Voting and Demographics
The growth in the immigrant population has helped to strengthen and remake America over the last two decades. Today, as thousands of baby boomers retire each day, working-age immigrants are filling gaps in the labor market, paying billions of dollars in taxes that help our entitlement programs survive, and buying homes in communities that would otherwise be in decline. Millions of immigrants have also earned U.S. citizenship and the right to vote while millions more are estimated to be eligible to naturalize.
Report Reveals DREAM Act Passage Could Inject Billions Into Economy
Examiner.com October 10, 2012 The much-debated and as yet unrealized federal DREAM Act, a proposed law that would provide a path to legal residency status for some young undocumented immigrants, brought to this country as children, would add $329 billion to the U.S. economy and create 1.4 million new jobs… Read More
Immigrant Entrepreneurship Has Stagnated For First Time In Decades, Says New Study
Forbes October 2, 2012 Immigrant entrepreneurs have always had a significant impact on U.S. culture and economy, and that continues to be true today. Immigrants started 28% of all new U.S. businesses in 2011, despite accounting for just 12.9% of the U.S. population, according to “Open For Business: How… Read More
DREAM Act Would Create 1.4 Million Jobs: Report
Huffington Post October 2, 2012 Contrary to popular belief, a more lenient immigration system may make it easier for native-born Americans to find work. The DREAM Act, a bill that would provide a path to citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants that finish high school and some college… Read More
Immigration – A Vehicle For America’s Economic Prosperity
Huffington Post October 2, 2012 The New America Alliance (NAA), with many other Latino public interest groups, convened a historic conference, assembling experts and leaders, to discuss the issues affecting Latinos in America and how the Latino community can contribute to moving America forward to achieve its full potential. Read More
Issue Brief: Immigration
CBS News October 1, 2012 THE ELECTORAL ISSUE: America’s immigration policy does not attract and retain high-skilled immigrants and it does not address the fate of the estimated 11.5 million undocumented immigrants living here. THE CHALLENGE: How to secure the border, manage undocumented immigrants and admit immigrant workers of… Read More
Report: Approving DREAM Act Would Boost Arizona’s Economy
Cronkite News October 1, 2012 WASHINGTON – Arizona could add more than 83,000 jobs and see an additional $18.4 billion in economic activity by 2030 if the DREAM Act was approved, a new report claims. The Arizona impact is just part of the $329 billion in economic activity that… Read More
Crovitz: Washington’s New Twist on Human Sacrifice
Wall Street Journal September 30, 2012 In the 1990s, just before the handover of Hong Kong to China, there was a going-away lunch for the Canadian consul general. When I entered the venue, I thought it must be the wrong place. The hundreds of ethnic Chinese gathered for the… Read More
Beyond Rhetoric: How U.S. Communities Welcome Immigrants
New America Media September 18, 2012 On January 11, 2011, Jhuma Acharya arrived in Providence, RI after a journey that began in 1992, in Bhutan, a country tucked between India and China whose government forced ethnic minorities to leave their homes. At age 15, Acharya fled Bhutan with his… Read More
Immigrant Roots of Mega Millionaires
Millionaire Corner September 13, 2012 First and second generation Americans make up a disproportionate share of the nation’s mega millionaire investors, according to the latest Millionaire Corner research, which tracks a high degree of upward mobility among Americans born in another country, or who have foreign-born parents. Twelve percent… Read More
Immigrant Integration: How Foreign-Born Workers Compare To U.S. Citizens (INFOGRAPHIC)
Huffington Post August 28, 2012 With a growing population, integration of immigrants is becoming increasingly important. According to an Immigration Policy Center report, which drew from Census data, one in eight people in the U.S. is an immigrant. If that doesn’t put things in perspective, think about this: in… Read More
Immigrant Population Growth
Both the number and the share of immigrants in America are increasing, with the U.S. Census Bureau projecting that between 2027 and 2038 international migration will be the primary driver of U.S. population growth for the first time in two centuries.1 The trend is already underway. Between 1990 and 2014, the number of immigrants living in America more than doubled. By 2014, more than one in eight Americans were foreign-born. Immigrants play a particularly important role in California, where they make up more than one out of every four residents.
