Does the United States Admit a Reasonable Number of Legal Immigrants?

Home > Hot Topics > More Topics > Sustainability > Does the United States Admit a Reasonable Number of Legal Immigrants?

Hot Topics

By Charles Breiterman, Monday, May 4, 2009, 9:49 PM EST - posted on NumbersUSA

Over the past 20 years, the United States has granted legal permanent residence (green cards) to an average of more than 1 million persons per year:

Year	Green Cards Issued
1989	1,090,172
1990	1,535,872
1991	1,826,595
1992	973,445
1993	903,916
1994	803,993
1995	720,177
1996	915,560
1997	797,847
1998	653,206
1999	644,787
2000	841,002
2001	1,058,902
2002	1,059,536
2003	703,542
2004	957,883
2005	1,122,373
2006	1,266,129
2007	1,052,415
2008	1,107,126
Average per year	1,001,715

Source: Department of Homeland Security, Office of Immigration Statistics, 2008 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics, Table 1.

How does it compare to other nations? The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), an international organization with 30 member nations, issued this comparative chart:

Source: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, International Migration Outlook, 2008, Chart I.1, page 32. The words “OECD” on the horizontal axis refer to the average level of legal immigration for all of the members of the OECD.

The United States is above average in this group of nations. Notice that Ireland admitted a very high number of immigrants in 2006. That is because 2006 was the best year of Ireland’s economic boom. Since then, the boom has turned into a bust. Some of those people have now left Ireland, and the number of new arrivals has declined significantly. In terms of sheer numbers, in 2006, the United States took as many immigrants as Italy, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Austria, France, and Australia combined.¹ Those nations have a combined population of 410 million, compared to 300 million for the United States.

Depending on where you live in the United States, it might seem that there are a lot more foreigners living here than just the 1 million per year admitted as legal permanent residents (immigrants). One also must consider temporary non-immigrant visas, also known as work visas. A Green Card allows the holder to stay here permanently, as an immigrant. But a work visa only allows a person to stay here temporarily while working. When a person comes to the United States temporarily, that person is classified as a non-immigrant.

One type of work visa is the H-1B, commonly used in the high-tech industry. The H-1B allows a maximum stay of 6 years. Another type is the H-2A temporary agricultural worker visa. When a person obtains a work visa, that person is issued an Employment Authorization Document by a U.S. government agency known as United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

Below is the number of new Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) issued by the United States issued for each of the last five years. The agency that issues the EAD does so under three categories: new, replacement and renewal. The numbers below represent only the new EAD cards issued.

FY	FY	FY	FY	FY
2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
673,717	675,231	682,160	854,186	912,735

Source: USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services), a division of the Department of Homeland Security. New I-765 cards issued 2004-2008.

Work visas often last more than 1 year, so over time the number of foreign born temporarily working in the United States builds up to millions of persons. At this time, I do not have data on how many temporary work visas other nations issue compared to the United States. However, with those kinds of numbers, it would be very surprising if the United States did not compare favorably with other nations.² Taking the number of green cards and work visas together, it seems to me that the United States is quite generous about letting people into this country.

Many argue that the procedure for obtaining a green card or work visa can be very cumbersome and time-consuming. That can and should be remedied. But over 1 million people do follow the rules each year. They enter the United States while respecting and obeying our laws.

Based on the above figures, it is clear that United States immigration law and policy admits immigrants in numbers that are above average for the developed world. While over 1 million Green Cards per year may be too low for some, it is too high for others, particularly if you look at immigration levels prior to the advent of chain migration in the late 1960s.

Update: This is the first part of a series of blogs that will make some larger points. It was too much to fit in one blog. Things will clear up as I develop the ideas over several blogs.

CHARLES BREITERMAN is a Lawyer and Research Analyst for NumbersUSA

¹Source: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, International Migration Outlook, 2008, Table I.1, page 29.

²There are approximately 12 million persons living illegally in the United States. Their presence contributes to the accurate perception that there are a lot of new arrivals in the United States. Since they are here illegally, they are not relevant to this blog’s topic of whether the United States admits a reasonable number of people legally. Therefore, I am only mentioning them in this footnote.

