Immigrants Make Up Over 18% of the Total US Population Growth

 

Immigration—long central to the American experience—has dominated news coverage in recent years. Between 2016 and 2021 alone, record numbers of migrants arrived at the southern border; the Trump administration imposed travel bans on several Middle Eastern countries; immigrants played vital roles as essential workers in the COVID-19 pandemic; and the Biden administration called on Congress to reform decades-old immigration laws, to name just a few issues that have taken central stage.

The American Immigration Council’s Map the Impact, an annual analysis of U.S. immigration data, reveals notable shifts during this five-year period in the demographics of foreign-born residents and how they continue to make significant contributions to the American economy.

Population Shifts

Between 2016 and 2021, the immigrant population in the United States grew by 3.7%, or 1.6 million people. This accounted for 18.3% of the total population gain in the country.

At the same time, some immigrant sub-groups shrank. The number of refugees living in the United States decreased by 6.4%. The number of undocumented immigrants fell by 9.2%, while DACA-eligible residents dropped by 27.3%.

More information https://inmigracionyvisas.com/a5896-Immigrants-help-total-US-population-growth.html

As US Birth Rate Declines, Programs Like Social Security Need Immigration to Survive

 

By Walter Ewing - www.immigrationimpact.com/

Birth rates are falling in the United States at the same time more Americans are reaching retirement age. Together, these two trends present enormous economic challenges for the nation. A growing number of retirees are leaving the labor force and relying on programs like Social Security and Medicare. But there aren’t enough younger workers able to take their place.

If not for immigration, this pool of younger workers would be even smaller than it already is. As a result, immigration is playing a key role in supporting the country’s labor force, tax base, and contributions into benefits programs.

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, the number of births in the United States in 2020 was down 4% from the previous year. This marked the sixth year in a row that births have declined and amounts to the lowest number of births in the country since 1979.

More information  https://www.inmigracionyvisas.com/a5138-Programs-Like-Social-Security-Need-Immigration-to-Survive.html

Census Bureau Asked 250,000 Households About Their Citizenship Status

By Walter Ewing 

Despite losing at the Supreme Court, the Trump administration still managed to ask nearly a quarter of a million U.S. households about the citizenship status of their household members. 

That’s because the administration had already started mailing out its 2019 Census Test—a nationwide test used to inform the upcoming 2020 Census—two weeks before the Supreme Court made its ruling. In reaching its decision, the Supreme Court effectively barred the inclusion of a citizenship question in the 2020 Census. Such a question can appear on the Census, but the Court said the government failed to offer a suitable justification for adding it now. 

Yet the question had already been included in some versions of the 2019 Census Test. The Census Bureau wanted to gauge how it would impact the response rates of the near-250,000 households that received it. If fewer people responded to the test that included the question than tests that did not, the bureau could change their strategy. The bureau could hire more census takers to conduct in-person interviews to compensate for fewer people filling out and mailing in the 2020 Census form. 

This became a moot point on June 27 when the Court ruled against the Trump administration. The Court said the government’s justification for including a citizenship question—to enforce the Voting Rights Act—was “contrived.” 

Rather, the question was a “pretext” for a politically-motivated attempt to scare immigrant households into not answering the Census. As a result, communities with large immigrant populations would lose political representation during the next round of congressional redistricting. They would also suffer from cuts to public funds for roads, schools, hospitals, and health care that are dependent on population size. 

But by the time this ruling came down, the Census Bureau had already started mailing out its 2019 Test—complete with citizenship question. Although the Test went to relatively few people compared to those who will receive the 2020 Census, it is unclear how the inclusion of the citizenship question will affect respondents.

Will it sow fear and confusion in immigrant communities ahead of the 2020 Census? Just as importantly, what is the Census Bureau going to do with the responses it receives from those households that completed and returned the Test? 

Source: www.immigrationimpact.com 

https://www.inmigracionyvisas.com/a4335-Census-Bureau-Asked-About-Their-Citizenship-Status.html

Number Of Undocumented Immigrants In US At A 25-Year Low

Written by Walter Ewing

Contrary to President Trump’s claim that “large-scale unlawful migration” across the southern border constitutes a “national emergency” that requires building a wall, research suggests that undocumented immigration across the U.S.-Mexico border is actually the lowest it’s ever been in the past 25 years. The Center for Migration Studies (CMS) has issued a report with this conclusion, which reinforces the findings of a similar report released by the Pew Research Center in November 2018. 

According to CMS, the total number of undocumented immigrants in the United States has decreased by one million since 2010 and now stands at about 10.7 million. At the same time, apprehensions at the border have dropped dramatically, falling from 1.6 million in 2000 to about 300,000 in 2017—a decline of more than 80 percent. These numbers would not seem to signal an “emergency” at the border. 

CMS also reports that from 2010 to 2016, about two thirds of new undocumented immigrants became undocumented by overstaying temporary visas, while only one third entered across the southern border without authorization. A wall is clearly not going to have an impact on visa overstays. 

According to the report, the undocumented population is shrinking mostly because there are more undocumented immigrants leaving the country than coming. Undocumented arrivals fell from 1.4 million in 2000 to about 550,000 in 2007 and have continued near that level. But the number of undocumented immigrants who left the country—either of their own volition or because they were deported—kept increasing and grew from 370,000 in 2000 to 770,000 in 2016. 

This is occurring despite the fact that the U.S. labor market is in reasonably good shape, meaning that the economic “pull” factors which have traditionally drawn undocumented immigrants to the United States are not exerting nearly as much force as they once did. CMS points to heightened immigration enforcement in the United States and improved economic conditions in Mexico as likely causes of this new pattern. 

