CIS: Foreign-Born Share Would Hit Historic High in 7 Years Under S.744

WASHINGTON, June 24, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) the Gang of Eight Bill (S.744) would dramatically increase legal immigration, while reducing future illegal immigration by only 25 percent. Based on CBO's numbers, the Center for Immigration Studies projects that under S.744 the foreign-born (legal and illegal) share of the U.S. population would hit a record high of 15 percent in 2020 – surpassing the all-time high of 14.8 percent reached in 1890.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120806/MM52838LOGO)

Based on CBO's analysis, the Center further projects that the foreign-born would reach 17 percent of the population by 2033, a level never before seen in U.S. history. The total size of the foreign-born population would grow to 55.9 million by 2023 and nearly 65.2 million by 2033 if S.744 becomes law. To place this into perspective, the foreign-born population was less than 20 million as recently as 1990 – 7.9 percent of the total population.

View the study at: http://www.cis.org/Foreign-born-historic-high-by-2020

Findings:

• The record high of 15 percent projected for 2020 if the bill passes means that over just a 50-year period the foreign-born share of the population would have more than tripled from 4.7 percent in 1970. There has never been a period in American history when the foreign-born share grew this fast.
• The size of foreign-born population doubled from 1990 to 2010, nearly tripled since 1980 and quadrupled since 1970. If S.744 becomes law it would quintuple by 2020, compared to 1970.
• The size of the foreign-born population will have increased from 9.6 million in 1970 to 31.1 million in 2000, to 65.2 million by 2033.
• Based on the CBO projections, the total size of the U.S. population will reach 351.8 million in 2023, an increase of 43.1 million compared to 2010. It will reach 381.5 million by 2033 a 72.8 million increase over the 2010 Census.
• Despite all this increase in the U.S. population, S.744 would have almost no impact on slowing the aging of American society. With or without S.744, 57 percent of the U.S. population will be of working age (18-64) in 2030.
• It is worth pointing out that the size of the foreign-born population and the share of foreign-born would not stabilize in 2033 under S.744. The share and the number would continue to increase significantly after that date.

View the Senate bill, CIS Senate testimony and commentary at: http://cis.org/Border-Security-Economic-Opportunity-Immigration-Modernization-Act

The Center for Immigration Studies is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit research organization. Since its founding in 1985, the Center has pursued a single mission – providing immigration policymakers, the academic community, news media, and concerned citizens with reliable information about the social, economic, environmental, security, and fiscal consequences of legal and illegal immigration into the United States.

Contact: Marguerite Telford
[email protected], 202-466-8185

SOURCE Center for Immigration Studies