The foreign-born population grew across all 50 states and Washington, DC, this year, a result of the nation’s decades-long legal immigration levels, the latest United States Census Bureau figures show.
While the foreign-born population grew nationwide, California, Florida, and Texas saw the highest gains. California, which lost overall residents this year, added nearly 128,000 immigrants to its population.
Florida, the fastest-growing state in the nation, added more than 125,600 immigrants to its population, while Texas added almost 119,000 immigrants this year.
The South, with 128.7 million residents, was the fastest-growing region in the nation this year, fueled by 868,000 Americans moving to the area from other states and the arrival of almost 415,000 immigrants.
As Breitbart News reported, the U.S. population hit 333.3 million residents this year. More than 80 percent of that population growth is due to the nation’s legal immigration levels, where more than a million foreign nationals are given green cards each year and another million arrive on temporary work visas to take American jobs.
The process known as “chain migration,” wherein newly naturalized citizens can sponsor an unlimited number of foreign relatives for green cards, drives more than 70 percent of the nation’s legal immigration every year.
Without the continued flow of legal immigration to the U.S., the population would have stabilized naturally with about 245,000 new residents added.
Research conducted last year shows that the nation’s foreign-born population is projected to hit a record nearly 70 million by 2060 if current legal immigration levels go unreduced. Today’s foreign-born population, at 48 million, is already the largest number of immigrants ever recorded in American history.
The latest Rasmussen Reports survey finds that 69 percent of Americans want legal immigration levels reduced — including a plurality of 36 percent who want levels cut in at least half. Likewise, 57 percent of Americans want to end chain migration.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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