CMS points out that the official statistics they use to estimate new undocumented arrivals are likely inflated to some degree by the erroneous inclusion of Central American asylum seekers. Asylum seekers are exercising a right recognized under international and domestic law to request safe haven in another country—meaning that they are not undocumented immigrants. But in official statistics, asylum seekers and the undocumented are frequently conflated with each other. 

The declaration of a “national emergency” at our southern border may be politically expedient for the Trump administration, but it has no basis in fact. Migratory pressures along the border are at all-time lows. 

Nevertheless, the situation of asylum seekers who are being stymied by the Trump administration in their quest to seek protection in the United States is a serious problem that must be addressed. But it is a problem that a wall is not going to fix.

Source: http://immigrationimpact.com/

http://www.inmigracionyvisas.com/a4039-number-of-undocumented-immigrants-in-United-States-decreases.html

How States Took Action on Immigration in 2018

Written by Tory Johnson

States and localities continue exploring policies and positions on immigration to serve the needs of their communities and, at times, respond to the aggressive immigration agenda touted by the Trump administration.

In the first year of Donald Trump’s presidency, states enacted more laws and resolutions involving immigration than ever before. But was this trend a fluke, or will immigration continue to be a central topic addressed by states and localities? 

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), nearly 300 immigration-related laws and resolutions were passed at the state level in the first half of 2018. The majority dealt with integration and education programs, immigrant and refugee services, and law enforcement. This is a slight decrease from the 328 laws and resolutions enacted during the same period in 2017. 

While overall numbers are down compared to last year, many notable trends remain. States continue to weigh their role in federal immigration enforcement. As of June, at least 25 states had considered 66 proposals generally seeking to either establish or prohibit policies that would limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities, often given the misnomer “sanctuary” policies. About 100 such policies were proposed during the same period last year. 

As of June, three states had enacted bills related to “sanctuary” policies: 

• California passed a law generally prohibiting its law enforcement agencies from contracting with the federal government for civil immigration detention purposes.
• Lowa passed a law that, among other things, prevents localities from adopting a policy seeking to limit participation in federal immigration enforcement activities.
• A law enacted in Tennessee bars localities or officials “from adopting or enacting a sanctuary policy.” Under the new law, entities with such a policy are ineligible for certain state-level grants.

States also responded to federal immigration actions through resolutions. Among the 175 resolutions adopted at the state level as of June, several opposed the Trump administration’s policies on immigration. 

For example, when the president implemented the policy separating migrant children from their parents at the border, within a week New Jersey, Vermont, and Puerto Rico adopted resolutions condemning the government’s actions. 

With several state legislatures still in session, it is too early to know with certainty how many state-level immigration laws will pass in 2018. But it is clear that immigration remains an important—and complex—topic for states and localities to explore. 

As we move toward a new year, with many newly elected officials stepping into office, let’s hope leaders engage in meaningful and thoughtful discussions on immigration that reflect the interests of communities and the values of the nation as a whole.

 

Source: www.immigrationimpact.com 

http://www.inmigracionyvisas.com/a3957-How-States-Took-Action-on-Immigration.htmlhttp://www.inmigracionyvisas.com/a3957-How-States-Took-Action-on-Immigration.html

Immigrants And Refugees Are Among America’s 2017 Nobel Prize Winners

Written by Melissa Cruz. 

The Nobel Prizes, awarded annually in recognition of extraordinary achievement in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace, have once again been won by Americans who came here as immigrants and refugees. Three out of the five Nobel Prize categories included immigrants or refugees.

Immigrants have a history of winning The Nobel Foundation’s numerous awards—33 of 85 American winners have been immigrants since 2000. In the chemistry, medicine, and physics categories respectively, foreign-born Americans have won 38 percent of chemistry and medicine prizes, as well as 40 percent of all physics prizes awarded in the last 17 years. 

This year, scientists and researchers have been awarded prizes in physics, chemistry, and peace: 

• The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded, in part, to German-born Joachim Frank. The biophysicist developed a method by which water can be frozen rapidly, ensuring that biological molecules in the water don’t form ice crystals and become blurred. This allows Frank to take a more detailed image of molecules. This image can then be used to study the molecules and potentially identify new cures for diseases.
• The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to physicist and MIT professor Rainer Weiss, among other members of his team. Weiss, also originally from Germany, designed an instrument that can detect gravitational waves. By studying these gravitational waves, Weiss is able to detect celestial events such as black hole mergers. Notably, Weiss is also a refugee—he fled from his home as a boy and immigrated to the United States during the Nazi’s rise to power.
• The Nobel Prize in Peace was awarded to Alexander Glaser and Zia Mian, among the other members of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) Glaser and Mian, both researchers at Princeton University and born in Germany and Pakistan respectively, work to “outlaw and eliminate all nuclear weapons” under international law through their work with ICAN. Berit Reiss-Andersen, Chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, remarked that the award represented “encouragement” to nuclear powers to continue negotiations around their use of weapons.

As with the winners from previous years, these immigrants and refugee have shared their talents, innovation, and energy with the nation. These Nobel Prize winners show that the United States must remain a welcoming place because our country would be losing out on a great deal if it shuts itself off to the foreign-born.

Photo by Adam Baker

Source: www.immigrationimpact.com 
http://inmigracionyvisas.com/a3723-Immigrants-and-refugees-who-won-the-Nobel-Prize.html