While the communities of Springfield, Ohio, and Aurora, Colorado, have dominated the headlines this month, it is the Census Bureau that has produced the most alarming news. 

The United States has always been a country of immigrants. But according to data released earlier this month by the Census Bureau, never before has the foreign-born population been higher than it is now, never before has the foreign-born population been growing as fast as it is now, and never before has the percentage of foreign-born population lacking permanent legal status been as high as it is today.