By AFP Staff
At least 46.6 million immigrants – legal and illegal – are currently residing in the United States, the highest number in American history, according to a bombshell report recently published by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS).
The report analyzed the Census Bureau’s monthly Current Population Survey (CPS) from January 2022. The CPS accounts for those “foreign born” living in the U.S. either legally or illegally, “which is what ultimately determines immigration’s impact on American society,” according to the CIS.
“An analysis of the Census Bureau’s monthly Current Population Survey (CPS) from January 2022 shows that the total immigrant population (legal and illegal) in the U.S., hit 46.6 million — the highest number ever in American history.”https://t.co/QyKbQ1Skbh
— Center for Immigration Studies (@CIS_org) February 23, 2022
The CIS is an independent, non-partisan research organization focused on “providing immigration policymakers, the academic community, news media, and concerned citizens with reliable information about the social, economic, environmental, security, and fiscal consequences of legal and illegal immigration into the United States.” The organization is motivated by providing objective, fact-based information and analysis on how immigration impacts the American workforce, economy and broader society. It describes its vision as “pro-immigrant, low-immigration.”
According to the report, the number of immigrants declined by 1.2 million between February and August 2020, largely as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and more restrictive immigration policies under former President Trump. However, between January 2021 and January 2022, the first year of the Biden administration, the country’s immigration population grew by 1.6 million, reaching the record-breaking 46.6 million total immigrant population currently in the U.S.
According to the CIS, the increase appears to be largely driven by illegal immigration, as the crisis along the southern border continues to plague the nation – particularly under President Biden. “The large surge of illegal immigrants at the southern border caused in part by the perception, based on his campaign promises, that President Biden would curtail immigration enforcement explains at least some of the growth in the immigrant population we are seeing,” the report’s authors noted in an abstract of the study.
Hispanic immigrants comprised roughly 70% of the overall increase in immigration over the course of the past year. Immigrants are now 14.2% of the overall population, the highest percentage since 1912, according to the CIS report. Florida, Virginia, Texas, California, Indiana, Tennessee and New Jersey are the states that have seen the largest increases in immigrant population between January 2020 and January 2022.
