Census: Record 42.1 million immigrants in U.S., Mexicans drive latest surge
A new analysis of legal and illegal immigrant counts by the Census Bureau revealed Thursday that there is a record 42.1 million in the United States, an explosion that is being driven by Mexicans flooding across the border.
In a report provided to Secrets by the Center for Immigration Studies, the total immigrant population surged 1.7 million since 2014. The growth was led in the last year by an additional 740,000 Mexican immigrants.
The 42.1 million tabulated by Census in the second quarter represent over 13 percent of the U.S. population, the biggest percentage in 105 years.
What’s more, the numbers of immigrants coming and going from the U.S. is actually higher since many return home every years, said the report. “For the immigrant population to increase by one million means that significantly more than one million new immigrants must enter the country because some immigrants already here return to their homeland each year and natural mortality totals 250,000 annually,” said the Center.
The stunning growth is sure to pour fuel on the already white-hot immigration debate in Congress and on the presidential campaign trail.
“Illegal immigration came up in the presidential debates, but there has been little discussion of the level of immigration; this at a time when total immigration is surging according to the latest data,” said Steven Camarota, co-author of the report and the Center for Immigration’s director of research.
“The rapid growth in the immigrant population was foreseeable given the cutbacks in enforcement, our expansive legal immigration system, and the improvement in the economy. But the question remains, is it in the nation’s interest?” he added.
Some key findings in the new report:
• The nation’s immigrant or foreign-born population, which includes legal and illegal immigrants, grew by 4.1 million from the second quarter of 2011 to the second quarter of 2015 — 1.7 million in just the last year.
• Growth in the last year was led by a rebound in the number of Mexican immigrants, which increased by 740,000 from 2014 to 2015 — accounting for 44 percent of the increase in the total immigrant population in the last year.
• The total Mexican immigrant population (legal and illegal) reached 12.1 million in the second quarter of 2015 — the highest quarterly total ever.
• The Department of Homeland Security and other researchers have estimated that eight in 10 illegal immigrants are from Mexico and Latin America, so the increase in immigrants from these countries is an indication that illegal immigration has begun growing again.
Much of the new immigration is due to the explosion of green cards and the flood of younger Latin Americans leaving troubled situations back home.
Many companies, meanwhile are taking advantage of the immigrants and replacing higher paid Americans with cheaper immigrant labor, even in skilled jobs.
Polls, meanwhile, show that the public wants action to stop the surge of illegal immigrants, an issue picked up by some of the Republicans running for president such as Sen. Ted Cruz and Donald Trump.
Additional numbers assessments and trends:
When it comes to the U.S. population, the “mainstream” is shifting from white to multicultural. In 1980, the U.S. was 80% white/non-multicultural. By 2012, that proportion had decreased to 64%. And in the years to come, the multicultural, non-white population will account for larger and larger percentages of the population.
Multicultural America is becoming more Latino. Hispanics, African-Americans, and Asians represented just 20% of the population in 1980. By 2012, that percentage nearly doubled to 36%. Over that more than twenty year period, Hispanics have grown to represent a much larger proportion of the multicultural population. They were 32% of the multicultural segment in 1980 — and grew to 47% in 2012.
By 2050, there will be as many young Latinos in the U.S. as white non-Hispanics. Unlike waves of past immigrants, Hispanics will grow to be equal in size to the host population. In 1980, non-Hispanic whites were 74% of the under-18 population and Hispanics were 9%. By 2050, the two groups will be even, with both projected to represent 36% of the population under 18.
Already, Hispanics are the engine of growth for the 18-34 demographic. From 2015 to 2020, Hispanics 18-34 are projected to increase by over 1.8 million. Over that same period for that age group, non-Hispanic whites will decrease in size by nearly 1.3 million. Blacks and Asians will also grow – but on a much smaller scale (by 84,000 and 267,000, respectively).
The youth population is very Latino. Today, Hispanics represent more than 1 in 5 people under 35. And that proportion rises when it comes to the very young: Latinos account for almost 1 in 4 births in the U.S.
Growth fueled by the second generation. Hispanic population increases are expected to come from immigration and births in the US — but the majority will come from US births. The Census projects that from 2012 to 2050, the US-born Hispanic population will increase at 5 times the rate of foreign-born Hispanics. And while today the US-born group is about 65% larger than foreign-born, in 2050 there will be nearly 4 times more US-born Hispanics than foreign-born.
The second generation is already taking over the 18-34 demographic – and the pace is only going to pick up. Hispanics 18-24 skew heavily US-born, while more than half of 25-29s and 30-34s are foreign-born. By 2020, 85% of 18-24s and 61% of 25-29s will be US-born (and 30-34s will still be more foreign-born (55%).
A mega wave of second-generation Latinos is heading into the key advertiser demos. More than 90% of Hispanic kids under 11 were born in the US – and 6 million of them are second generation. As they get older, they will shape the market in new ways. Every year, nearly 550,000 second-generation Latinos are entering the teen demographic.
