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Foreign-Born Population Hit Record 47 Million in April 2022

By

Center for Immigration Studies

June 1, 2022

Increased two million since January 2021, driven largely by illegal immigratio

By Steven A. Camarota and Karen Zeigler on June 1, 2022

An analysis of the Census Bureau’s monthly Current Population Survey (CPS) shows that the total foreign-born population (legal and illegal) in the U.S. hit 47 million in April of 2022 — a record high in American history. The foreign-born population includes all persons who are not U.S. citizens at birth. The size and growth of the foreign-born population in the CPS are important because, unlike arrival figures for legal immigrants or border apprehensions, the CPS measures the total number of legal and illegal immigrants actually living in the country, which is what ultimately determines immigration’s impact on American society.

There is a good deal of variation month-to-month in the data, but the two million increase in the foreign-born population since President Biden took office last January is both large and statistically significant. The dramatic growth is also quite striking because for the foreign-born population to grow at all, new arrivals must exceed both emigration and deaths, as all births to immigrants in the U.S., by definition, add only to the native-born population.

  • The 47 million foreign-born residents (legal and illegal) in the country in April of 2022 is the largest number ever recorded in any U.S. government survey or decennial census.
  • The total foreign-born population (legal and illegal) increased by two million in the first 16 months of the Biden administration — January 2021 to April 2022 — twice as fast as the U.S.-born population grew.
  • We preliminarily estimate that illegal immigrants accounted for two-thirds of the growth in the foreign-born population since January 2021 — 1.35 million.
  • Taking a longer view, since 2000, the total foreign-born population has grown by 50 percent; it’s doubled since 1990, tripled since 1980, and quintupled since 1970.
  • As a share of the total population, the foreign-born now account for 14.3 percent of the population, or one in seven U.S. residents — the highest percentage in 112 years. As recently as 1990 they were one in 13 U.S. residents.
  • If present trends continue, the foreign-born share of the population will reach 14.9 percent of the U.S. population in September 2023, higher than at any time in the nation’s 246-year history.
  • On average the foreign-born population has grown by 132,000 a month since President Biden took office, compared to 59,000 per month in Obama’s first term, 76,000 per month in Obama’s second term, and 42,000 per month under Trump before Covid-19 hit.
  • While much of the recent increase in the total foreign-born population is due to illegal immigration, those in the country legally still account for three-fourths of all foreign-born residents.
  • The states with the largest increase in the total foreign-born population from January 2021 to April 2022 are California (up 527,000), Florida (up 390,000), Pennsylvania (up 375,000), Michigan (up 247,000), Georgia (up 152,000), Arizona (up 148,000), New York (up 145,000), Tennessee (up 130,000), and South Carolina (up 128,000).

Introduction

This analysis is based on the Current Population Survey (CPS), sometimes referred to as the “household survey”, collected each month by the Census Bureau for the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). We use the terms “immigrant” and “foreign-born” interchangeably in this report.1 The foreign-born or immigrant population in Census Bureau data includes all persons who were not U.S. citizens at birth — mainly naturalized citizens, lawful permanent residents, long-term temporary visitors, and illegal immigrants. The CPS shows a dramatic rebound in the foreign-born population after declining in the latter half of 2019 and then a dramatic fall-off in 2020 due to Covid-19 travel restrictions. While the CPS is a very large survey of about 130,000 individuals, the total foreign-born population in the monthly data still has a margin of error of about ±500,000 using a 90 percent confidence level. This means there is a good deal of fluctuation from month to month in the size of this population, making it necessary to compare longer periods of time when trying to determine trends.2

The Foreign-Born Population in the Last Decade..

Please see the entire report from CIS.org here.

