imposed by the International Monetary Fund and its ally, the U.S., has also been cited as a driver of the dire social and economic conditions, as has the U.S. "War on Drugs", which has been understood as fueling murderous gang violence in the region.^[105] Another major migration driver from Central America (Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador) are crop failures, which are (partly) caused by climate change.^{[106][107][108][109]} "The current debate ... is almost totally about what to do about immigrants when they get here. But the 800-pound gorilla that's missing from the table is what we have been doing there that brings them here, that drives them here", according to Jeff Faux, an economist who is a distinguished fellow at the Economic Policy Institute.

Until the 1930s most legal immigrants were male. By the 1990s women accounted for just over half of all legal immigrants.^[110] Contemporary immigrants tend to be younger than the native population of the United States, with people between the ages of 15 and 34 substantially overrepresented.^[111] Immigrants are also more likely to be married and less likely to be divorced than native-born Americans of the same age.^[112]

Immigrants are likely to move to and live in areas populated by people with similar backgrounds. This phenomenon has remained true throughout the history of immigration to the United States.^[113] Seven out of ten immigrants surveyed by Public Agenda in 2009 said they intended to make the U.S. their permanent home, and 71% said if they could do it over again they would still come to the US. In the same study, 76% of immigrants say the government has become stricter on enforcing immigration laws since the September 11, 2001 attacks ("9/11"), and 24% report that they personally have experienced some or a great deal of discrimination.^[114]

Public attitudes about immigration in the U.S. were heavily influenced in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. After the attacks, 52% of Americans believed that immigration was a good thing overall for the U.S., down from 62% the year before, according to a 2009 Gallup poll.^[115] A 2008 Public Agenda survey found that half of Americans said tighter controls on immigration would do "a great deal" to enhance U.S. national security.^[116] Harvard political scientist and historian Samuel P. Huntington argued in his 2004 book Who Are We? The Challenges to America's National Identity that a potential future consequence of continuing massive immigration from Latin America, especially Mexico, could lead to the bifurcation of the United States.^[117][118]

The estimated population of illegal Mexican immigrants in the US decreased from approximately 7 million in 2007 to 6.1 million in 2011^[119] Commentators link the reversal of the immigration trend to the economic downturn that started in 2008 and which meant fewer available jobs, and to the introduction of tough immigration laws in many states.^{[120][121][122][123]} According to the Pew Hispanic Center, the net immigration of Mexican born persons had stagnated in 2010, and tended toward going into negative figures.^[124]

More than 80 cities in the United States,^[125] including Washington D.C., New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, San Diego, San Jose, Salt Lake City, Phoenix, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Detroit, Jersey City, Minneapolis, Denver, Baltimore, Seattle, Portland, Oregon and Portland, Maine, have sanctuary policies, which vary locally.^[126]

Origin countries

See also: United States immigration statistics

 

Immigration to the United States over time by region

Inflow of New Legal Permanent Residents by region, 2015–2020

Region	2015	% of total	2016	% of total	2017	% of total	2018^[90]	% of total	2019^[91]	% of total	2020^[92]	% of total	/ % in 2020
Americas	438,435	41.7%	506,901	42.8%	492,726	43.7%	497,860	45.4%	461,710	44.8%	284,491	40.2%	38.4%
Asia	419,297	39.9%	462,299	39.1%	424,743	37.7%	397,187	36.2%	364,761	35.4%	272,597	38.5%	25.3%
Africa	101,415	9.7%	113,426	9.6%	118,824	10.5%	115,736	10.6%	111,194	10.8%	76,649	10.8%	31.1%
Europe	85,803	8.2%	93,567	7.9%	84,335	7.5%	80,024	7.3%	87,597	8.5%	68,994	9.8%	21.2%
Australia and Oceania	5,404	0.5%	5,588	0.5%	5,071	0.5%	4,653	0.4%	5,359	0.5%	3,998	0.6%	25.4%
Unknown	677	0.1%	1,724	0.1%	1,468	0.1%	1,151	0.1%	1,144	0.1%	633	>0.1%
Total	1,051,031	100%	1,183,505	100%	1,127,167	100%	1,096,611	100%	1,031,765	100%	707,632	100%	31.4%

Source: US Department of Homeland Security, Office of Immigration Statistics^{[127][128][129][130]}

Top 15 Countries of Origin of Permanent Residents, 2016–2022:^[131]

Country	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
India	64,687	60,394	59,821	54,495	46,363	93,450	120,121
Mexico	174,534	170,581	161,858	156,052	100,325	107,230	117,710
China	81,772	71,565	65,214	62,248	41,483	49,847	62,022
Dominican Republic	61,161	58,520	57,413	49,911	30,005	24,553	36,007
Cuba	66,516	65,028	76,486	41,641	16,367	23,077	31,019
Philippines	53,287	49,147	47,258	45,920	25,491	27,511	27,692
El Salvador	23,449	25,109	28,326	27,656	17,907	18,668	25,609
Vietnam	41,451	38,231	33,834	39,712	29,995	16,312	22,604
Brazil	13,812	14,989	15,394	19,825	16,746	18,351	20,806
Colombia	18,610	17,956	17,545	19,841	11,989	15,293	16,763
Venezuela	10,772	11,809	11,762	15,720	12,136	14,412	16,604
Guatemala	[data missing]	[data missing]	[data missing]	[data missing]	7,369	8,199	15,328
South Korea	21,801	19,194	17,676	18,479	16,244	12,351	[data missing]
Honduras	[data missing]	[data missing]	[data missing]	[data missing]	7,843	9,425	14,762
Canada	[data missing]	[data missing]	[data missing]	[data missing]	11,297	12,053	13,916
Jamaica	23,350	21,905	20,347	21,689	12,826	13,357	13,603
Total	1,183,505	1,127,167	1,096,611	1,031,765	707,362	740,002	1,018,349

Charts

Inflow of New Legal Permanent Residents by continent in 2020:^[92]

  Americas (40.2%)

  Asia (38.5%)

  Africa (10.8%)

  Europe (9.8%)

  Australia and Oceania (0.6%)

  Unknown (0.1%)

Languages spoken among U.S. immigrants, 2016:^[88]

  English only (16%)

  Spanish (43%)

  Chinese (6%)

  Hindi and related languages (5%)

  Filipino/Tagalog (4%)

  French (3%)

  Vietnamese (3%)

  Arabic (2%)

  Other (18%)

Demography

Extent and destinations

See also: List of U.S. states by net international migration

 

Little Italy in New York City, c. 1900

 

A crowd at the Philippine Independence Day Parade in New York City

 

Galveston immigration stations

Year^[132]	Number of foreign-born	Percent foreign-born
1850	2,244,602	9.7
1860	4,138,697	13.2
1870	5,567,229	14.4
1880	6,679,943	13.3
1890	9,249,547	14.8
1900	10,341,276	13.6
1910	13,515,886	14.7
1920	13,920,692	13.2
1930	14,204,149	11.6
1940	11,594,896	8.8
1950	10,347,395	6.9
1960	9,738,091	5.4
1970	9,619,302	4.7
1980	14,079,906	6.2
1990	19,767,316	7.9
2000	31,107,889	11.1
2010	39,956,000	12.9
2017	44,525,500	13.7
2018	44,728,502	13.5
2019	44,932,799

• 2010,^[133] 2017,^[134] 2018^[135][136]

The United States admitted more legal immigrants from 1991 to 2000, between ten and eleven million, than in any previous decade. In the most recent decade,^[when?] the 10 million legal immigrants that settled in the U.S. represent roughly one third of the annual growth, as the U.S. population increased by 32 million (from 249 million to 281 million). By comparison, the highest previous decade was the 1900s, when 8.8 million people arrived, increasing the total U.S. population by one percent every year. Specifically, "nearly 15% of Americans were foreign-born in 1910, while in 1999, only about 10% were foreign-born".^[137]

By 1970, immigrants accounted for 4.7 percent of the US population and rising to 6.2 percent in 1980, with an estimated 12.5 percent in 2009.^[138] As of 2010^[update], 25% of US residents under age 18 were first- or second-generation immigrants.^[139] Eight percent of all babies born in the U.S. in 2008 belonged to illegal immigrant parents, according to a recent^[when?] analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data by the Pew Hispanic Center.^[140]