Views and opinions expressed in blogs on this website are those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect official policies of NumbersUSA.

Subscribe to our Blog Feed

I am so sorry to have to

I am so sorry to have to disagree with you, that the laws are not racist. When it comes to the Haitian immigrants coming into the USA, there is little doubt by people of color, the Haitians will be returned almost immediately. We realize what it's like for those of us born in these United States. Our eyes are open to what is going on for those who are not. I must admit, it sounds good to say differently. As a woman of GOD, I pray for the lopsided injustice to end.

Charles Says, Are you saying the Hispanic illegal immigrants are treated better than the Haitian illegal immigrants? I agree with you. Also, the situation is worse in Haiti than in any Hispanic country that I can think of. Yet both Hispanic and Haitian illegal entrants are breaking the law without an adequate excuse. Please see my blog "Haitian Raft Lesson" from May 16, 2009, and also my blog "Is U.S. Immigration Law Racist?" from May 11, 2009.

Sande 0377 of TX

Fri, 05/08/2009 - 8:14pm

I am convinced that the

I am convinced that the statistics relating to illegal aliens are unreliable; for example, the total of 12 million in this country has been used for several years. Yet the claim now is that they are coming in at the rate of 138,000 per month. The two numbers are not mathmatically compatable.

One of the first things we must accomplish is to gather more accurate numbers. The coming census could (but assuredly will not) be helpful in obtaining this information.

Schools, hospital ER's, welfare offices, and employers must be mandated to obtain accurate information and to report it to a central agency such as the Office of Homeland Security, the IRS, the Census Bureau, or some other government entity.

Only in being able to produce solid data about who these people are, where they are located, how they are supported, how much tax revenue they use in terms of welfare, etc., how much revenue they actually generate in this country, and how much revenue they send out of the country, can we begin an open, honest and genuine discourse begin about the scope of the problem and how we can best resolve it without hysteria.

One comment I recall reading was to the effect that the number of tax revenue dollars used by first generation illegal immigrants flattened by the second generation and by the third generation some tax dollars were actually being paid in. This was presented as a positive thing and was intended to discourage us from complaining about the over use of welfare by illegal aliens! And yet she (a politician, I believe) did not say where she got her numbers.

Others state white Americans draw use the majority of welfare. Where does this statement come from? What is considered by the speaker to be welfare? What geographical area is this statement about?

The only possible answer to these and many other questions is solid data compiled by sources without any political agenda and distributed with as much emotion as the GNP and employment figures are dispensed monthly or quarterly.

Yet many schools, hospitals, welfare offices etc. are compelled not to ask questions about the legality of the supplicants, and some employers will go far to hide the real story.

This is a situation we must change.

NumbersUSA Moderator: You are confusing the total number of illegal aliens, approximately 12,000,000, with the monthly number of green cards issued by the Feds to immigrant workers: 138,000 per month, which equals 1,656,000 newly issued green cards per year (While this unconscionable level of worker importation continues, according to Department of Labor figures released this week, 13.7 million are unemployed, an increase of six million from a year ago.)

Various studies have estimated the illegal alien population at twelve to twenty million. The Center for Immigration Studies, The Pew Hispanic Trust, and the U.S. Census Bureau generally agree on a population of about twelve million. It is important to remember that these are just estimates. No one knows for sure how many illegal aliens are in the U.S.

We can quibble over what the true number of illegal aliens may be, but we won't change anything in the process. Instead, let's press Congress to get serious about protecting American jobs by stopping illegal immigration. Call your elected representatives to tell them to support The SAVE Act. Tell them to oppose all forms of amnesty, including the DREAM Act.

Even better, call and set an appointment to meet in person. Most Americans live within an hour's drive from the local offices of their senators and congressman. Set an appointment, then meet up with 1-4 friends and/or family members at a local office. Find your Members' local office addresses and contact information
here.

Caroline7445 of CO

Fri, 05/08/2009 - 3:58pm

Joel, I'm not sure of the

Joel,
I'm not sure of the legalities here; but what is to prevent a state, e.g. California, from voting for Spanish as its official language NOW?