Sources:
1 U.S. Census Bureau, “International Migration is Projected to Become Primary Driver of U.S. Population Growth for First Time in Nearly Two Centuries,” press release (2013), accessed July 30, 2014. Available online.
Share of Population, Foreign-Born
Mitigating Baby Boomer Retirement
The ratio of seniors to working-age adults in America has remained relatively constant since 1980, at about 240 seniors for every 1,000 workers. With the Baby Boomers’ retirement, however, the ratio is poised to jump a stunning 67 percent in the next two decades, to 411 seniors for every 1,000 workers.2 Already, less than half the U.S.-born population is working-age, or between the ages of 25 and 64. Meanwhile, almost three-quarters of the foreign-born population fall into that age bracket, allowing them to make important contributions to both the labor force and U.S. tax coffers.
Sources:
2 Dowell Myers, “Immigrants’ Contributions in an Aging America,” Community Banking, no. Sum (2008): 3–5.
Age Breakdown of Select Populations, 2014
States with the Largest Gap Between Share of Native-Born and Foreign-Born Populations that are Working-Aged, 2014
Housing and Entitlement Contributions
Because immigrants are far more likely to be working-age, they play an important role contributing to the entitlement programs that help seniors as they age. One NAE study found that between 1996 and 2011 immigrants contributed $182.4 billion more to Medicare’s Hospital Insurance Trust Fund—the core trust fund in the program—than was expended on their care. Immigrants also have made up roughly one in seven homebuyers in recent years, often purchasing the homes of Baby Boomers as they retire.
Amount Immigrants Contributed to Entitlement Programs, 2014
States where Immigrants Made up the Largest Share of Homebuyers, 2010-2014
Fueling Growth in New Destination States
Before 1990, nearly three-quarters of immigrants lived in one of six gateway states: California, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, and Texas.3 By 2010, those states’ share had started to drop significantly, to 65 percent, as immigrants increasingly began settling in new-destination states, such as Colorado, Nevada, North Carolina, and Washington. As immigrants move into new states, they help offset brain drain and population decline, often filling positions that would have remained vacant otherwise. The more than 10,000 immigrants that moved to North Dakota between 2010 and 2014, for instance, helped fill labor gaps created when locals took well-paid jobs during the shale oil boom.4
Sources:
3 The Pew Charitable Trusts, “U.S. Immigration: National and State Trends and Actions” (November 2013). Available online.
4 Jack Nicas, “North Dakota City Draws Foreign Workers,” Wall Street Journal, 2012, sec. Business. Available online.
States with Largest Percent Increase in Number of Immigrants, 2010-2014
Voting Power and Citizenship
As more immigrants naturalize and become eligible to vote, they will continue to gain power at the voting booth. Nationally, almost 20 million foreign-born citizens were eligible to vote in the 2016 election. By 2020, that figure is projected to rise to 21.2 million. In some states, foreign-born voters are already capable of deciding elections. In Nevada, for instance, almost 256,000 immigrants were eligible to vote in 2016, a number more than nine times higher than Hillary Clinton’s margin of victory in the state that year.
Eligible Immigrant Voters Versus Number of Votes that Decided Presidential Result in Key States, 2016
Immigrants Eligible to Naturalize in Selected States and the United States, 2017
Diversifying the Electorate
Although the white working class played a significant role in the 2016 election, demographic trends mean they will see their influence decline in future electoral contests. While only 11.2 percent of the current U.S. senior population identifies as Hispanic or Asian-American, 27.8 percent of those graduating from high school in the next decade do.5 This means that between 2015 and 2024, the share of the electorate that is white is projected to decline by 4.4 percent. The share that will be both white and working class will see even steeper declines, falling by 5.5 percent. Given this reality, politicians hoping to remain competitive in key states in the future will need to ensure that they do not ignore the needs of Hispanic and Asian voters, many of whom are immigrants.
Sources:
5 2013 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates.
Projected Decline in the Share of Electorate that is White Working Class in Key States, 2015-2024
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