For the first time in decades, more immigrants are leaving the United States than arriving, a new study finds, an early indication that President Trump’s hard-line immigration agenda is leading people to depart — whether through deportation or by choice.
An analysis of new census data released on Thursday by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center found that between January and June, the foreign-born population in the United States — both lawful and unlawful residents — declined by nearly 1.5 million. In June, the country was home to 51.9 million immigrants, down from 53.3 million six months earlier.
Officials from the Trump administration have applauded the net outflow, asserting that pressures on government services have eased and that job markets have rebounded. And some supporters of the immigration crackdown say it hasn’t gone far enough.
But experts predict looming negative economic and demographic consequences for the United States if the trend persists. Immigrants are a critical work force in many sectors, and the country’s reliance on them is growing as more baby boomers retire.
Despite the study’s findings, Kevin Lynn, executive director of the Institute for Sound Public Policy, which advocates for less immigration, said that foreign workers who enter lawfully continue to pour into the United States and undermine Americans.
“There has been no letup,” he said. “People coming here legally, whether on green cards or employment visas, are impacting American workers at all strata, whether low-skilled or high-skilled.”
Net migration — the difference between the number of immigrants arriving and departing — has turned negative, a shift that the chief Pew demographer, Jeffrey Passel, called a “demographic certainty” so far in 2025. His team’s analysis did not calculate a separate number for undocumented immigrants, who seem likely to represent the largest number of departures, because heightened enforcement probably diminished immigrants’ participation in the census survey that was used to make estimates, he said.
They may have been undercounted, which would suggest the drop is not as severe, or their low participation could mask an even more striking decline.
Posted by John3262005
3 Comments
Thankfully Biden added 2.8 million immigrants (net amount) last year to give us a cushion. I’m still worried that by the end of Donald’s second term he will have deported so many people our total population might actually drop or remain stagnant. It’s crazy how upward a trajectory America was on as recently as December 2024 before Donald rapist took over.
I wonder if this will make the US enter into the first demographic decline of its history
The natural birth rate growth is half a million, and if this is true and the US has had 1.5 net émigration, the US will be 1 million smaller on 2026 than 2024, actually putting it as losing more population in a year than Japan (although not proportionally)
How is this supposed to get us to One Billion Americans?