 

Bryan Tolar, BigAg lobbyist, on black market labor, Cadillacs and E-Verify AUDIO/VIDEO & transcript

By

Bryan Tolar. Photo: Southeast AgNET.comCommittee 

“H2A is a very good program if you can afford it. This- the federal government says that the minimum wage for a H2A worker is $9.11 and you provide transportation and you provide housing and you cover all the visa costs. It ends up costing you about $13.50 per employee per hour for those operations. If we could all drive Cadillacs it’d be great, but everyone can’t drive a Cadillac. Some people can, others can’t. So we don’t need a Cadillac system and, and that’s what the, the H2A system is a Cadillac system.” Bryan Tolar to the Georgia House Judiciary Committee (non-civil), Feb. 2011

Bryan Tolar was president of Georgia Agribusiness Council in 2011 when HB 87 was going through the committee process and eventually passed and was signed into law in Georgia. Georgia has two E-Verify laws. One for private employers and one for public contractors and taxpayer-funded entities like cities, counties and other offices, including state agencies. Neither law is enforced. We challenge anyone to produce evidence of any sanction for violation.

Bryan Tolar professional info here and here. And here with mission statement. 

Related: What is the H2A visa? (it’s no-cap access to legal foreign workers for growers)

E-Verify here.

Video here.

 

 

Audio

 

Transcript: Rev.com

Cost to me: $16.10

BigAg lobbyist Bryan Tolar (00:01)
This is a very delicate issue for agriculture because being the largest industry and representing, uh, economic impact in all 159 counties, we have a lot at stake in this. We are in the midst of trying to grow our industry in several ways. One of which, and we’ve heard the, the governor talk about it and many of you have probably weighed in on it, the expansion of the port in Savannah. We want those large container ships to come to Georgia to carry agricultural products out, not bring agricultural products in. And the system that we have in place now with the, with the technology that’s in place, with the natural resources that are abundant to our great state, we are poised to grow this industry because commodity prices have finally reached a point where people are sta- talking about what do I have to plant to make a profit, but what can I plant so I can make the most profit.

BigAg lobbyist Bryan Tolar (00:51)
And when we look at that, we need to have a labor force to be able to harvest that product. And we want, obviously, want to utilize and do utilize a legal workforce. The federal government puts in place a pa- the parameters for hiring a legal workforce. If we have employers now, whether they’re agricultural or otherwise, that are not completing the I-9, then they’re already in violation of federal law. We can’t help them, this bill can’t help them, I’m not going to try to help them. But when we look at the e-verify portion, that really is the part of the bill that gives us the, the most challenge. And I, I, I- you’ve heard from others and there’s, there’s certainly different parts to give people challenges of their own. But for ours, it’s, it’s the e-verify requirement and I, and I apologize, I have not seen the latest draft to know where we are on the e-verify part, so, um, I’ll, I’ll wait to get details on that later.

BigAg lobbyist Bryan Tolar (01:35)
But if we require the e-verify, then we are putting another layer of government on an already challenged workforce that’s out there for agricultural production. And I’m talking getting your hands dirty workforce. Um, um, very difficult to find those workers no matter where you are. And over two-thirds of our counties, agriculture’s either the number one or the number two industry in those counties. So we’re not talking about small, small beans here. We’re talking about real economic impact. So as we move forward, we need to see- and it is a federal issue. I know you’ve heard that time and time again, it is a federal issue. And Representative Franklin, I’ll, I’ll say that- and I heard your comment earlier about the constitution that we don’t have any Georgia citizens, they are also US citizens. And so we have to operate- ’cause the US is the one that provides us- federal government provides us the visas that we need to get those workers in a guest worker program to pr- to get those citizenship papers so that we can have those legal citizens here.

BigAg lobbyist Bryan Tolar (02:26)
And that’s what, that’s what we’re trying to comply with. We’re trying to comply with a federal system that also provides a federal outlet through visa programs through H2A, which many of you may be familiar with, and H2B and I’ll touch on them very quickly. H2A is a very good program if you can afford it. This- the federal government says that the minimum wage for a H2A worker is $9.11 and you provide transportation and you provide housing and you cover all the visa costs. It ends up costing you about $13.50 per employee per hour for those operations. If we could all drive Cadillacs it’d be great, but everyone can’t drive a Cadillac. Some people can, others can’t. So we don’t need a Cadillac system and, and that’s what the, the H2A system is a Cadillac system. Now let’s talk about H2B. That’s really where we get to our landscape workers, our urban agriculture, the environment we’re in right now.