Jeremy,
"...what is to be done with the children of illegal immigrants who are NOT anchor babies?"
They are illegal. They are citizens of another country. Send them back home also. This is no more inhumane than their parents bringing them illegally into a foreign country (the United States). Many have come from Mexico, and Mexico overall is a decent country! As a matter of fact, many of their parents have allegiance to it. Mexico is not anything like Darfur, for instance.

MD2510 of MA

Tue, 05/05/2009 - 6:16pm

Re: Does the United States Admit a Reasonable Number of Legal Im

The idea is to weave in the immigration stats into the dept of labor numbers as a modifier. So if they report 630,000 jobs lost in a month, it can be modified to say 450,000 jobs lost due to real cutbacks and 100,000 due to new immigrants and remaining to temporary workers. Same with other stats like per capita GDP or carbon emissions or growth in sprawl.

Of course, DHS does not report such detailed data so it can be estimated at monthly levels and then actualized once the DHS stats come out.

This will put a whole new light on the govt numbers.

Thomas2924 of IN

Tue, 05/05/2009 - 4:02pm

I have a different take on

I have a different take on whether we are admitting an appropriate number of legal immigrants. With our country's alphabet soup of immigrant classes it makes sense to look at the overall effect on population. Below is a list of projected population change from 2008 to 2050 (%) for the countries Charles listed, in the same order.

Ireland 13 %
New Zealand 28
Switzerland 6
Australia 32
Sweden 13
Canada 26
Norway 38
United Kingdom 26
Austria 14
United States 44
Netherlands 2
Italy 3
Belgium 2
Germany -13
France 13
Finland 8
Portugal -12
Japan -25

These numbers are from the Population Reference Bureau, available on the web. The number of immigrants in any particular category is not important, only the effect, and the population of the U.S. is forecast to grow more than that of any of those countries and much more than most. The Pew Research Center said last year that 82% of the population increase in the U.S. from 2005 to 2050 will be due to the immigrants who arrive during that period and the descendants of those immigrants. In the early 1960s we had 300,000 immigrants per year, almost all legal. Now we have 1.1 million legal per year and in most years 0.5 million illegals. And, part of the reason that our population is forecast to grow so rapidly is that most of our immigrants are from Latin America and have high birth rates in this country, sometimes higher than the birth rates in their native countries. Should we decrease illegal immigration? Yes. Do we admit an appropriate number of legal immigrants? No, the number is much too high.

Caroline7445 of CO

Tue, 05/05/2009 - 2:53pm

MD of MA, I agree that

MD of MA,
I agree that publicizing immigration figures is a good tactic. Yesterday, I submitted a comment to a NYTimes op-ed piece about falling wages and the economy. I thought it odd that my comment did not appear among the ~500 other comments, some of which even mentioned immigration as a possible problem. I had written "138,000 H-1B visas a month, every month." Possibly this was too frightening a figure for the NYTimes to have in its comment section.

In this era of throwing around numbers in the trillions, the average American may not pay attention to legal immigrants and illegal aliens in the millions - too abstract. But - 138,000 legal immigrants a month. Hmmm. Evenly distributed around the 50 states, that's more than 20,000 jobs per state per year. Are my calculations correct? 20,000 jobs going to H-1B visa holders per state per year? Every year? That's a number the average American can get his mind around because one of those 20,000 jobs may be his or hers.

NumbersUSA Moderator: The "138,000" number is the average number of new green cards and employment authorizations the federal government issues to foreign workers every month - it is not limited to H-1B visas.

The legal cap on H-1B visas dropped from 195,000/year back to its original level of 65,000/year on October 1, 2003. However, that does not include an additional 20,000/year cap for people who earn a master's degree or better at a U.S. university, or the uncapped numbers of H-1B for governmental research agencies and not-for-profit employers, and also the H-1B lasts, I believe, for 6 years, so the number H-1Bs in the country is at a minimum, 6 x 85,000, but don't forget the numbers at universities and government research institutes are uncapped. Lastly, H-1Bs can be extended, but I need to learn more about that feature. The current total for H-1b visas is above 100,000 per year.

