[Puffer Fish]

America's foreign-born population has reached 49.5 million

An immigration watchdog says America's foreign-born population has swollen massively under President Joe Biden and reached a record-breaking 49.5 million, or 15 percent of the country's population. The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), a conservative think tank, says the influx of 4.5 million people since Biden took office in January 2021 includes 2.5 million people estimated to have entered the US unlawfully. Steven Camarota, the group's research director, said the foreign-born population was growing by 137,000 people each month -- far higher than under Biden's predecessors -- straining schools, hospitals and other services.

Chaotic scenes at the southern border have become a hot-button issue, stoking fears of an 'invasion' that divides Democrats and Republicans, even as business owners say more workers are needed to grow the economy. "The administration's decision to curtail immigration enforcement and release so many people into the country certainly pleases employers and immigration advocacy groups," said Steven Camarota,' author of the report.

Daily Mail America's foreign-born population has swollen to record-breaking 49.5M , by James Reinl, DailyMail, November 30, 2023

a graph can be seen on this page:
In October 2023, the Foreign-Born Share Was the Highest in History (cis.org)


Hopefully there will be enough good-paying jobs for all the future young people.
And hopefully this will not put too much strain on the availability of housing, which is already a major factor why housing costs and rents are so high.


The following are replies made to this topic on another forum site:

"Is this going to prevent wage levels from rising? Typically when the labour supply is greater, there is a downward pressure on wages (and working conditions). That's just basic economics "

"A note to think about... If you excluded all the people who are older than 40 years of age, I bet the percentage of foreign-born would be a lot higher than 15%.
If you look at the younger people in many parts of the country, it seems whites are already a minority. (Not necessarily saying that race matters here at all, but it is a clear indicator of how much immigration there has been over the last 25 years) "

"Anyone worried the U.S. could turn into another failed Latin American country, in the near future?

Argentina's inflation rate last year was 94.8% and they are one of the BETTER countries in Latin America."

"I wonder what long-term effect all this immigration coming from other countries is going to have on the corruption rate in the U.S. ... "

[Potemkin]

[Fasces]

Looks like a return to normal, as conservatives wanted all along. Biden is Making America Great Again.

[Puffer Fish]

Looks like a return to normal, as conservatives wanted all along.

The U.S. does have a population more than 3 times greater now than it did in 1920.
(Or if you want to compare it another way, 4.5 times greater in 1880 than in 1980, both just before the waves of immigration started)
So even if the percentages are similar, the numbers in absolute terms are much higher.

It also should be remembered that most of the immigration from 1875-1898 was to the Midwest, a region that was largely empty at the time.
You can contrast that with today, where the destination cities are already filled and crowded.

And then we could even go into the whole racial aspect. Were those immigrants from Europe (especially the German and Northwest parts of Europe) more similar to the American population which had mostly British ancestry at the time?
I'm not claiming there were no differences or no cultural tensions whatsoever, but it certainly had to be less than later immigrant waves.

I'm not sure if you've heard of this but there is a theory that America took in too high of a volume of immigrants from around 1904 to 1924 and that this may have been a contributor to the economic bubble and preceding Great Depression (1929).
(You might want to read up more on how immigration can fuel economic bubbles)
More than half of these immigrants towards the latter part of the wave settled in big cities on the East Coast that were already crowded. The dark side of "The Gilded Age" was that it was fueled by cheap immigrant labor and the wages and working conditions were often bad.

[JohnRawls]

The U.S. does have a population more than 3 times greater now than it did in 1920.
(Or if you want to compare it another way, 4.5 times greater in 1880 than in 1980, both just before the waves of immigration started)
So even if the percentages are similar, the numbers in absolute terms are much higher.

It also should be remembered that most of the immigration from 1875-1898 was to the Midwest, a region that was largely empty at the time.
You can contrast that with today, where the destination cities are already filled and crowded.

And then we could even go into the whole racial aspect. Were those immigrants from Europe (especially the German and Northwest parts of Europe) more similar to the American population which had mostly British ancestry at the time?
I'm not claiming there were no differences or no cultural tensions whatsoever, but it certainly had to be less than later immigrant waves.

I'm not sure if you've heard of this but there is a theory that America took in too high of a volume of immigrants from around 1904 to 1924 and that this may have been a contributor to the economic bubble and preceding Great Depression (1929).
(You might want to read up more on how immigration can fuel economic bubbles)
More than half of these immigrants towards the latter part of the wave settled in big cities on the East Coast that were already crowded. The dark side of "The Gilded Age" was that it was fueled by cheap immigrant labor and the wages and working conditions were often bad.

