America has more foreign residents than ever

The Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey from January of this year showed 53.3 million foreign-born or immigrant residents (legal and illegal alike) in the United States, equal to 15.8% of the total population. Both are record highs in American history.

My colleague Karen Zeigler and I estimate 38 million of the total foreign born in the data are legal immigrants — naturalized citizens, lawful permanent residents, and long-term temporary visitors such as foreign students and guest workers. The simplistic idea that legal immigration must be good and illegal immigration is bad avoids the important policy questions raised by the enormous scale of legal immigration.