David3782 of OR

Tue, 05/05/2009 - 2:31pm

I think your news story on

I think your news story on the front page titled : "No. 1 Champion for American Workers Chosen as Ranking Member of Judiciary Committee" has a picture of ORRIN HATCH!!!!
Not Jeff Sessions! LOL.
I posted this here because that's the fastest way to get a mod's attention!

NumbersUSA Moderator: Sessions and Hatch look a lot a like, but I am happy to report that our webteam got it right -- the picture is definitely Sessions.

MD2510 of MA

Tue, 05/05/2009 - 1:58pm

Jerry of CA I do not think

Jerry of CA
I do not think this is BS or propaganda. It is just facts. At 1.1 mil per year, it amounts to about 1/3 of 1 percent of the total population. Smaller countries can exceed that percentage of immigrants very easily. So the article correctly states that the USA is in the same zone as other high immigrant growth countries.

What blows the numbers is the temporary workers and the illegal workers pipeline. They can stay for 10+ years and are effectively permanent.

While you might think the legal number itself is too high, the fight really is to even keep it at current numbers. Because the forces for amnesty and cheap labor want it to be unlimited - to them 1.1 mil per year is way too low.

NumbersUSA Moderator: To be clear, NumbersUSA supports lowering legal immigration numbers back to more traditional levels.

Joel4083 of PA

Tue, 05/05/2009 - 1:47pm

Charles You make it sound

Charles
You make it sound like a good thing that America takes in their share of legal immigrants.

How many other countries are 15 trillion dollars in debt with trillions more in deficit spending each year.

How many are borrowing money and paying interest on funds needed to pay the interest on the original loans.

What other countries spend anywhere near what we do sticking their nose into the worlds business.

Secretary Gates the other day, said we have to be involved in everything around the since when other countries do it nothing gets done. Think he is suffering from delusions of grandeur the insane theory that the USA can take care of the known world just like Ancient Rome (for a while before the fall)

I would guess that 90% of the legal alien workers and 99% of the illegals cost us tax money that we do not have.
They simply do not contribute to our society.

Personally I think our only salvation is a century or so of isolationism and protectionism.

This will give us a chance to get healthy and will allow us to straighten out our own country, with families out on the streets with no housing ,senior citizens who can not afford to live the comfortable life they deserve, our children being killed or injured in parts of the world we do not belong in.

Tens of Millions of Americans our of work with very few prospects.

Eliminating immigration for anyone who can not have a positive impact on our country and economy, needs to be considered. And those that are allowed to temporarily live and work here need to be carefully tracked to make sure they are paying their taxes, and they they leave when their time is up.

Illegals, through whatever means, they need to leave the country now. No Amnesty, No free health care, no using Americas tax payer funded resources, no more helping to sink our economy and way of life.

Nothing racist or mean spirited here. I don't care what country they come from or what their story is...illegals don't belong here and are not wanted or needed.

Legals need boundaries and limitations and if they break the law and overstay, stiff fines and jail time before they are deported.

We have given up a lot over the years to support other countries, governments, and people, and its time for a break.

We are in functional bankruptcy and immigration is just one area where we can start our 100 year recovery.

Charles Says, Joel, sorry I was not able to post a reply until now (5/9). I do agree with your points. This blog is a bit awkward because I am trying to develop a large argument that cannot be done in one blog. I am going to attack those who say that our immigration laws are racist and discriminatory. I am going to demonstrate that environmentalists who do not support NumbersUSA are letting political correctness paralyze them.

Joel4083 of PA

Sun, 05/10/2009 - 12:39am

Jeremy Agree with you, the

Jeremy
Agree with you, the children are a conundrum.
I really want to say that the illegal parents are at fault and the children have to suffer the consequences, but that's too simplistic an answer.

No, I don't believe either legally or morally that they are Americans if they were brought here illegally, In fact, even Anchor Babies are questionable. The 14th amendment has been interpreted to cover the children of illegals, but it has not really been tested in the Supreme Court. It has become customary, but the legalities are vague, and the amendment allowing for citizenship really needs to be clarified.

