The Center for Immigration Studies states that the analysis is based on newly released data from the Census Bureau and shows that 1.03 million immigrants (legal and illegal) settled in the United States in the first six months of 2016.
“Based on prior patterns, a total of 1.8 million immigrants likely came in all of 2016. The new data shows a dramatic rebound in immigration after 2011, when new arrivals fell after the Great Recession. Newly arrived immigrants include new green card holders (permanent residents) and long-term term ‘temporary’ visitors, such as guestworkers and foreign students, many of whom eventually become permanent residents.
“It also includes new asylum seekers, as well as new illegal immigrants who cross the border surreptitiously or overstay a temporary visa.”
New legal and illegal immigrants represent a 13 percent increase over the same period in 2015, a 21 percent increase over 2014, and a 53 percent increase over 2011, when new immigration reached a low point after the recession.
In the first six months of 2016, the 1.03 million new immigrants who came constitute a larger number of immigrants than those who came in all of 2011.
Matching 1999, the year 2016 will be the largest number of new immigration in a single year in American history.
In 2014, 1.5 million came, in 2013 it was 1.3 million, in 2012 it was 1.2 million, and in 2011 1.1 million new immigrants settled in the country. Almost none of the immigrants are from Western countries.
New arrivals between 2011 and 2015 are from Central America, South America, the Caribbean, and the Middle East and South Asia. South Asia includes India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
Mexico remains the top emigration country, with 190 000 immigrants (legal and illegal) settling in the United States in 2015, with 216 000 likely in 2016.
“There is evidence that the arrival of new illegal immigrants may have also rebounded in the last few years. The number of new, less-educated, younger immigrants arriving each year from Latin America roughly doubled from 2011 to 2016,” the study noted.
The decision to allow large numbers of unaccompanied minors into the US, as well as minors traveling with adults, likely accounts for some of the increase in new illegal immigration, particularly from Central America.
A Washington Post poll found last year that when white Americans are informed of their impending minority status they’re more likely to shift significantly to the right.
In particular, the poll directly measured Americans’ fear of the demographic change that is projected to make the United States a majority-minority nation by the year 2043.
White Americans, once told about this demographic shift, were more likely to identify with the Republican Party, to express conservative policy positions, and view themselves as conservatives.
According to the US Census Department, by 2043 African Americans, Latinos, and people of Asian descent will make up a majority of the population.
