2.2 Million Decline in Foreign Population Thanks to Record Low Illegal Immigration, Migrants Returning Home
A historic reduction in the nation’s foreign-born population during the first seven months of President Donald Trump’s second term is driven by record levels of illegal immigration as well as migrants returning to their home countries, researchers say.
Current Population Survey (CPS) analysis by Steven Camarota and Karen Zeigler of the Center for Immigration Studies details that from January to August of this year, the foreign-born population fell by 2.2 million in the United States.
Significantly, the illegal alien population declined by 1.6 million during this period, indicating that the Trump administration’s increased domestic immigration enforcement had rapid and significant results.
Center for Immigration Studies
Camarota and Zeigler say that while some analysts may write off the numbers as “a statistical fluke,” they believe the numbers are very real and mostly thanks to the Trump administration’s record levels of illegal immigration as well as self-deportations.
“We believe the evidence is strong that most or all of the decline in the foreign-born population shown in the CPS is real and primarily reflects a reduction in newcomers and, in particular, a large increase in emigration,” Camarota and Zeigler write.
Last month, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials said 1.6 million illegal aliens had self-detained from the United States, while Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents deported more than 400,000 illegal aliens.
Meanwhile, this week, DHS officials announced that fiscal year 2025 saw the lowest level of illegal immigration to the United States in 55 years, with fewer than 238,000 apprehensions at the southern border.
Additionally, for the fifth straight month, DHS released zero migrants inside the United States in September — a huge feat for the Trump administration, which worked quickly to dismantle former President Joe Biden’s capture-and-release network.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