Legal immigration to the U.S. increased from 250,000 in the 1930s, to 2.5 million in the 1950s, to 4.5 million in the 1970s, and to 7.3 million in the 1980s, before becoming stable at about 10 million in the 1990s.^[141] Since 2000, legal immigrants to the United States number approximately 1,000,000 per year, of whom about 600,000 are Change of Status who already are in the U.S. Legal immigrants to the United States now^[when?] are at their highest level ever, at just over 37,000,000 legal immigrants. In reports in 2005–2006, estimates of illegal immigration ranged from 700,000 to 1,500,000 per year.^[142][143] Immigration led to a 57.4% increase in foreign-born population from 1990 to 2000.^[144]

Foreign-born immigration has caused the U.S. population to continue its rapid increase with the foreign-born population doubling from almost 20 million in 1990 to over 47 million in 2015.^[145] In 2018, there were almost 90 million immigrants and U.S.-born children of immigrants (second-generation Americans) in the United States, accounting for 28% of the overall U.S. population.^[146]

While immigration has increased drastically over the 20th century, the foreign-born share of the population is, at 13.4, only somewhat below what it was at its peak in 1910 at 14.7%. A number of factors may be attributed to the decrease in the representation of foreign-born residents in the United States. Most significant has been the change in the composition of immigrants; prior to 1890, 82% of immigrants came from North and Western Europe. From 1891 to 1920, that number decreased to 25%, with a rise in immigrants from East, Central, and South Europe, summing up to 64%. Animosity towards these ethnically different immigrants increased in the United States, resulting in much legislation to limit immigration in the 20th century.^[147]

Origin

Country of birth for foreign-born population in the United States (1970–2015)

