More than a quarter of immigrants from Mexico; Indians second largest group.
By Raif Karerat
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WASHINGTON, DC: New data released by the U.S. Census bureau revealed Thursday that there is a record 42.1 million immigrants in the United States.
In a report provided to the Washington Examiner by the Center for Immigration Studies, the total immigrant population surged 1.7 million since 2014. Growth has been bolstered in the last year by an additional 740,000 Mexican immigrants, according to the publication.
The total Mexican immigrant population, both legal and illegal, reached 12.1 million in the second quarter of 2015 — the highest quarterly total ever.
“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 report also noted that the numbers of immigrants coming and going from the United States is actually higher since many return home ever few years.
“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 surge of immigrants from Latin American and Asian countries in the late 20th and early 21st centuries starkly contrasts with status quo of the 1960s, when immigrants largely originated from Europe.
In 2013, Mexican-born immigrants accounted for approximately 28 percent of the 41.3 million foreign born in the United States, making them by far the largest immigrant group in the country, according to data from the Migration Policy Institute.
India was the second largest, closely trailed by China (including Hong Kong but not Taiwan), which both accounted for about 5 percent, while the Philippines (4 percent) was the fourth largest sending country. Vietnam, El Salvador, Cuba, and Korea (3 percent each), as well as the Dominican Republic and Guatemala (2 percent each), completed the top ten countries of origin.