U.S. Immigrant Population At Its Highest Since 1920 As 13% Are Foreign-Born [Blame Both Parties!]

Daily Mail (UK) ^ | May 11, 2012 | EMILY ANNE EPSTEIN

[Steelfish]

U.S. Immigrant Population At Its Highest Since 1920 As 13% Are Foreign-Born EMILY ANNE EPSTEIN 11 May 2012

According to a new report by the U.S. Census Bureau, there were 40 million foreign-born people living in the country in 2010 - the highest percentage of the total population since 1920.

Just a decade earlier, only 31 million people, or 11 per cent of the population, residing in the country were born elsewhere.

While foreign-born residents resided in every state, more than half lived in just the 'gateway' states: California, New York, Texas and Florida.

United: According to a new report by the U.S. Census Bureau, there were 40 million foreign-born people living in the country in 2010 - the highest percentage of the total population since 1920

Charting the Course: While foreign-born residents resided in every state, more than half lived in just four states: California (25 per cent), New York (11 per cent), Texas (10 per cent) and Florida (9 per cent) The report was based on the 2010 American Community Survey, a poll of 3 million American households.

More than half (53 per cent) of all foreign-born residents were from Latin America and the Caribbean, according to the report.

By comparison, just 28 per cent of the foreign-born population was born in Asia, 12 per cent in Europe, 4 per cent in Africa, 2 percent in Northern America and less than 1 percent in Oceania. Forty-four percent of all foreign-born residents were naturalized citizens.

Crossing the Border: Forty-four percent of all foreign-born residents were naturalized citizens

More than half lived in just four states: California (25 per cent), New York (11 per cent), Texas (10 per cent) and Florida (9 per cent).

At least one in four (27 per cent) residents in California were foreign-born.

[kabar]

The U.S. adds one international migrant (net) every 36 seconds. Immigrants account for one in 8 U.S. residents, the highest level in more than 90 years. In 1970 it was one in 21; in 1980 it was one in 16; and in 1990 it was one in 13. In a decade, it will be one in 7, the highest it has been in our history. And by 2050, one in 5 residents of the U.S. will be foreign-born.

Currently, 1.6 million legal and illegal immigrants settle in the country each year; 350,000 immigrants leave each year, resulting in a net immigration of 1.25 million. Since 1970, the U.S. population has increased from 203 million to 310 million, i.e., over 100 million. In the next 40 years, the population will increase by an additional 130 million to 440 million. Three-quarters of the increase in our population since 1970 and the projected increase will be the result of immigration. The U.S., the world’s third most populous nation, has the highest annual rate of population growth of any developed country in the world, i.e., 0.963% (2011 estimate,) principally due to immigration.

The nation’s immigrant population (legal and illegal) reached 40 million in 2010, the highest number in our history. The U.S. immigrant population has doubled since 1990, nearly tripled since 1980, and quadrupled since 1970, when it stood at 9.7 million. Of the 40 million immigrants in the country in 2010, 13.9 million arrived in 2000 or later making it the highest decade of immigration in American history, even though there was a net loss of jobs during the decade. Growth in the immigrant population has primarily been driven by high levels of legal immigration. Roughly three-fourths of immigrants in the country are here legally. With nearly 12 million immigrants, Mexico was by far the top immigrant-sending country, accounting for 29 percent of all immigrants and 29 percent of growth in the immigrant population from 2000 to 2010.

[entropy12]

All immigrants are not created equal. No more than all Americans are equal.

Some Americans are addicted to drugs and commit 50% of burglaries. Others are occupying Wall Street. And millions more are in prison for serious crimes.

Some immigrants arrive with few productive skills. Some others arrive with highly qualified education and technical & scientific skills. Some are burden on the tax payers. Some others promote wealth creation and productivity.

The point is, unless one examines underlying data of immigrants, making sweeping generalizations is pointless and counter-productive.

The current situation in country is such that there is a serious lack of highly skilled workers. China is graduating million engineers each year. We are a fraction of that. Math and science is not popular here. We have too many lawyers and too few skilled engineers.

[Clintonfatigued]

As the article points out, this is a bipartisan scandal. We can only hope that these immigrants appreciate how much better their lives are here and act accordingly.