Country of birth	2015^[note 1]	2010^[note 2]	2000^[150]	1990^[151]	1980^[152]	1970^[152]
Mexico	11,513,528	11,599,653	9,177,487	4,298,014	2,199,221	759,711
India	2,348,687	1,837,838	1,022,552	450,406	206,087	51,000
China^[a]	2,034,383	1,583,634	988,857	529,837	286,120	172,132
Philippines	1,945,345	1,810,537	1,369,070	912,674	501,440	184,842
El Salvador	1,323,592	1,201,972	817,336	465,433	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Vietnam	1,314,927	1,231,716	988,174	543,262	231,120	N/A^[b]
Cuba	1,227,031	1,057,346	872,716	736,971	607,184	439,048
South Korea^[c]	1,064,960	1,085,151	864,125	568,397	289,885	38,711
Dominican Republic	1,057,439	866,618	687,677	347,858	169,147	61,228
Guatemala	923,562	822,947	480,665	225,739	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Canada	818,441	808,772	820,771	744,830	842,859	812,421
Jamaica	727,634	671,197	553,827	334,140	196,811	68,576
Colombia	723,561	648,594	509,872	286,124	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
United Kingdom^[d]	696,048	685,938	677,751	640,145	669,149	686,099
Haiti	643,341	572,896	419,317	225,393	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Honduras	603,179	502,827	282,852	108,923	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Germany	577,282	617,070	706,704	711,929	849,384	832,965
Peru	447,223	419,363	278,186	144,199	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Ecuador	437,581	428,747	298,626	143,314	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Poland	422,208	450,537	466,742	388,328	418,128	548,107
Russia	391,974	391,101	340,177	333,725	406,022	463,462
Iran (Incl. Kurdistan)	377,741	353,169	283,226	210,941	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Taiwan	376,666	365,981	326,215	244,102	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Brazil	373,058	332,250	212,428	82,489	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Pakistan	371,400	301,280	223,477	91,889	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Italy	348,216	368,699	473,338	580,592	831,922	1,008,533
Japan	346,887	334,449	347,539	290,128	221,794	120,235
Ukraine	344,565	324,216	275,153	N/A^[e]	N/A^[e]	N/A^[e]
Nigeria	298,532	221,077	134,940	55,350	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Guyana	274,118	257,272	211,189	120,698	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Venezuela	265,282	182,342	107,031	42,119	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Nicaragua	252,196	250,186	220,335	168,659	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Thailand	247,614	224,576	169,801	106,919	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Trinidad and Tobago	234,483	231,678	197,398	115,710	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Hong Kong	228,316	216,948	203,580	147,131	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Ethiopia	226,159	164,046	69,531	34,805	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Bangladesh	221,275	166,513	95,294	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Iraq	212,608	148,673	89,892	44,916	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Laos	188,385	192,469	204,284	171,577	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Argentina	187,052	170,120	125,218	92,563	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Egypt^[f]	179,157	143,086	113,396	66,313	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Portugal	175,555	186,142	203,119	210,122	177,437	91,034
France^[g]	175,198	157,577	151,154	119,233	120,215	105,385
Cambodia	159,827	156,508	136,978	118,833	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Ghana	158,999	120,785	65,572	20,889	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Romania	158,033	163,431	135,966	91,106	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Myanmar	137,190	89,553	N/A^[b]	19,835	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Greece	134,654	136,914	165,750	177,398	210,998	177,275
Israel^[h]	134,172	133,074	109,719	86,048	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Kenya	126,209	95,126	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Ireland	124,411	128,496	156,474	169,827	197,817	251,375
Lebanon	120,620	119,523	105,910	86,369	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Nepal	119,640	63,948	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Turkey	113,937	102,242	78,378	55,087	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Spain	109,712	86,683	82,858	76,415	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Bosnia and Herzegovina	105,657	115,600	98,766	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Panama	103,715	104,080	105,177	85,737	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
South Africa	99,323	83,298	63,558	34,707	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Chile	97,391	92,948	80,804	55,681	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Indonesia	96,158	92,555	72,552	48,387	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Somalia	92,807	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Saudi Arabia	90,836	48,916	N/A^[b]	12,632	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Syria^[i]	88,226	64,240	54,561	36,782	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Armenia	86,727	80,972	65,280	N/A^[e]	N/A^[e]	N/A^[e]
Australia	86,447	74,478	60,965	42,267	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Costa Rica	86,186	83,034	71,870	43,350	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Albania	85,406	77,091	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Netherlands^[j]	84,579	85,096	94,570	96,198	103,136	110,570
Liberia	83,221	71,062	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Afghanistan	79,298	60,314	45,195	28,444	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Morocco^[k]	74,009	58,728	N/A^[b]	15,541	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Malaysia	72,878	58,095	49,459	33,834	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Jordan^[l]	72,662	60,912	46,794	31,871	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Bulgaria	68,658	61,931	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Hungary	67,594	75,479	92,017	110,337	144,368	183,236
Former   Czechoslovakia	67,241	70,283	83,031	87,020	112,707	160,899
Belarus	59,501	54,575	38,503	N/A^[e]	N/A^[e]	N/A^[e]
Uzbekistan	56,275	47,664	N/A^[b]	N/A^[e]	N/A^[e]	N/A^[e]
Barbados	54,131	51,764	52,172	43,015	N/A^[b]	N/A^[b]
Sri Lanka	December 04, 2023 Latest articles January 01, 1970 Ely Estuary January 01, 1970 Ely Rangers A.F.C. January 01, 1970 Elysian Fields, Texas January 01, 1970 El (god) January 01, 1970 El Camino High School (South San Francisco, California) January 01, 1970 El Camino Real Derby January 01, 1970 El Casar (Madrid Metro) January 01, 1970 El Castillo (village) January 01, 1970 El Centro Metropolitan Area January 01, 1970 El Chaltén Most Read January 01, 1970 Li Ke (footballer) January 01, 1970 Li Keqiang January 01, 1970 Li Houzhu January 01, 1970 Li Hejun January 01, 1970 Li Jun (table tennis) immigration, united, states, been, suggested, that, this, article, should, split, into, articles, titled, demographics, immigration, united, states, public, opinion, immigration, united, states, discuss, july, 2021, been, major, source, population, growth, cul. It has been suggested that this article should be split into articles titled Demographics of immigration to the United States and Public opinion of immigration to the United States discuss July 2021 Immigration to the United States has been a major source of population growth and cultural change throughout much of its history In absolute numbers the United States has by far the highest number of immigrant population in the world with 50 661 149 people as of 2019 1 2 This represents 19 1 of the 244 million international migrants worldwide and 14 4 of the United States population In 2018 there were almost 90 million immigrants and U S born children of immigrants in the United States accounting for 28 of the overall U S population 3 A welcome notice to new immigrantsNaturalization ceremony at Oakton High School in Fairfax County Virginia December 2015Immigrants to the United States take the Oath of Allegiance at a naturalization ceremony at the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona September 2010 Population growth rate with and without migration in the U S According to the 2016 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics the United States admitted a total of 1 18 million legal immigrants 618k new arrivals 565k status adjustments in 2016 4 Of these 48 were the immediate relatives of United States citizens 20 were family sponsored 13 were refugees or asylum seekers 12 were employment based preferences 4 2 were part of the Diversity Immigrant Visa program 1 4 were victims of a crime U1 or their family members were U2 to U5 5 and 1 0 who were granted the Special Immigrant Visa SIV for Iraqis and Afghans employed by the United States Government 4 The remaining 0 4 included small numbers from several other categories including 0 2 who were granted suspension of deportation as an immediate relative of a citizen Z13 6 persons admitted under the Nicaraguan and Central American Relief Act children born after the issuance of a parent s visa and certain