The immigrant population in the United States has experienced a decline for the first time in over fifty years, as indicated by recent data from the Pew Research Center. Mexico continues to be the primary source of immigrants in the U.S., with over 11 million individuals born there, representing approximately 22% of the total immigrant population. However, its proportion has been consistently decreasing since 2010. India has now risen to become the second-largest group of immigrants, with 3.2 million individuals, or around 6% of the total. Following India, China has 3 million immigrants, also accounting for 6%, while the Philippines contributes 2.1 million (4%) and Cuba has 1.7 million (3%). Pew estimates indicate that the immigrant count decreased from 53.3 million in January 2025, when President Donald Trump commenced his second term, to 51.9 million by June, marking a reduction of over one million individuals. Immigrants currently constitute 15.4% of the U.S. population, a decrease from 15.8% earlier this year, which had represented a modern peak.
The labor force has similarly witnessed a significant drop, with approximately 750,000 foreign-born workers departing since January. Pew researchers have attributed this decline to a variety of factors, including Joe Biden’s 2024 restrictions on asylum applications, which have led to a reduction in border crossings, as well as Trump’s 181 executive actions aimed at immigration, which encompass both new arrivals and deportations. The report further highlighted that diminishing survey response rates among immigrants may have influenced the estimates. In a separate analysis, the Guardian reported that over 8,100 individuals have been deported to countries other than their country of origin in recent months. Additionally, the U.S. State Department is currently reviewing visa records for more than 55 million foreign nationals.