BigAg lobbyist Bryan Tolar: (03:15)
That is- that program is capped by the federal government was capped in 1990 with 66,000 visas nationwide. In 2004, we reached the cap of that. We can’t expand it. The state of Georgia can’t expand that cap. All we can do is apply for it and hope like heck that we get the workers, ’cause if we don’t, you’re out of business. And if we’re out of business, if we take a $68.8 billion industry and we take a just a 10% hit, we’re talking almost a $7 billion hit to Georgia’s economy. And that’s real. And when those- whe- and when those farming operations and when those landscapers, when they go away, they don’t come back, especially in rural Georgia. It’s that much more difficult if you’re trying to harvest a crop or if you’re trying to milk a cow or you’re trying to care for chickens, it’s a very diverse industry, it’s a very complex industry. This problem is a, is a very complex problem and it requires a federal solution.

BigAg lobbyist Bryan Tolar: (04:08)
But we understand immigration reform needs to happen and we understand there are things the state of Georgia can do and we recognize that this legislation carries a lot of different components in it that will serve the state of Georgia and will serve the state of Georgia well. But, but we take the biggest challenge in this legislation is with the e-verify part and mandating that on private employers. And at that point, Ms. Chairman, I’ll take any questions.

Committee Chairman: (04:29)
Let me, uh, let me ask you a, a question that warrants a probably a 10 to 15 minute answer about-

Committee Chairman: (04:36)
[crosstalk 00:04:36] Okay, well I won’t do that.

Committee Chairman: (04:37)
But I’m going to ask you to do it in 30 seconds.

Committee Chairman: (04:37)
Okay.

Committee Chairman: (04:38)
Very reasonably, I think.

Big Ag lobbyist Bryan Tolar: (04:39)
Yes, sir.

Committee Chairman: (04:42)
W- where’s the line? Where’s the line between those folks in the agricultural community who this perhaps not as big a deal and where- with the folks that where it is? In other words, where is that line of the, you know, where compliance with, uh, with H2A and e-verify and everything that you talked about, what’s the comfort level? And I understand that’s something of a subjective determination and, you know, in our minds we take an oath to support and defend and protect the law.

Big Ag lobbyist Bryan Tolar: (05:12)
Yes, sir.

Committee Chairman: (05:13)
Um, and we all take it seriously. I’m a little concerned about the fact that what I’m hearing is a message from you that says, “Well, we should enforce the law and protect the law and adhere to it, but only if we can afford it.” And that’s what I think I’m hearing. Tell me if I’m hearing something differently. And then tell me about who is it in your mind, just from your industry, intra-industry, where- who, who can afford it and who can’t. And the size of that operation.

Big Ag lobbyist Bryan Tolar: (05:54)
Okay.

Committee Chairman: (05:54)
Talk about the law first and how it is- I mean, that’s the message that I just heard and I want to make sure that I didn’t hear it wrong.

Big Ag lobbyist Bryan Tolar: (05:59)
That’s actually a, a 30 minute answer so I’ll, I’ll do my best. Um-

Big Ag lobbyist Bryan Tolar: (06:02)
I warned you (laughs).

Big Ag lobbyist Bryan Tolar: (06:04)
With regard to, to who can and who can’t take advantage of the H2A program because it is an expensive program, uh, the answer is it depends. It depends on what your commodity is, it depends on your locale for where your market is. Um, and I know that’s, that’s a lawyer type answer. I think I’ll say it depends a lot too. Um, but it- there is no, there is no simple answer and it’s because the industry is not simple. The solution is not simple. And it’s not a matter of drawing a line and saying, “Well, if we get above this point or we’re below this point, then, then we’re in

 

 

 

 

Buzz Brockway, lobbyist – SB 45, 2021/2022 – (video): Gutting occupational licensing security

By

Photo: Ga. Health News

RE: OCGA 50-36-1

Buzz Brockway lobbies for changes in occupational licensing, House version of SB 45, 2021/2022 session.