parolees from the former Soviet Union Cambodia Laos and Vietnam who were denied refugee status 4 Between 1921 and 1965 policies such as the national origins formula limited immigration and naturalization opportunities for people from areas outside Northwestern Europe Exclusion laws enacted as early as the 1880s generally prohibited or severely restricted immigration from Asia and quota laws enacted in the 1920s curtailed Southern and Eastern European immigration The civil rights movement led to the replacement 7 of these ethnic quotas with per country limits for family sponsored and employment based preference visas 8 Between 2018 and 2021 the number of first generation immigrants living in the United States has quadrupled 9 10 Census estimates show 45 3 million foreign born residents in the United States as of March 2018 and 45 4 million in September 2021 the lowest three year increase in decades 11 In 2017 out of the U S foreign born population some 45 20 7 million were naturalized citizens 27 12 3 million were lawful permanent residents 6 2 2 million were temporary lawful residents and 23 10 5 million were unauthorized immigrants 12 The United States led the world in refugee resettlement for decades admitting more refugees than the rest of the world combined 13 Some research suggests that immigration is beneficial to the United States economy With few exceptions the evidence suggests that on average immigration has positive economic effects on the native population but it is mixed as to whether low skilled immigration adversely affects low skilled natives Studies also show that immigrants have lower crime rates than natives in the United States 14 15 16 The economic social and political aspects of immigration have caused controversy regarding such issues as maintaining ethnic homogeneity workers for employers versus jobs for non immigrants settlement patterns impact on upward social mobility crime and voting behavior Contents 1 History 1 1 Colonial period 1 2 Origins of immigrant stock in 1790 1 3 Early United States era 1 4 Exclusion Era 1 5 Origins of immigrant stock in 1920 1 6 Since 1965 1 7 Modern reform attempts 1 7 1 Trump administration policies 1 7 2 Biden administration policies 1 8 Origins of the U S immigrant population 1960 2016 2 Contemporary immigration 2 1 Origin countries 2 2 Charts 3 Demography 3 1 Extent and destinations 3 2 Origin 4 Effects of immigration 4 1 Economic impact 5 Public opinion 5 1 Religious responses 6 Legal issues 7 Immigration in popular culture 7 1 Immigration in literature 8 Documentary films 9 Overall approach to regulation 10 See also 11 Notes 12 References 13 Further reading 13 1 Surveys 13 2 Before 1920 13 3 Recent post 1965 14 External links 14 1 History 14 2 Immigration policy 14 3 Current immigration 14 4 Economic impactHistoryMain article History of immigration to the United States See also European immigration to the Americas nbsp An 1887 illustration of immigrants on an ocean steamer passing the Statue of Liberty in New York HarborAmerican immigration history can be viewed in four epochs the colonial period the mid 19th century the start of the 20th century and post 1965 Each period brought distinct national groups races and ethnicities to the United States Colonial period During the 17th century approximately 400 000 English people migrated to America under European colonization 17 They comprised 83 5 of the white population at the time of the first census in 1790 18 From 1700 to 1775 between 350 000 and 500 000 Europeans immigrated estimates vary in sources Regarding English settlers of the 18th century one source says 52 000 English migrated during the period of 1701 to 1775 although this figure is likely too low 19 20 400 000 450 000 of the 18th century migrants were Scots Scots Irish from Ulster Germans Swiss and French Huguenots 21 Over half of all European immigrants to Colonial America during the 17th and 18th centuries arrived as indentured servants 22 They numbered 350 000 23 From 1770 to 1775 the latter year being when the American Revolutionary War began 7 000 English 15 000 Scots 13 200 Scots Irish 5 200 Germans and 3 900 Irish Catholics migrated to the Thirteen Colonies 24 According to Butler 2000 up to half of English migrants in the 18th century may have been young single men who were well skilled trained artisans like the Huguenots 25 Based on scholarly analysis English was the largest single ancestry in all U S states at the time of the first census in 1790 ranging from a high of 82 in Massachusetts to a low of 35 3 in Pennsylvania where Germans accounted for 33 3 Origins of immigrant stock in 1790 The Census Bureau published preliminary estimates of the origins of the colonial American population by scholarly classification of the names of all White heads of families recorded in the 1790 census in a 1909 report entitled A Century of Population Growth 26 These initial estimates were scrutinized and rejected following passage of the Immigration Act of 1924 when the government required accurate official estimates of the origins of the colonial stock population as basis for computing National Origins Formula immigration quotas in the 1920s In 1927 proposed quotas based on CPG figures were rejected by the President s Committee chaired by the Secretaries of State Commerce and Labor with the President reporting to Congress the statistical and historical information available raises grave doubts as to the whole value of these computations as the basis for the purposes intended 27 Concluding that CPG had not been accepted by scholars as better than a first approximation of the truth an extensive scientific revision was produced in collaboration with the American Council of Learned Societies ACLS as basis for computing contemporary legal immigration quotas 28 For this task scholars estimated the proportion of names of unique derivation from each of the major national stocks present in the population as of the 1790 census The final results later also published in the journal of the American Historical Association are presented below 27 nbsp Estimated Nationalities of the White American population in the Continental United States as of the 1790 Census nbsp 27 State or Territory nbsp English nbsp a nbsp Scotch nbsp Scotch Irish nbsp Irish nbsp German nbsp Dutch nbsp French nbsp Swedish nbsp b nbsp Spanish Other Total nbsp Connecticut 155 598 67 00 5 109 2 20 4 180 1 80 2 555 1 10 697 0 30 600 0 26 2 100 0 90 25 0 01 61 372 26 43 232 236 nbsp Delaware 27 786 60 00 3 705 8 00 2 918 6 30 2 501 5 40 509 1 10 2 000 4 32 750 1 62 4 100 8 85 2 041 4 41 46 310 nbsp Georgia 30 357 57 40 8 197 15 50 6 082 11 50 2 010 3 80 4 019 7 60 100 0 19 1 200 2 27 300 0 57 621 1 17 52 886 nbsp Kentucky amp nbsp Tennessee 53 874 57 90 9 305 10 00 6 513 7 00 4 838 5 20 13 026 14 00 1 200 1 29 2 000 2 15 500 0 54 1 790 1 92 93 046 nbsp Maine 57 664 60 00 4 325 4 50 7 689 8 00 3 556 3 70 1 249 1 30 100 0 10 1 200 1 25 20 324 21 15 96 107 nbsp Maryland amp nbsp District of Columbia 134 579 64 50 15 857 7 60 12 102 5 80 13 562 6 50 24 412 11 70 1 000 0 48 2 500 1 20 950 0 46 3 687 1 77 208 649 nbsp Massachusetts 306 013 82 00 16 420 4 40 9 703 2 60 4 851 1 30 1 120 0 30 600 0 16 3 000 0 80 75 0 02 31 405 8 42 373 187 nbsp New Hampshire 86 078 61 00 8 749 6 20 6 491 4 60 4 092 2 90 564 0 40 100 0 07 1 000 0 71 34 038 24 12 141 112 nbsp New Jersey 79 878 47 00 13 087 7 70 10 707 6 30 5 439 3 20 15 636 9 20 28 250 16 62 4 000 2 35 6 650 3 91 6 307 3 71 169 954 nbsp New York 163 470 52 00 22 006 7 00 16 033 5 10 9 431 3 00 25 778 8 20 55 000 17 50 12 000 3 82 1 500 0 48 9 148 2 91 314 366 nbsp North Carolina 190 860 66 00 42 799 14 80 16 483 5 70 15 616 5 40 13 592 4 70 800 0 28 4 800 1 66 700 0 24 3 531 1 22 289 181 nbsp Pennsylvania 149 451 35 30 36 410 8 60 46 571 11 00 14 818 3 50 140 983 33 30 7 500 1 77 7 500 1 77 3 325 0 79 16 815 3 97 423 373 nbsp Rhode Island 45 916 71 00 3 751 5 80 1 293 2 00 517 0 80 323 0 50 250 0 39 500 0 77 50 0 08 12 070 18 66 64 670 nbsp South Carolina 84 387 60 20 21 167 15 10 13 177 9 40 6 168 4 40 7 009 5 00 500 0 36 5 500 3 92 325 0 23 1 945 1 39 140 178 nbsp Vermont 64 655 76 00 4 339 5 10 2 722 3 20 1 616 1 90 170 0 20 500 0 59 350 0 41 10 720 12 60 85 072 nbsp Virginia amp nbsp West Virginia 302 850 68 50 45 096 10 20 27 411 6 20 24 316 5 50 27 853 6 30 1 500 0 34 6 500 1 47 2 600 0 59 3 991 0 90 442 117 nbsp 1790 Census Area 1 933 416 60 94 260 322 8 21 190 075 5 99 115 886 3 65 276 940 8 73 100 000 3 15 54 900 1 73 21 100 0 67 219 805 6 93 3 172 444 nbsp Northwest Territory 3 130 29 81 428 4 08 307 2 92 190 1 81 445 4 24 6 000 57 14 10 500 nbsp French America 2 240 11 20 305 1 53 220 1 10 135 0 68 1 750 8 75 12 850 64 25 2 500 12 50 20 000 nbsp Spanish America 610 2 54 83 0 35 60 0 25 37 0 15 85 0 35 23 125 96 35 24 000 nbsp United States 1 939 396 60 10 261 138 8 09 190 662 5 91 116 248 3 60 279 220 8 65 100 000 3 10 73 750 2 29 21 100 0 65 25 625 0 79 219 805 6 81 3 226 944 and Welsh ethnic Welsh people making up approximately 7 10 of settlers from England and Wales and Finnish including Forest Finns ethnic Finns making up more than half of New Swedish colonial settlers 29 