Over one million immigrants will arrive in the United States next year, according to the US Census Bureau, with future projections showing that the nation may add up to another 49 million new residents from overseas over the course of the next 35 years.
The agency’s new International Data Base has revealed that 2015’s net immigration figure is likely to rise to 1.25 million, with this figure reached by taking the number of immigrants leaving the United States and subtracting them from the figure for new arrivals. The net immigration figure is expected to rise a little next year and even further – to 1.31 million – by 2025.
Over the course of the next decade it is anticipated that 14 million new immigrants will move to the United States. The great majority of immigration to the US is legal, with foreign citizens able to get a green card by applying via overseas American diplomatic posts. The continual increase in the amount of newcomers is due to legislation introduced in the 1960s in the Coolidge administration to remove caps.
Back in 1970 less than 1 in 21 Americans were born overseas; however, this figure has now grown to one in seven, with around 80 million Americans being either immigrants or the children of immigrants. Americans seem generally unconcerned, however, with just 13% of those responding to a poll from ImmigrationWorks USA last month worried that immigrants were taking American jobs.