As passed the senate bill here. Note line 49. We pushed hard for that addition. The fifty-seven page House version (that did not pass and did not see a vote) was changed into an unrecognizable dumping ground, wish list for the dismantling of the verification system in place to keep illegal aliens out of the occupational licensing process. That complete rewrite was done in the House Regulated Industries committee chaired by Rep Alan Powell.

Brockway is not what a lot of kindly but naive people think he is. Alan Powell does not enjoy that confusion.

Our goal for the last nineteen years has been to make Georgia as difficult and inhospitable for  illegal immigration as possible.

That is not Brockway’s mission. Or Powell’s.

Anything for a buck.

Start the video at 4:55

Bookmark: Romney, David Perdue, J. Neil Purcell, Bradley T. Crate, Trump and a mismanaged campaign for GA governor

By

 

 

Photo: Twitter.

Note to self/bookmark on the odiferous Perdue campaign. Future research coming.

Notice that the above very accurate ad (that came out about ten days before Primary Day) is paid for by Perdue for Governor Inc.

Here is the Ga Sec of State info on Perdue for Governor Inc. Note that Bradley T. Crate is CFO and Secretary.

He is also the founder and head of Red Curve Solutions and was treasurer of the 2020 Trump campaign.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Center for Immigration Studies 2022 Border Tour Videos – Rio Grande Valley

By

Image: Bridgewatwer State U.
By Mark Krikorian on April 28, 2022

The Center for Immigration Studies 2022 Border Tour is currently taking place in the Rio Grande Valley, from Roma to the Gulf of Mexico. Members of the tour meet with border residents, receive briefings from Border Patrol, local law enforcement, farmers, residents, politicians, and activists, as well as visit immigration related points of interest. As the tour progresses, we will post short videos with Mark Krikorian, the Center’s Executive Director, highlighting some of these experiences.

See new videos here.

Latest Scandal: Alien Uses Money Stolen from Feds to Pay for EB-5 Visa

By

“He filed for seven loans in the Paycheck Protection and Economic Injury Disaster Loan programs, six of which were successful for $5,151,497…”
By David North on February 28, 2022

Some may regard it as bad enough that aliens are able to buy green cards with the aliens’ own money in the EB-5 (immigrant investor) program.

Others may think it worse that one can do so with borrowed money.

But most would agree that in the worst-case scenario an alien would seek a green card with money stolen from the federal government.

In a story not yet picked up by the financial media, this is exactly what happened in California last week. Reddy Raghav Budamala, 35, of Irvine, Calif., set up three shell companies with no operations, used them to “fraudulently obtain more than $5 million in COVID-relief” loans, some of which were forgiven by the feds, and then proceeded to make a $970,000 payment to the EB-5 program, according to a press release from the U.S. attorney in the central district of California.

Budamala must be a non-green card holder and a non-citizen or he would not have dealt with the EB-5 program. He also must have made an investment in the non-pooled investment part of the program given the dollar figure shown, because $500,000 investments were the norm in the part of the program shut down by Congress last summer. Details, usually found in the courts’ PACER files, are not available as a PACER file has not yet been set up for this case, though Budamala, regarded as a flight risk, is currently in jail.

Given his first name, Reddy, he is probably from South India, the home of many H-1Bs. And one of his companies, Hayventure LLC, filed for and got an H-1B certification in 2019, for a chief technology officer, according to myvisajobs. Perhaps that job was filled by Budamala.

According to the press release, he was a busy guy. He filed for seven loans in the Paycheck Protection and Economic Injury Disaster Loan programs, six of which were successful for $5,151,497, failed when he filed for a U.S. passport (suggesting, again, that he is a non-citizen), bought a (presumably modest) $597,585 property in chic Malibu, and opened a $3 million brokerage account. Federal agents searched his home in Irvine on February 25, and he was stopped at the U.S. Mexico border early the next morning.

As I have noted before, the EB-5 program attracts an interesting group of people.

What Happens When the State Department Sanctions Nations for Not Taking Our Deportees?