Historians estimate that fewer than one million immigrants moved to the United States from Europe between 1600 and 1799 30 By comparison in the first federal census in 1790 the population of the United States was enumerated to be 3 929 214 31 Early United States era nbsp Immigrants arriving at Ellis Island in 1902The Naturalization Act of 1790 limited naturalization to free white persons it was expanded to include black people in the 1860s and Asian people in the 1950s 32 This made the United States an outlier since laws that made racial distinctions were uncommon in the world in the 18th century 33 In the early years of the United States immigration not counting the enslaved who were treated as merchandise rather than people was fewer than 8 000 people a year 34 including French refugees from the slave revolt in Haiti Legal importation of enslaved African was prohibited after 1808 though many were smuggled in to sell After 1820 immigration gradually increased From 1836 to 1914 over 30 million Europeans migrated to the United States 35 The death rate on these transatlantic voyages was high during which one in seven travelers died 36 After an initial wave of immigration from China following the California Gold Rush Congress passed its first immigration law the Page Act of 1875 which banned Chinese women 37 This was followed by the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 banning virtually all immigration from China until the law s repeal in 1943 In the late 1800s immigration from other Asian countries especially to the West Coast became more common Exclusion Era The peak year of European immigration was in 1907 when 1 285 349 persons entered the country 38 By 1910 13 5 million immigrants were living in the United States 39 While the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 had already excluded immigrants from China the immigration of people from Asian countries in addition to China was banned by the Immigration Act of 1917 also known as the Asiatic Barred Zone Act which also banned homosexuals people with intellectual disability and people with an anarchist worldview 40 The Emergency Quota Act was enacted in 1921 limiting immigration from the Eastern Hemisphere by national quotas equal to 3 percent of the number of foreign born from each nation in the 1910 census The Act aimed to further restrict immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe particularly Italian Slavic and Jewish people who had begun to enter the country in large numbers beginning in the 1890s 41 The temporary quota system was superseded by the National Origins Formula of the Immigration Act of 1924 which computed national quotas as a fraction of 150 000 in proportion to the national origins of the entire White American population as of the 1920 census except those having origins in the nonquota countries of the Western Hemisphere which remained unrestricted 42 43 Origins of immigrant stock in 1920 The National Origins Formula was a unique computation which attempted to measure the total contributions of blood from each national origin as a share of the total stock of White Americans in 1920 counting immigrants children of immigrants and the grandchildren of immigrants and later generations in addition to estimating the colonial stock descended from the population who had immigrated in the colonial period and were enumerated in the 1790 census European Americans remained predominant although there were shifts toward Southern Central and Eastern Europe from immigration in the period 1790 to 1920 The formula determined that ancestry derived from Great Britain accounted for over 40 of the American gene pool followed by German ancestry at 16 then Irish ancestry at 11 The restrictive immigration quota system established by the Immigration Act of 1924 revised and re affirmed by the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 sought to preserve this demographic makeup of America by allotting quotas in proportion to how much blood each national origin had contributed to the total stock of the population in 1920 as presented below 28 nbsp The White Population of the United States in 1920 apportioned according to the National Origins Formula prescribed by 11 c of the Immigration Act of 1924 About 56 5 of White Americans were deemed to be of postcolonial immigrant stock as of 1920 while 43 5 were deemed colonial stock Consequent immigration quotas in effect until 1965 were based upon these calculations 44 nbsp European Americans in 1790 by nationality estimated by classification of family names according to a 1909 preliminary estimate in Census Bureau report A Century of Population Growth top half and revised figures according to a scientific study by the Census Bureau in collaboration with the American Council of Learned Societies commissioned in the 1920s bottom half 26 27 Country of origin Total Colonial stock Postcolonial stockTotal Immigrants Children of Grandchildren of nbsp Austria 843 051 0 89 14 110 0 03 828 951 1 55 305 657 2 23 414 794 2 16 108 500 0 53 nbsp Belgium 778 328 0 82 602 300 1 46 176 028 0 33 62 686 0 46 62 042 0 32 51 300 0 25 nbsp Czechoslovakia 1 715 128 1 81 54 700 0 13 1 660 428 3 10 559 895 4 08 903 933 4 71 196 600 0 95 nbsp Denmark 704 783 0 74 93 200 0 23 611 583 1 14 189 934 1 39 277 149 1 44 144 500 0 70 nbsp Estonia 69 013 0 07 69 013 0 13 33 612 0 25 28 001 0 15 7 400 0 04 nbsp Finland 339 436 0 36 4 300 0 01 335 136 0 63 149 824 1 09 146 612 0 76 38 700 0 19 nbsp France 1 841 689 1 94 767 100 1 86 1 074 589 2 01 155 019 1 13 325 270 1 69 594 300 2 88 nbsp Germany 15 488 615 16 33 3 036 800 7 36 12 451 815 23 26 1 672 375 12 20 4 051 240 21 11 6 728 200 32 61 nbsp Greece 182 936 0 19 182 936 0 34 135 146 0 99 46 890 0 24 900 0 00 nbsp Hungary 518 750 0 55 518 750 0 97 318 977 2 33 183 773 0 96 16 000 0 08 nbsp Ireland 10 653 334 11 24 1 821 500 4 41 8 831 834 16 50 820 970 5 99 2 097 664 10 93 5 913 200 28 66 nbsp Italy 3 462 271 3 65 3 462 271 6 47 1 612 281 11 76 1 671 490 8 71 178 500 0 87 nbsp Latvia 140 777 0 15 140 777 0 26 69 277 0 51 56 000 0 29 15 500 0 08 nbsp Lithuania 230 445 0 24 230 445 0 43 117 000 0 85 88 645 0 46 24 800 0 12 nbsp Netherlands 1 881 359 1 98 1 366 800 3 31 514 559 0 96 133 478 0 97 205 381 1 07 175 700 0 85 nbsp Norway 1 418 592 1 50 75 200 0 18 1 343 392 2 51 363 862 2 65 597 130 3 11 382 400 1 85 nbsp Poland 3 892 796 4 11 8 600 0 02 3 884 196 7 26 1 814 426 13 23 1 779 570 9 27 290 200 1 41 nbsp Portugal 262 804 0 28 23 700 0 06 239 104 0 45 104 088 0 76 105 416 0 55 29 600 0 14 nbsp Romania 175 697 0 19 175 697 0 33 88 942 0 65 83 755 0 44 3 000 0 02 nbsp Russia 1 660 954 1 75 4 300 0 01 1 656 654 3 09 767 324 5 60 762 130 3 97 127 200 0 62 nbsp Spain 150 258 0 16 38 400 0 09 111 858 0 21 50 027 0 36 24 531 0 13 37 300 0 18 nbsp Sweden 1 977 234 2 09 217 100 0 53 1 760 134 3 29 625 580 4 56 774 854 4 04 359 700 1 74 nbsp Switzerland 1 018 706 1 07 388 900 0 94 629 806 1 18 118 659 0 87 203 547 1 06 307 600 1 49 nbsp Syria amp nbsp Leb 73 442 0 08 73 442 0 14 42 039 0 31 31 403 0 16 nbsp Turkey 134 756 0 14 134 756 0 25 102 669 0 75 31 487 0 16 600 0 00 nbsp United Kingdom 39 216 333 41 36 31 803 900 77 02 7 412 433 13 85 1 365 314 9 96 2 308 419 12 03 3 738 700 18 12 nbsp Yugoslavia 504 203 0 53 504 203 0 94 220 668 1 61 265 735 1 38 17 800 0 09 Other Countries 170 868 0 18 3 500 0 01 167 368 0 31 71 553 0 52 93 815 0 49 2 000 0 01 All Quota Countries 89 506 558 100 00 40 324 400 45 05 49 182 158 54 95 12 071 282 13 49 17 620 676 19 69 19 490 200 21 78 Nonquota Countries 5 314 357 5 60 964 170 2 34 4 350 187 8 13 1 641 472 11 97 1 569 696 8 18 1 139 019 5 52 1920 nbsp USA Total 94 820 915 100 00 41 288 570 43 54 53 532 345 56 46 13 712 754 14 46 19 190 372 20 24 20 629 219 21 76 nbsp Polish immigrants working on a farm in 1909 the welfare system was practically non existent before the 1930s and the economic pressures on the poor were giving rise to child labor Immigration patterns of the 1930s were affected by the Great Depression In the final prosperous year 1929 there were 279 678 immigrants recorded 45 but in 1933 only 23 068 moved to the U S 30 In the early 1930s more people emigrated from the United States than to it 46 The U S government sponsored a Mexican Repatriation program which was intended to encourage people to voluntarily move to Mexico but thousands were deported against their will 47 Altogether approximately 400 000 Mexicans were repatriated half of them were US citizens 48 Most of the Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazis and World War II were barred from coming to the United States 49 In the post war era the Justice Department launched Operation Wetback under which 1 075 168 Mexicans were deported in 1954 50 Since 1965 nbsp Immigrant trunks from Sweden in the late 19th century on left and from a refugee camp in Thailand in 1993 on right nbsp Boston s Chinatown in Boston in 2008The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 also known as the Hart Cellar Act abolished the system of national origin quotas By equalizing immigration policies the act resulted in new immigration from non European nations which changed the ethnic demographics