[rmlew]

In 1920, there was an expectation that immigrants would assimilated and Americanize. In 1920, there was a movement to reduce immigration. Today, we can't even get our oikophobic elite to deal with illegal immigration. We have had almost 50 years of high levels of immigration. I don't believe the 40 million figure for a second. I think it's off by 30%. But even if it is correct, how the heck are we going to assimilate and Americanize them, when these words are heresy at our pedagogic institutions?

Could you imagine a conservative politician elected today giving a speech like that of liberal Teddy Roosevelt in 1915?

There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. When I refer to hyphenated Americans, I do not refer to naturalized Americans. Some of the very best Americans I have ever known were naturalized Americans, Americans born abroad. But a hyphenated American is not an American at all.

This is just as true of the man who puts “native” before the hyphen as of the man who puts German or Irish or English or French before the hyphen. Americanism is a matter of the spirit and of the soul. Our allegiance must be purely to the United States. We must unsparingly condemn any man who holds any other allegiance.

But if he is heartily and singly loyal to this Republic, then no matter where he was born, he is just as good an American as any one else.

The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities, an intricate knot of German-Americans, Irish-Americans, English- Americans, French-Americans, Scandinavian- Americans, or Italian-Americans, each preserving its separate nationality, each at heart feeling more sympathy with Europeans of that nationality than with the other citizens of the American Republic.

The men who do not become Americans and nothing else are hyphenated Americans; and there ought to be no room for them in this country. The man who calls himself an American citizen and who yet shows by his actions that he is primarily the citizen of a foreign land, plays a thoroughly mischievous part in the life of our body politic. He has no place here; and the sooner he returns to the land to which he feels his real heart-allegiance, the better it will be for every good American.
Addressing the Knights of Columbus in New York City, 10/12/1915

[gunsequalfreedom]

Is this number those that came here legally and are now naturalized citizens? If so, what is the problem?

My guess is most are busting their butts to get ahead and paying taxes.

[gunsequalfreedom]

The point is, unless one examines underlying data of immigrants, making sweeping generalizations is pointless and counter-productive.

And a good point it is!

[gunsequalfreedom]

我爱美国

http://babelfish.yahoo.com/

[Ben Ficklin]

This article doesn't mention it but a similar article in thursday's Houston paper said that the naturaliztion rates of immigrants was 62% for Europeans, 58% for asians, and 32% for hispanics.

Back in 2004, 5, 6, 7 when immigration reform was a hot topic there was supposedly an uptick in naturalization amongst hispanics.

During that same time period Bush raised the fee/price for naturalization and also made the testing requirements tougher.

[gunsequalfreedom]

During that same time period Bush raised the fee/price for naturalization and also made the testing requirements tougher.

Many U.S. born citizens would have a hard time passing that test.

As for Bush, what he forgot to do was close the border to illegal entry. He, along with every other president since the border became a big problem has done nada, zip, nothing.

[AuntB]

“As the article points out, this is a bipartisan scandal. We can only hope that these immigrants appreciate how much better their lives are here and act accordingly.”

Right.......marching in our streets making demands shows some real ‘appreciation’.....

[Ben Ficklin]

"what he forgot to do was close the border to illegal immigration"

That's not accurate.

After 9-11, all of the tradional illegal routes were closed. Nobody anticipated that the illegals would do the end run thru the Sonoran desert or that AZ would become the focal point.

Bush, with the money appropriated by congress, doubled the number of BP agents. Now, many of those BP agents are napping on the job and we have severe shortage of ICE agents

[gunsequalfreedom]

That's not accurate. After 9-11, all of the tradional illegal routes were closed. Nobody anticipated that the illegals would do the end run thru the Sonoran desert or that AZ would become the focal point. Bush, with the money appropriated by congress, doubled the number of BP agents. Now, many of those BP agents are napping on the job and we have severe shortage of ICE agents

Oh please. He had the ability and the resources to solve the problem. Instead of doing that he patched a few holes, enough to make some people argue that he did something but not enough to get the liberals mad at him.

After 911 Bush had the perfect opportunity to seal the borders in the name of national security. It would have provided him excellent political cover.

Bush, like all presidents since the border became a big problem, failed to solve the problem. Actually, none of them, including Bush ever gave it a serious effort. It is beneath the level of debate on this forum for anyone to suggest otherwise.