By

Center for Immigration Studies
By David North on January 13, 2022

Some recalcitrant nations are deliberately slow to accept our deportees and other forced returns of migrants from those nations, as my colleague Dan Cadman reported a couple of years ago. They do so because they do not want these citizens of their countries to bring their behaviors back to the homeland. Most democracies, including the U.S., readily accept similar rejects from other lands.

Eleven nations have received sanctions for that behavior. What happens to the outward flow from the U.S. of removed migrants from those places? It’s a mixed bag.

In four (in bold below) of the 11 cases, we have what look like success stories; in three of those four, the number of removals has more than doubled since sanctions were imposed, and in a fourth, the ratio was almost 2:1.

In three others it is too soon to tell and in the other four there was little change or, in the case of Burma, a move in the wrong direction.

Our statistics, all drawn from previously under-utilized government files on the subject, are shown below… read the rest here.

By request: dak’s famous Georgia pimento cheese (run faster, jump higher!)

By

Posted here because I can

Don King’s famous Georgia pimento cheese (run faster, jump higher!)

PIMENTO CHEESE 

1)  brick Kraft Cracker Barrel Aged Reserve Cheddar Cheese (White)

2)  bricks Kraft EXTRA SHARP yellow Cheddar Cheese

2)  7 oz. jars Lindsay DICED pimentos (sometimes I add part of a 3rd jar or a entire smaller jar of sliced pimentos…)

1 8 oz. jar, Duke’s mayo (Hellman’s if no access to Duke’s)

Ground red pepper (cayenne)

Into a large (preferably flat-bottomed) container (I use a 1984 Tupperware cake holder) grate half the cheese on a course grater, the other half on medium. Mix together and shake some cayenne (you canned more later) and a little fresh-ground black pepper. Keep mixing.

NOTE Do NOT grate cheese too fine or you will get mush. We are making a semi lumpy spread, not a dip.

Drain pimentos and add to grated cheese, mixing well – then add some more shakes of cayenne and mix again. It’s obviously personal taste but finished product should NOT be extremely spicy hot, just a nice gentle bite and flavor addition to the cheese.

Add about 3/4 8 oz. jar of mayo and mix well – push mixture against side of bowl with a large fork with enough pressure to push some moisture out of pimentos and to insure there is zero un-mayo-ed cheese. Then add most of the remainder of mayo. Don’t use too much – it will be too thin.

Like many foods, this seems to get better in the fridge overnight and we have used it well into the second week after prep. But it usually doesn’t last that long.

Note # 2: While everyone has their own fave sharp cheddar, there are severe penalties for using mayo other than Duke’s (or Hellman’s if necessary) – or adding anything other than the above five-ish basic ingredients (well, except for de-seeded, diced jalapeños sometimes). Even more severe for adding garlic or onion. We are watching!

Enjoy! Try mixing it with the filling ½ & ½ in your deviled eggs or spread on fresh, split banana peppers as well as the obvious crackers and the famous pimento cheese sandwich.

Recipe adapted from one we saw in an 80’s (?) edition of Gourmet magazine.

D.A. King

Georgia

Amended, Nov. 2021

Mayo added and smushed.

Ta-da.

 

Study: 20-Year Cost of ‘Build Back Better’ Amnesty: $483 billion

By

 

Center for Immigration Studies

CBO estimates fiscal drain would be even bigger after that

By Steven A. Camarota on December 6, 2021

As the Senate debates the Build Back Better Act (H.R. 5376), a little-noticed part of the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) cost estimates shows that the bill’s amnesty provisions will create enormous fiscal costs for taxpayers. Like its prior fiscal cost estimate for a larger-scale amnesty, or its estimates for smaller amnesties, CBO’s most recent fiscal estimate (new revenue minus new expenditures) for H.R. 5376 shows a large negative fiscal impact — $124 billion in the first 10 years.

But what is most striking about the CBO’s newest estimate is that the amnesty would create an additional $359 billion in net costs in the second decade after passage.

The total net fiscal cost of the bill’s amnesty provisions over 20 years is $483 billion. Perhaps equally important, CBO states that the bill would increase the deficit “by larger amounts in the subsequent decade”.