of the United States 51 In 1970 60 of immigrants were from Europe this decreased to 15 by 2000 52 In 1990 George H W Bush signed the Immigration Act of 1990 53 which increased legal immigration to the United States by 40 54 In 1991 Bush signed the Armed Forces Immigration Adjustment Act 1991 allowing foreign service members who had served 12 or more years in the US Armed Forces to qualify for permanent residency and in some cases citizenship In November 1994 California voters passed Proposition 187 amending the state constitution denying state financial aid to illegal immigrants The federal courts voided this change ruling that it violated the federal constitution 55 Appointed by President Bill Clinton 56 the U S Commission on Immigration Reform recommended reducing legal immigration from about 800 000 people per year to approximately 550 000 57 While an influx of new residents from different cultures presents some challenges the United States has always been energized by its immigrant populations said President Bill Clinton in 1998 America has constantly drawn strength and spirit from wave after wave of immigrants They have proved to be the most restless the most adventurous the most innovative the most industrious of people 58 In 2001 President George W Bush discussed an accord with Mexican President Vincente Fox Due to the September 11 attacks the possible accord did not occur From 2005 to 2013 the US Congress discussed various ways of controlling immigration The Senate and House were unable to reach an agreement 55 Nearly 14 million immigrants entered the United States from 2000 to 2010 59 and over one million persons were naturalized as U S citizens in 2008 The per country limit 8 applies the same maximum on the number of visas to all countries regardless of their population and has therefore had the effect of significantly restricting immigration of persons born in populous nations such as Mexico China India and the Philippines the leading countries of origin for legally admitted immigrants to the United States in 2013 60 nevertheless China India and Mexico were the leading countries of origin for immigrants overall to the United States in 2013 regardless of legal status according to a U S Census Bureau study 61 Nearly 8 million people immigrated to the United States from 2000 to 2005 3 7 million of them entered without papers 62 63 In 1986 president Ronald Reagan signed immigration reform that gave amnesty to 3 million undocumented immigrants in the country 64 Hispanic immigrants suffered job losses during the late 2000s recession 65 but since the recession s end in June 2009 immigrants posted a net gain of 656 000 jobs 66 Over 1 million immigrants were granted legal residence in 2011 67 For those who enter the US illegally across the Mexico United States border and elsewhere migration is difficult expensive and dangerous 68 Virtually all undocumented immigrants have no avenues for legal entry to the United States due to the restrictive legal limits on green cards and lack of immigrant visas for low skilled workers 69 Participants in debates on immigration in the early 21st century called for increasing enforcement of existing laws governing illegal immigration to the United States building a barrier along some or all of the 2 000 mile 3 200 km Mexico U S border or creating a new guest worker program Through much of 2006 the country and Congress was engaged in a debate about these proposals As of April 2010 update few of these proposals had become law though a partial border fence had been approved and subsequently canceled 70 Modern reform attempts Beginning with Ronald Reagan in the 1980s presidents from both political parties have steadily increased the number of border patrol agents and instituted harsher punitive measures for immigration violations Examples of these policies include Ronald Reagan s Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 and the Clinton era Prevention Through Deterrence strategy The sociologist Douglas Massey has argued that these policies have succeeded at producing a perception of border enforcement but have largely failed at preventing emigration from Latin America Notably rather than curtailing illegal immigration the increase in border patrol agents decreased circular migration across the U S Mexico border thus increasing the population of Hispanics in the U S 71 Presidents from both parties have employed anti immigrant rhetoric to appeal to their political base or to garner bi partisan support for their policies While Republicans like Reagan and Donald Trump have led the way in framing Hispanic immigrants as criminals Douglas Massey points out that the current moment of open racism and xenophobia could not have happened with Democratic acquiescence 72 For example while lobbying for his 1986 immigration bill Reagan framed unauthorized immigration as a national security issue and warned that terrorists and subversives are just two days driving time from the border 72 Later presidents including Democrats Bill Clinton and Barack Obama used similar security rhetoric in their efforts to court Republican support for comprehensive immigration reform In his 2013 State of the Union Address Obama said real reform means strong border security and we can build on the progress my administration has already made putting more boots on the southern border than at any time in our history 73 Trump administration policies ICE reports that it removed 240 255 immigrants in fiscal year 2016 as well as 226 119 in FY2017 and 256 085 in FY2018 Citizens of Central American countries including Mexico made up over 90 of removals in FY2017 and over 80 in FY2018 74 In January 2017 U S President Donald Trump signed an executive order temporarily suspending entry to the United States by nationals of seven Muslim majority countries It was replaced by another executive order in March 2017 and by a presidential proclamation in September 2017 with various changes to the list of countries and exemptions 75 The orders were temporarily suspended by federal courts but later allowed to proceed by the Supreme Court pending a definite ruling on their legality 76 Another executive order called for the immediate construction of a wall across the U S Mexico border the hiring of 5 000 new border patrol agents and 10 000 new immigration officers and federal funding penalties for sanctuary cities 77 The zero tolerance policy was put in place in 2018 which legally allows children to be separated from adults unlawfully entering the United States This is justified by labeling all adults that enter unlawfully as criminals thus subjecting them to criminal prosecution 78 The Trump Administration also argued that its policy had precedent under the Obama Administration which had opened family detention centers in response to migrants increasingly using children as a way to get adults into the country However the Obama Administration detained families together in administrative rather than criminal detention 79 80 Other policies focused on what it means for an asylum seeker to claim credible fear 81 To further decrease the amount of asylum seekers into the United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions released a decision that restricts those fleeing gang violence and domestic abuse as private crime therefore making their claims ineligible for asylum 82 These new policies that have been put in place are putting many lives at risk to the point that the ACLU has officially sued Jeff Sessions along with other members of the Trump Administration The ACLU claims that the policies that are currently being put in place by this Presidential Administration is undermining the fundamental human rights of those immigrating into the United States specifically women They also claim that these policies violate decades of settle asylum law 83 In April 2020 President Trump said he will sign an executive order to temporarily suspend immigration to the United States because of the COVID 19 pandemic in the United States 84 85 Biden administration policies Main article Immigration policy of the Joe Biden administration In January 2023 regarding the southern border crisis Joe Biden announced a new immigration policy that would allow 30 000 migrants per month from Cuba Haiti Nicaragua and Venezuela 86 but will also expel the migrants from those countries who violate US laws of immigration 87 The policy has faced criticism from immigration reform advocates and lawyers who decry any expansion of Title 42 86 Origins of the U S immigrant population 1960 2016 of foreign born population residing in the U S who were born in 88 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2018Europe Canada 84 68 42 26 19 15 15 14 14 14 14 13 13 South and East Asia 4 7 15 22 23 25 25 26 26 26 27 27 28 Other Latin America 4 11 16 21 22 24 24 24 24 24 24 25 25 Mexico 6 8 16 22 29 29 29 28 28 28 27 26 25 Note Other Latin America includes Central America South America and the Caribbean Persons obtaining legal permanent resident status by fiscal year 89 90 91 92 Year Year Year Year Year Year Year Year1890 455 302 1910 1 041 570 1930 241 700 1950 249 187 1970 373 326 1990 1 535 872 2010 