According to a report by the U.S. newspaper The China Press, the number of foreign-born immigrants in the United States has reached a record 40 million. Among them, there are 11.28 million Asian immigrants, and nearly 2.17 million immigrants born in China, ranking second in the world.
Dr. Winner Xing, President of Worldway, pictured with former New York Governor David Paterson
A research report released on the 6th by the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington-based think tank, primarily based on the latest census data, shows that China is the second largest source of immigrants to the U.S. globally. There are currently 2.167 million first-generation immigrants living in the U.S. who were born in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau, second only to Mexico with 11.71 million. The number of Chinese immigrants has increased by nearly 650,000 compared to 10 years ago, and by more than 1.24 million compared to 20 years ago. Subsequent major sources of immigrants include India, the Philippines, Vietnam, El Salvador, Cuba, and South Korea, each with over 1 million immigrants in the U.S.
The report states that compared to the period from 1990 to 2000, when U.S. job opportunities increased by 20 million while the immigrant population grew by only 13.2 million, the past decade saw a decrease of 400,000 jobs in the U.S., yet the immigrant population growth hit a historic high of 13.9 million. The number of foreign immigrants in the U.S. is now twice that of 1990, three times that of 1980, and four times that of 1970.
After accounting for emigration and deaths, the U.S. immigrant population saw a net increase of 8.8 million over the past decade, bringing the total immigrant population to 40 million. Despite this, immigrants account for less than 13% of the total U.S. population, which is lower than the 15% peak seen 90 years ago.
The report claims that the growth in the immigrant population is primarily driven by a large influx of legal immigrants, with approximately three-quarters of immigrants entering the U.S. legally. Latino immigrants are the main force behind the increase, growing by 7.47 million over the decade, while Asians are the second largest group, with an increase of 4.09 million.
The study found that immigrants are settling in more diverse locations across the U.S., with the share of the immigrant population in the six most densely populated states falling from 73% in 1990 to 65% in 2010. States with the fastest immigrant growth are mostly in the South Central region; Alabama, South Carolina, and Tennessee saw an 80% to 90% increase in immigrant numbers over the decade. Compared to 20 years ago, the immigrant population in states like North Carolina, Georgia, and Arkansas has increased by 3.3 to 4.3 times.
The largest increases in total immigrant population remain in traditional immigrant-heavy states such as California, Texas, Florida, New York, and New Jersey. Currently, the states with the largest immigrant populations are California (10.15 million), New York (4.3 million), Texas (4.14 million), Florida (3.66 million), New Jersey (1.84 million), and Illinois (1.76 million).