As the Center has emphasized, the cost of any amnesty increases over time as illegal immigrants become eligible for more and more social programs, especially Social Security and Medicare. CBO’s extension of its normal 10-year time horizon is a welcome development that helps to capture more of these long-term costs.

The costs illegal immigrants create are not because they are lazy or because they all came to get welfare. Rather, illegal immigrants have modest levels of education on average and, as a result, tend to earn similarly modest wages and thus make modest tax payments. Their low incomes also mean that many more would qualify for public benefits if legalized, thereby dramatically increasing fiscal costs. The realities of the modern American economy and the existence of a well-developed welfare state mean that allowing illegal immigrants to remain in the country and giving them any kind of legal status is very costly to taxpayers.

Among the CBO’s findings:

Section 60001 of H.R. 5376 (parole amnesty) would create $131.85 billion in new expenditures between 2022 and 2031, while generating just $7.49 billion in new revenue, for a net fiscal drain of $124.36 billion in the first 10 years.

The amnesty would create an additional $357.82 billion in new expenditures between 2032 and 2041, and it would also reduce revenue by $1.24 billion, creating a net drain of $359.06 billion in the second 10 years.

The total net fiscal drain from the amnesty provisions for the entire 20-year period (2022 to 2041) would be $483.42 billion.

The primary reason a parole amnesty would result in large new expenditures according to the CBO is that amnesty recipients would be able to receive Affordable Care Act subsidies, Medicaid, the Earned Income and Child Tax Credits, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, often called food stamps), Social Security, and Medicare to a much greater extent than they would without legal status.

The primary reason the amnesty would have minimal effect on federal revenues is that immigrants’ increase in reporting of taxable income “would mostly be offset” because businesses “would report smaller taxable profits and pay less in income taxes”. In other words, with legalization employers would be able to deduct the wages and benefits they currently pay off the books to illegal immigrants, thereby lowering their tax payments in roughly equal proportion to the increase in taxes illegal aliens would pay once legalized. Read the rest here at CIS.org .

 

FY 2021’s Historically Bad Border Numbers Are Worse than You Think

By

Center for Immigration Studies
Washington, D.C.(October, 26, 2021) – The Center for Immigration Studies reported last week that the Border Patrol had apprehended an all-time record number of illegal migrants at the Southwest border in FY 2021 – 1,659,206 illegal migrants, 15,000 more than the previous record there. The number of children, families and third-country nationals are all up, driven by Biden administration policies.

A big reason why the number of “family units” FMUs apprehended at the Southwest border surged in FY 2021 (they totaled fewer than 52,300 in all of FY 2020) was because the Biden administration ditched the highly successful Trump-era “Migrant Protection Protocols” (MPP), better known as “Remain in Mexico”.

Andrew Arthur, the Center’s resident fellow in law and policy and author of the analysis, writes, “Biden’s DHS is now being forced kicking and screaming to reinstate MPP, but without other significant policy changes, it will not be enough. The worst part is, as the Center explained in a recent regulatory comment, the Biden administration wants to turbocharge the incentives for illegal migrants, by granting itself (in violation of law) the authority to simply release every alien who enters.”

Key points:
  • More illegal migrants were apprehended at the Southwest border in FY 2021 than in any prior fiscal year.
  • The number and percentage of illegal migrants who were not from Mexico or the “Northern Triangle” countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras have reached all-time highs, and are increasing in a disturbing new trend with a 600 percent increase in just eight months.
  • The number of unaccompanied alien children apprehended at the Southwest border in FY 2021 nearly doubled the previous yearly record, set in FY 2019.
  • The number of alien adults and children entering illegally in “family units” (FMUs) approached their previous yearly record, again set in FY 2019. Unlike in FY 2019, however, migrants entering illegally in family units have not declined in line with historical monthly trends.
  • The decision by the Biden administration to terminate successful Trump administration policies, including “Remain in Mexico”, is driving this illegal migrant surge at the Southwest border.
  • The Biden administration is proposing to increase the incentives for aliens to enter the United States illegally, by granting itself the ability to release all illegal migrants in violation of law.