1 042 625 2018 1 096 6111895 258 536 1915 326 700 1935 34 956 1955 237 790 1975 385 378 1995 720 177 2015 1 051 031 2019 1 031 7651900 448 572 1920 430 001 1940 70 756 1960 265 398 1980 524 295 2000 841 002 2016 1 183 505 2020 707 3621905 1 026 499 1925 294 314 1945 38 119 1965 296 697 1985 568 149 2005 1 122 257 2017 1 127 167 2021 740 002Decade Average per year1890 99 369 1001900 09 745 1001910 19 634 4001920 29 429 6001930 39 69 9001940 49 85 7001950 59 249 9001960 69 321 4001970 79 424 8001980 89 624 4001990 99 977 5002000 09 1 029 9002010 19 1 063 300Refugee numbersMain article Asylum in the United States nbsp Operation Allies Refuge with Afghans being evacuated on a U S Air Force Boeing C 17 plane during the fall of Kabul in 2021According to the Department of State in the 2016 fiscal year 84 988 refugees were accepted into the US from around the world In the fiscal year of 2017 53 691 refugees were accepted to the US There was a significant decrease after Trump took office it continued in the fiscal year of 2018 when only 22 405 refugees were accepted into the US This displays a massive drop in acceptance of refugees since the Trump Administration has been in place 93 original research On September 26 2019 The Trump administration announced it plans to allow only 18 000 refugees to resettle in the United States in the 2020 fiscal year its lowest level since the modern program began in 1980 94 95 96 97 In 2020 The Trump administration announces that it plans to slash refugee admissions to U S for 2021 to a record low 15 000 refugees down from a cap of 18 000 for 2020 This is the fourth consecutive year of declining refugee admissions under the Trump term 98 99 100 Period Refugee Program 101 102 98 99 100 2018 45 0002019 30 0002020 18 0002021 15 000Contemporary immigration nbsp Legal immigration to the United States over time nbsp A naturalization ceremony in Salem Massachusetts in 2007As of 2018 update approximately half of immigrants living in the United States are from Mexico and other Latin American countries 103 Many Central Americans are fleeing because of desperate social and economic circumstances in their countries Some believe that the large number of Central American refugees arriving in the United States can be explained as a blowback to policies such as United States military interventions and covert operations that installed or maintained in power authoritarian leaders allied with wealthy land owners and multinational corporations who stop family farming and democratic efforts which have caused drastically sharp social inequality wide scale poverty and rampant crime 104 Economic austerity dictated by neoliberal policies imposed by the International Monetary Fund and its ally the U S has also been cited as a driver of the dire social and economic conditions as has the U S War on Drugs which has been understood as fueling murderous gang violence in the region 105 Another major migration driver from Central America Guatemala Honduras and El Salvador are crop failures which are partly caused by climate change 106 107 108 109 The current debate is almost totally about what to do about immigrants when they get here But the 800 pound gorilla that s missing from the table is what we have been doing there that brings them here that drives them here according to Jeff Faux an economist who is a distinguished fellow at the Economic Policy Institute Until the 1930s most legal immigrants were male By the 1990s women accounted for just over half of all legal immigrants 110 Contemporary immigrants tend to be younger than the native population of the United States with people between the ages of 15 and 34 substantially overrepresented 111 Immigrants are also more likely to be married and less likely to be divorced than native born Americans of the same age 112 Immigrants are likely to move to and live in areas populated by people with similar backgrounds This phenomenon has remained true throughout the history of immigration to the United States 113 Seven out of ten immigrants surveyed by Public Agenda in 2009 said they intended to make the U S their permanent home and 71 said if they could do it over again they would still come to the US In the same study 76 of immigrants say the government has become stricter on enforcing immigration laws since the September 11 2001 attacks 9 11 and 24 report that they personally have experienced some or a great deal of discrimination 114 Public attitudes about immigration in the U S were heavily influenced in the aftermath of the 9 11 attacks After the attacks 52 of Americans believed that immigration was a good thing overall for the U S down from 62 the year before according to a 2009 Gallup poll 115 A 2008 Public Agenda survey found that half of Americans said tighter controls on immigration would do a great deal to enhance U S national security 116 Harvard political scientist and historian Samuel P Huntington argued in his 2004 book Who Are We The Challenges to America s National Identity that a potential future consequence of continuing massive immigration from Latin America especially Mexico could lead to the bifurcation of the United States 117 118 The estimated population of illegal Mexican immigrants in the US decreased from approximately 7 million in 2007 to 6 1 million in 2011 119 Commentators link the reversal of the immigration trend to the economic downturn that started in 2008 and which meant fewer available jobs and to the introduction of tough immigration laws in many states 120 121 122 123 According to the Pew Hispanic Center the net immigration of Mexican born persons had stagnated in 2010 and tended toward going into negative figures 124 More than 80 cities in the United States 125 including Washington D C New York City Los Angeles Chicago San Francisco San Diego San Jose Salt Lake City Phoenix Dallas Fort Worth Houston Detroit Jersey City Minneapolis Denver Baltimore Seattle Portland Oregon and Portland Maine have sanctuary policies which vary locally 126 Origin countries See also United States immigration statistics nbsp Immigration to the United States over time by regionInflow of New Legal Permanent Residents by region 2015 2020 Region 2015 of total 2016 of total 2017 of total 2018 90 of total 2019 91 of total 2020 92 of total nbsp nbsp in 2020Americas 438 435 41 7 506 901 42 8 492 726 43 7 497 860 45 4 461 710 44 8 284 491 40 2 nbsp 38 4 Asia 419 297 39 9 462 299 39 1 424 743 37 7 397 187 36 2 364 761 35 4 272 597 38 5 nbsp 25 3 Africa 101 415 9 7 113 426 9 6 118 824 10 5 115 736 10 6 111 194 10 8 76 649 10 8 nbsp 31 1 Europe 85 803 8 2 93 567 7 9 84 335 7 5 80 024 7 3 87 597 8 5 68 994 9 8 nbsp 21 2 Australia and Oceania 5 404 0 5 5 588 0 5 5 071 0 5 4 653 0 4 5 359 0 5 3 998 0 6 nbsp 25 4 Unknown 677 0 1 1 724 0 1 1 468 0 1 1 151 0 1 1 144 0 1 633 gt 0 1 nbsp Total 1 051 031 100 1 183 505 100 1 127 167 100 1 096 611 100 1 031 765 100 707 632 100 nbsp 31 4 Source US Department of Homeland Security Office of Immigration Statistics 127 128 129 130 Top 15 Countries of Origin of Permanent Residents 2016 2022 131 Country 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 nbsp India 64 687 60 394 59 821 54 495 46 363 93 450 120 121 nbsp Mexico 174 534 170 581 161 858 156 052 100 325 107 230 117 710 nbsp China 81 772 71 565 65 214 62 248 41 483 49 847 62 022 nbsp Dominican Republic 61 161 58 520 57 413 49 911 30 005 24 553 36 007 nbsp Cuba 66 516 65 028 76 486 41 641 16 367 23 077 31 019 nbsp Philippines 53 287 49 147 47 258 45 920 25 491 27 511 27 692 nbsp El Salvador 23 449 25 109 28 326 27 656 17 907 18 668 25 609 nbsp Vietnam 41 451 38 231 33 834 39 712 29 995 16 312 22 604 nbsp Brazil 13 812 14 989 15 394 19 825 16 746 18 351 20 806 nbsp Colombia 18 610 17 956 17 545 19 841 11 989 15 293 16 763 nbsp Venezuela 10 772 11 809 11 762 15 720 12 136 14 412 16 604 nbsp Guatemala data missing data missing data missing data missing 7 369 8 199 15 328 nbsp South Korea 21 801 19 194 17 676 18 479 16 244 12 351 data missing nbsp Honduras data missing data missing data missing data missing 7 843 9 425 14 762 nbsp Canada data missing data missing data missing data missing 11 297 12 053 13 916 nbsp Jamaica 23 350 21 905 20 347 21 689 12 826 13 357 13 603Total 1 183 505 1 127 167 1 096 611 1 031 765 707 362 740 002 1 018 349Charts Inflow of New Legal Permanent Residents by continent in 2020 92 Americas 40 2 Asia 38 5 Africa 10 8 Europe 9 8 Australia and Oceania 0 6 Unknown 0 1 Languages spoken among U S immigrants 2016 88 English only 16 Spanish 43 Chinese 6 Hindi and related languages 5 Filipino Tagalog 4 French 3 Vietnamese 3 Arabic 2 Other 18 DemographyExtent and destinations See also List of U S states by net international migration nbsp Little Italy in New York City c 1900 nbsp A crowd at the Philippine Independence Day Parade in New York City nbsp Galveston immigration stationsYear 132 Number offoreign born Percentforeign born1850 2 244 602 9 71860 4 138 697 13 21870 5 567 229 14 41880 6 679 943 13 31890 9 249 547 14 81900 10 341 276 13 61910 13 515 886 14 71920 13 920 692 13 21930 14 204 149 11 61940 11 594 896 8 81950 10 347 395 6 91960 9 738 091 5 41970 9 619 302 4 71980 14 079 906 6 21990 19 