You are correct, US population is 4.5 times greater than it was in the 1880s compared to 1980s. 50 million vs 230 million.

Also US population in 2023 is 3.5 times greater than its population in 1920. 106 million vs 340 million.

US has always been a country of immigrants. But its something a Russian bot/troll won't be able to understand. Human capital and all that along with level of wellbeing.

[Puffer Fish]

US has always been a country of immigrants.

If we're talking about before 1967, the immigration from countries that were not in Northwestern Europe to the U.S. was rather limited.
Mainly we're talking about Scotland, Ireland, Germany, some from Scandinavia, the Dutch, a few from France and Poland, some Jews from Eastern Europe, and a smaller number of Italians from about 1896 to 1923.
The U.S. placed some limits to try to prevent too many coming from Eastern Europe and Italy.

Even if we're talking about slaves, only 388,000 Africans were ever actually imported to the U.S., a surprising fact many may not realise. Most of the African American population came from natural increase.


a related thread touching on the history of immigration in Brazil: history of race in Brazil (posted 9 May 2020 in Latin America section)

[JohnRawls]

If we're talking about before 1967, the immigration from countries that were not in Northwestern Europe to the U.S. was rather limited.
Mainly we're talking about Scotland, Ireland, Germany, some from Scandinavia, the Dutch, a few from France and Poland, some Jews from Eastern Europe, and a smaller number of Italians from about 1896 to 1923.
The U.S. placed some limits to try to prevent too many coming from Eastern Europe and Italy.

Even if we're talking about slaves, only 388,000 Africans were ever actually imported to the U.S., a surprising fact many may not realise. Most of the African American population came from natural increase.

Yeah, yeah, yeah lets ignore the Latin Americans and the Chinese and many, many others.

Your ideas are total bullshit honestly.

Like Galkin says about Russia nowadays, the ruble is 100 rubles to a dollar and you keep chasing gays. Same thing here, Russia is dying out and you keep talking about big bad Muslims, Blacks, Latinos etc Good luck yo with your own country.

Classical case of the propagandist being overpowered by his own propaganda. In many cases by the way. Something along the lines of you gazing in to the abyss and abyss gazing back at you.

[Puffer Fish]

Yeah, yeah, yeah lets ignore the Latin Americans and the Chinese and many, many others.

The number of Chinese and Japanese that came to the U.S. before 1950 was a very small percentage of the total population.
Typically you would find a "China town" (small Asian district) within most of the big cities on the West Coast. Even in West Coast states they made up less than 1 percent of the total population.
Though there were many at the time who were paranoid more could come, and wanted to make sure the Western U.S. got settled by whites rather than Chinese.
So thus we see the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, to put a halt on immigration coming from China during a critical time in history where the U.S. was getting a high level of immigration and the West was being rapidly settled and filled up with people.

[JohnRawls]

The number of Chinese and Japanese that came to the U.S. before 1950 was a very small percentage of the total population.
Typically you would a "China town" (small Asian district) within most of the big cities on the West Coast. Even in West Coast states they made up well less than 1 percent of the total population.
Though there were many at the time who were paranoid more could come, and wanted to make sure the Western U.S. got settled by whites rather than Chinese.
So thus we see the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, to put a 10 year halt on immigration coming from China during a critical time in history where the U.S. was getting a high level of immigration and the West was being rapidly settled and filled up with people.

The percentage is the same as mentioned before.

[Puffer Fish]

The percentage is the same as mentioned before.

I've already explained to you the various reasons why it is very different, even if it was the same in percentage terms.

And how not all of that immigration back in 1904 to 1925 was so wonderful, and caused problems. Poverty rates shot up, wretched working conditions, overcrowded living conditions in the bigger cities of the time like New York and Baltimore, contributed to a wave of crime in the big American cities that would last all the way up until the early 1940s (maybe even to the mid-80s if counting Italian organized crime).


and then of course on top of all that there's this: Universal Basic Income and Immigration

[Puffer Fish]

I'd also point out that during the 1860-1925 wave of immigration, the U.S. Midwest region was being filled up.

Whereas since then (after around 1970) the Midwest has been in decline and not many want to move there.

So that is another big difference.


related thread: A trip through the Rust Belt heart of America

With most of the immigrants today not wanting to go to the Midwest, and a much higher volume of immigrants in absolute terms, there is "less space".