Census Bureau Predicts 1.24 Million Immigrants to Enter USA in 2015

New data from the U.S. Census Bureau–published in recognition of “World Population Day,” which was July 11–predicts that 1.24 million new immigrants will enter the United States in 2015.

The Census Bureau published the new data in its International Data Base, which contains population estimates and projections up to the year 2050. The figure from the Census Bureau is a calculation of net migration–meaning the total number of immigrants who will arrive in the United States in 2015 would actually be larger than 1.24 million, but this net figure accounts for and subtracts the number of immigrants who leave the country.

The Census Bureau is the official federal agency responsible for producing and analyzing data about the U.S. population. Adding up the Bureau’s estimates in net migration for 2015 through 2025 reveals that 14 million new immigrants are expected to enter the United States over this ten year period–a group of immigrants eight times larger than the population of the island of Manhattan.

Carrying out the Census Bureau’s projections to 2050 reveals that the United States could let in some 49 million immigrants over the next three and a half decades.

While a number of these new immigrants would arrive by illegally crossing the border or illegally overstaying a temporary visa, the overwhelming majority of them would be voluntarily allowed into the United States as a matter of federal immigration policy.

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While in the United States the immigration debate often centers on border security, the historic flow of immigration into the United States is primarily the product of a Ted Kennedy-supported immigration law enacted in 1965, which lifted immigration caps that had been put into place during the Coolidge administration, and opened immigration to predominantly poor and developing countries.

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While Republicans have largely ignored the implications of the census data, the White House has seized on the annual policy of importing over one million new immigrants, launching  “The New Americans Project” to encourage green card holders to register as U.S. citizens, which would confer access to all federal benefits programs as well as the U.S. voting booth.