767 316 7 92000 31 107 889 11 12010 39 956 000 12 92017 44 525 500 13 72018 44 728 502 13 52019 44 932 7992010 133 2017 134 2018 135 136 Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki wiki The United States admitted more legal immigrants from 1991 to 2000 between ten and eleven million than in any previous decade In the most recent decade when the 10 million legal immigrants that settled in the U S represent roughly one third of the annual growth as the U S population increased by 32 million from 249 million to 281 million By comparison the highest previous decade was the 1900s when 8 8 million people arrived increasing the total U S population by one percent every year Specifically nearly 15 of Americans were foreign born in 1910 while in 1999 only about 10 were foreign born 137 By 1970 immigrants accounted for 4 7 percent of the US population and rising to 6 2 percent in 1980 with an estimated 12 5 percent in 2009 138 As of 2010 update 25 of US residents under age 18 were first or second generation immigrants 139 Eight percent of all babies born in the U S in 2008 belonged to illegal immigrant parents according to a recent when analysis of U S Census Bureau data by the Pew Hispanic Center 140 Legal immigration to the U S increased from 250 000 in the 1930s to 2 5 million in the 1950s to 4 5 million in the 1970s and to 7 3 million in the 1980s before becoming stable at about 10 million in the 1990s 141 Since 2000 legal immigrants to the United States number approximately 1 000 000 per year of whom about 600 000 are Change of Status who already are in the U S Legal immigrants to the United States now when are at their highest level ever at just over 37 000 000 legal immigrants In reports in 2005 2006 estimates of illegal immigration ranged from 700 000 to 1 500 000 per year 142 143 Immigration led to a 57 4 increase in foreign born population from 1990 to 2000 144 Foreign born immigration has caused the U S population to continue its rapid increase with the foreign born population doubling from almost 20 million in 1990 to over 47 million in 2015 145 In 2018 there were almost 90 million immigrants and U S born children of immigrants second generation Americans in the United States accounting for 28 of the overall U S population 146 While immigration has increased drastically over the 20th century the foreign born share of the population is at 13 4 only somewhat below what it was at its peak in 1910 at 14 7 A number of factors may be attributed to the decrease in the representation of foreign born residents in the United States Most significant has been the change in the composition of immigrants prior to 1890 82 of immigrants came from North and Western Europe From 1891 to 1920 that number decreased to 25 with a rise in immigrants from East Central and South Europe summing up to 64 Animosity towards these ethnically different immigrants increased in the United States resulting in much legislation to limit immigration in the 20th century 147 Origin Country of birth for foreign born population in the United States 1970 2015 Country of birth 2015 note 1 2010 note 2 2000 150 1990 151 1980 152 1970 152 nbsp Mexico nbsp 11 513 528 nbsp 11 599 653 nbsp 9 177 487 nbsp 4 298 014 nbsp 2 199 221 759 711 nbsp India nbsp 2 348 687 nbsp 1 837 838 nbsp 1 022 552 nbsp 450 406 nbsp 206 087 51 000 nbsp China a nbsp 2 034 383 nbsp 1 583 634 nbsp 988 857 nbsp 529 837 nbsp 286 120 172 132 nbsp Philippines nbsp 1 945 345 nbsp 1 810 537 nbsp 1 369 070 nbsp 912 674 nbsp 501 440 184 842 nbsp El Salvador nbsp 1 323 592 nbsp 1 201 972 nbsp 817 336 465 433 N A b N A b nbsp Vietnam nbsp 1 314 927 nbsp 1 231 716 nbsp 988 174 nbsp 543 262 231 120 N A b nbsp Cuba nbsp 1 227 031 nbsp 1 057 346 nbsp 872 716 nbsp 736 971 nbsp 607 184 439 048 nbsp South Korea c nbsp 1 064 960 nbsp 1 085 151 nbsp 864 125 nbsp 568 397 nbsp 289 885 38 711 nbsp Dominican Republic nbsp 1 057 439 nbsp 866 618 nbsp 687 677 nbsp 347 858 nbsp 169 147 61 228 nbsp Guatemala nbsp 923 562 nbsp 822 947 nbsp 480 665 225 739 N A b N A b nbsp Canada nbsp 818 441 nbsp 808 772 nbsp 820 771 nbsp 744 830 nbsp 842 859 812 421 nbsp Jamaica nbsp 727 634 nbsp 671 197 nbsp 553 827 nbsp 334 140 nbsp 196 811 68 576 nbsp Colombia nbsp 723 561 nbsp 648 594 nbsp 509 872 286 124 N A b N A b nbsp United Kingdom d nbsp 696 048 nbsp 685 938 nbsp 677 751 nbsp 640 145 nbsp 669 149 686 099 nbsp Haiti nbsp 643 341 nbsp 572 896 nbsp 419 317 225 393 N A b N A b nbsp Honduras nbsp 603 179 nbsp 502 827 nbsp 282 852 108 923 N A b N A b nbsp Germany nbsp 577 282 nbsp 617 070 nbsp 706 704 nbsp 711 929 nbsp 849 384 832 965 nbsp Peru nbsp 447 223 nbsp 419 363 nbsp 278 186 144 199 N A b N A b nbsp Ecuador nbsp 437 581 nbsp 428 747 nbsp 298 626 143 314 N A b N A b nbsp Poland nbsp 422 208 nbsp 450 537 nbsp 466 742 nbsp 388 328 nbsp 418 128 548 107 nbsp Russia nbsp 391 974 nbsp 391 101 nbsp 340 177 nbsp 333 725 nbsp 406 022 463 462 nbsp Iran Incl Kurdistan nbsp 377 741 nbsp 353 169 nbsp 283 226 210 941 N A b N A b nbsp Taiwan nbsp 376 666 nbsp 365 981 nbsp 326 215 244 102 N A b N A b nbsp Brazil nbsp 373 058 nbsp 332 250 nbsp 212 428 82 489 N A b N A b nbsp Pakistan nbsp 371 400 nbsp 301 280 nbsp 223 477 91 889 N A b N A b nbsp Italy nbsp 348 216 nbsp 368 699 nbsp 473 338 nbsp 580 592 nbsp 831 922 1 008 533 nbsp Japan nbsp 346 887 nbsp 334 449 nbsp 347 539 nbsp 290 128 nbsp 221 794 120 235 nbsp Ukraine nbsp 344 565 nbsp 324 216 275 153 N A e N A e N A e nbsp Nigeria nbsp 298 532 nbsp 221 077 nbsp 134 940 55 350 N A b N A b nbsp Guyana nbsp 274 118 nbsp 257 272 nbsp 211 189 120 698 N A b N A b nbsp Venezuela nbsp 265 282 nbsp 182 342 nbsp 107 031 42 119 N A b N A b nbsp Nicaragua nbsp 252 196 nbsp 250 186 nbsp 220 335 168 659 N A b N A b nbsp Thailand nbsp 247 614 nbsp 224 576 nbsp 169 801 106 919 N A b N A b nbsp Trinidad and Tobago nbsp 234 483 nbsp 231 678 nbsp 197 398 115 710 N A b N A b nbsp Hong Kong nbsp 228 316 nbsp 216 948 nbsp 203 580 147 131 N A b N A b nbsp Ethiopia nbsp 226 159 nbsp 164 046 nbsp 69 531 34 805 N A b N A b nbsp Bangladesh nbsp 221 275 nbsp 166 513 95 294 N A b N A b N A b nbsp Iraq nbsp 212 608 nbsp 148 673 nbsp 89 892 44 916 N A b N A b nbsp Laos nbsp 188 385 nbsp 192 469 nbsp 204 284 171 577 N A b N A b nbsp Argentina nbsp 187 052 nbsp 170 120 nbsp 125 218 92 563 N A b N A b nbsp Egypt f nbsp 179 157 nbsp 143 086 nbsp 113 396 66 313 N A b N A b nbsp Portugal nbsp 175 555 nbsp 186 142 nbsp 203 119 nbsp 210 122 nbsp 177 437 91 034 nbsp France g nbsp 175 198 nbsp 157 577 nbsp 151 154 nbsp 119 233 nbsp 120 215 105 385 nbsp Cambodia nbsp 159 827 nbsp 156 508 nbsp 136 978 118 833 N A b N A b nbsp Ghana nbsp 158 999 nbsp 120 785 nbsp 65 572 20 889 N A b N A b nbsp Romania nbsp 158 033 nbsp 163 431 nbsp 135 966 91 106 N A b N A b nbsp Myanmar nbsp 137 190 89 553 N A b 19 835 N A b N A b nbsp Greece nbsp 134 654 nbsp 136 914 nbsp 165 750 nbsp 177 398 nbsp 210 998 177 275 nbsp Israel h nbsp 134 172 nbsp 133 074 nbsp 109 719 86 048 N A b N A b nbsp Kenya nbsp 126 209 95 126 N A b N A b N A b N A b nbsp Ireland nbsp 124 411 nbsp 128 496 nbsp 156 474 nbsp 169 827 nbsp 197 817 251 375 nbsp Lebanon nbsp 120 620 nbsp 119 523 nbsp 105 910 nbsp 86 369 N A b N A b nbsp Nepal nbsp 119 640 63 948 N A b N A b N A b N A b nbsp Turkey nbsp 113 937 nbsp 102 242 nbsp 78 378 55 087 N A b N A b nbsp Spain nbsp 109 712 nbsp 86 683 nbsp 82 858 76 415 N A b N A b nbsp Bosnia and Herzegovina nbsp 105 657 nbsp 115 600 98 766 N A b N A b N A b nbsp Panama nbsp 103 715 nbsp 104 080 nbsp 105 177 85 737 N A b N A b nbsp South Africa nbsp 99 323 nbsp 83 298 nbsp 63 558 34 707 N A b N A b nbsp Chile nbsp 97 391 nbsp 92 948 nbsp 80 804 55 681 N A b N A b nbsp Indonesia nbsp 96 158 nbsp 92 555 nbsp 72 552 48 387 N A b N A b nbsp Somalia 92 807 N A b N A b N A b N A b N A b nbsp Saudi Arabia nbsp 90 836 48 916 N A b 12 632 N A b N A b nbsp Syria i nbsp 88 226 nbsp 64 240 nbsp 54 561 36 782 N A b N A b nbsp Armenia nbsp 86 727 nbsp 80 972 65 280 N A e N A e N A e nbsp Australia nbsp 86 447 nbsp 74 478 nbsp 60 965 42 267 N A b N A b nbsp Costa Rica nbsp 86 186 nbsp 83 034 nbsp 71 870 43 350 N A b N A b nbsp Albania nbsp 85 406 77 091 N A b N A b N A b N A b nbsp Netherlands j nbsp 84 579 nbsp 85 096 nbsp 94 570 nbsp 96 198 nbsp 103 136 110 570 nbsp Liberia nbsp 83 221 71 062 N A b N A b N A b N A b nbsp Afghanistan nbsp 79 298 nbsp 60 314 nbsp 45 195 28 444 N A b N A b nbsp Morocco k nbsp 74 009 58 728 N A b 15 541 N A b N A b nbsp Malaysia nbsp 72 878 nbsp 58 095 nbsp 49 459 33 834 N A b N A b nbsp Jordan l nbsp 72 662 nbsp 60 912 nbsp 46 794 31 871 N A b N A b nbsp Bulgaria nbsp 68 658 61 931 N A b N A b N A b N A b nbsp Hungary nbsp 67 594 nbsp 75 479 nbsp 92 017 nbsp 110 337 nbsp 144 368 183 236Former nbsp Czechoslovakia nbsp 67 241 nbsp 70 283 nbsp 83 031 nbsp 87 020 nbsp 112 707 160 899 nbsp Belarus nbsp 59 501 nbsp 54 575 38 503 N A e N A e N A e nbsp Uzbekistan nbsp 56 275 47 664 N A b N A e N A e N A e nbsp Barbados nbsp 54 131 nbsp 51 764 nbsp 52 172 43 015 N A b N A b nbsp Sri Lanka span data w, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library, article , read, download, free, free 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