Thread by @IAmAmnaNawaz

I cover immigration. I like numbers.
I brought the two together in this thread, for anyone interested in separating facts from feelings.
All sources cited at the end.

Our country has more immigrants than any other country in the world, and just about every country in the world is represented here.

About 44 million people living in the US were born in another country, which is roughly 13% of the total population. That's below the record of about 15% of the total population back in 1890.

The top origin countries for new US immigrants in 2016: India, Mexico, China, Cuba. Since 2010, more Asian immigrants than Hispanic immigrants have arrived in the US.

Most immigrants (3/4) are here legally. About 1/4 are undocumented. For years (1990-2007) the # of undocumented immigrants grew (up to 12 million+). During the recession, it shrank. Then, it leveled off. Today, there are about 11 million undocumented immigrants in the US.

Almost half of all immigrants here live in 3 states: California, Texas, New York.
About 1/3 of all immigrants live in the West (34%). Another 1/3 in the South (33%). About 1/5 in the Northeast (21%), and about 10% in the Midwest.

The 10 metro areas in the country with the largest increases in immigrant population between 1980 and 2016 all had lower levels of crime over that same time period.

Undocumented immigrants are considerably less likely to commit crimes than US-born citizens (legal immigrants in the US are even less likely to do so). States with larger shares of undocumented immigrants tend to have lower crime rates than states with smaller shares.

Every single generation - regardless if they're foreign or US born - consumes more govt benefits than they contribute in taxes, with 1 exception: first generation immigrants. Their children, 2nd gen, tend to out-earn other US-born Americans on an age-adjusted basis.

Sources below.

CBO:
cbo.gov/publication/45…
American Society of Criminology: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.11…
Pew Research Center:
pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018…
Cato Institute:
cato.org/publications/i…
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas: dallasfed.org/en/research/pa…
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