US Immigration from Latin America in Historical Perspective
Date of Publication
1-1-2023 12:00 AM
Security Theme
Migration
Keywords
Expand, US population, immigrant population, migration
Description
The share of US residents who were born in Latin America and the Caribbean plateaued in the last decade or so at about 6 percent of the total US population, after a half century of rapid growth. Given how politically fraught immigration has become in the United States, this fact has received surprisingly little attention. Although smaller immigrant populations from Central and South America continue to expand, the number of US residents born in Mexico—by far the most common origin country among current US immigrants—showed little net change between 2007 and 2019. Now that the great post-1960 Latin American immigration wave has reached a mature state, we take the opportunity to reflect on its evolving characteristics, primary causes, and possible future paths.
US Immigration from Latin America in Historical Perspective
The share of US residents who were born in Latin America and the Caribbean plateaued in the last decade or so at about 6 percent of the total US population, after a half century of rapid growth. Given how politically fraught immigration has become in the United States, this fact has received surprisingly little attention. Although smaller immigrant populations from Central and South America continue to expand, the number of US residents born in Mexico—by far the most common origin country among current US immigrants—showed little net change between 2007 and 2019. Now that the great post-1960 Latin American immigration wave has reached a mature state, we take the opportunity to reflect on its evolving characteristics, primary causes, and possible future paths.