Another concern is that when we think of these children, babies and cute little 5 year olds come to mind, but there are a large number of older children who came here illegally. Wish I could have found the transcript, but clearly remember a report on NPR discussing the fact that many of the teenage illegals are not accepting the fate of their parents working in fields, meat packing plants, hotels, and fast food joints. So they have turned to crime, drugs, and gangs.

So, that is the answer? If we dry up the jobs and put in real penalties for both employees and illegal employees, I would think any decent parent would take their young children with them back to their country of origin, but it seems more likely that they would fight to stay here, demanding their "rights", and pleading that it is not fair to their children if they have to go back to countries that they no longer have ties to, and that it would be great hardship on the kids. Anyway, if we can't beat back the amnesty, it will be a moot point ,since they will all be legal.

If someone can come up with the answer to the illegal and anchor children, I will be happy to buy you a bottle of Corona.

MD2510 of MA

Tue, 05/05/2009 - 9:46am

It would be surprising how

It would be surprising how much of this basic info on immigration - annual green cards, annual H1Bs, EADs, etc - is unknown to most politicians, lobbyists, investors, "journalists" let alone ordinary citizens. And it is all there nicely presented on the DHS website. If you asked them to guess how many people get green cards, most people would say anywhere between 100,000 to 10 mil.

This info is as basic and probably more important than the CPI, employment, GDP numbers that are regularly published and majorly move markets or sentiments. After all, it affects the labor supply and resource demands.

How about doing a PR on immigration stats periodically? In some sort of "Immigration Index".

NumbersUSA Moderator: Good idea. I will look into it. Our Taxpayer Burden page also originated from members' suggestions.

Dorothy7665 of NE

Tue, 05/05/2009 - 9:23am

This was a very informative

This was a very informative article. I do agree with your position. It might also be illuminating to examine how many people who enter on temporary visas decide to remain when the visas expire--if those figures are available.

NumbersUSA Moderator: One credible estimate is that 40% of illegal aliens actually are visa overstays rather than people who crossed the border illegally.

James7427 of IA

Tue, 05/05/2009 - 12:25am

Re: Does the United States Admit a Reasonable Number of Legal Im

NumbersUSA Moderator and All,

I have noticed a disturbing trend with the Supreme Court over the last year, but particlarly in the past month. Last June, they refused to hear a lawsuit filed by a student in Kansas regarding in-state tuition for illegal aliens in that state. About a month ago, they ruled in favor of an illegal alien who, following denial of political refugee status, had been ordered deported by a lower court. And yesterday, they ruled that in order for illegal aliens to be convicted of identity theft, prosecutors and Federal agents must prove that they knowingly stole someone's SSN. I hope I am wrong, but to me this appears to indicate a court that leans toward restraining enforcement. What do you all think of this?

James Bowen
Ames, Iowa

Rod8777 of VA

Tue, 05/05/2009 - 3:04am

Re: Re: Does the United States Admit a Reasonable Number of Lega

It frightens me too. Apparently even the Supreme Court is corrupt now.

The point is that the illegal alien knew the number didn't belong to him, regardless of who it actually belonged to. He also knew that he was buying a fake social security card.

A social security number, like most anything, always belongs to someone from cradle to grave. Either the government owns it, before it is assigned to a legal citizen, or an individual owns it after it has been assigned. Either way, using a SSN number that does not belong to you is theft.

Think of the damage it does to you when an illegal alien uses your SSN for his tax withholdings and to file his tax return. The IRS is going to want you to pay his taxes owed or even accuse you of filing multiple returns. BTW – the IRS cannot tell who it actually belongs to. You're toast! Same thing for credit cards, loans, etc. You're ruined.

We teach our children this. Do not take things that do not belong to you unless you have permission. It's stealing!!

Home > Hot Topics > More Topics > Sustainability > Does the United States Admit a Reasonable Number of Legal Immigrants?

Does the United States Admit a Reasonable Number of Legal Immigrants?

Related

News

Blog Entries

In the News

Publications