US Immigrant Population is at a Record High: Ending Remain in Mexico is Only Making It Worse! (An NPG Commentary)

US Immigrant Population is at a Record High: Ending Remain in Mexico is Only Making It Worse! (An NPG Commentary)

Edwin S. Rubenstein
August 8, 2022
Forum Papers
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An NPG Commentary
by Edwin S. Rubenstein
August 2022

Mega truth #1: U.S. fertility and population growth rates have declined steadily since the Great Recession of 2008-09.

Mega truth #2: For decades immigration has been the major driver of population growth in this country.

To the casual observer, these truths may imply that the immigrant population of the U.S. is shrinking.

Are you OK with that? If yes, you are WRONG, WRONG, WRONG.

An analysis of the Census Bureau’s monthly Current Population Survey (CPS) shows that the foreign-born population (legal
and illegal) in the U.S. hit 47 million in April 2022 – a record high in American history. While total U.S. population growth has
slowed, the immigrant share is galloping ahead:

Immigrants now account for 14.3% of the population – one in seven U.S. residents – the highest percentage
in 112 years. As recently as 1990 they were one in 13 residents.
In the first 16 months of the Biden Administration – January 2021 to April 2022 – the immigrant population
rose by about 4.4%. This growth rate is more than double that of the U.S.-born population.
Illegal immigrants are estimated to have accounted for two thirds of growth of the foreign-born population
over that time – 1.35 million.
Taking a longer view, since 2000 the total immigrant population has grown by 50%; it’s doubled since 1990;
tripled since 1980; and quadrupled since 1970.
If present trends continue, the immigrant share of the population will reach 14.9% in September 2023, higher
than at any time since the nation was founded in 1776.

This rapid growth is remarkable, because for the immigrant population to grow at all, it must exceed both emigration (immigrants leaving the U.S.) and immigrant deaths. By definition, all births to immigrants in the U.S. add only to the native-born population.

….Continue reading the full Forum paper by clicking here.

Author
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Edwin S. Rubenstein

Ed Rubenstein, president of ESR Research, is an experienced business researcher, financial analyst, and economics journalist. He has written extensively on federal tax policy, government waste, the Reagan legacy, and – most recently – on immigration. He is the author of two books: The Right Data (1994) and From the Empire State to the Vampire State: New York in a Downward Transition (with Herbert London). His essays on public policy have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Investor’s Business Daily, Newsday, and National Review. His TV appearances include Firing Line, Bill Moyers, McNeil-Lehr, CNBC, and Debates-Debates. Mr. Rubenstein has a B.A. from Johns Hopkins and a graduate degree in economics from Columbia University.

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One Reply to “US Immigrant Population is at a Record High: Ending Remain in Mexico is Only Making It Worse! (An NPG Commentary)”

AT

August 31, 2022

These are amazing and terrifying statistics.I know many, supposedly informed people who honestly believe the US and the world is in a population decline. Idiots like Elon musk and a brainwashed US press either don’t know the facts or are being purposely deceitful to further the mass immigration agenda of the left. We won’t make any progress on climate change or any other environmental problem if we don’t addressed the number one cause. Too many people.