Looking Forward: U.S. Immigration Predictions for 2022
By CIS on December 31, 2021
In 2020, the United States experienced the highest number of arrests in history by the Border Patrol at the Mexican border, a dramatic decline in deportations (including the deportation of convicted criminals), and the granting of work permits and Social Security numbers to an estimated one million illegal immigrants. With the Biden administration’s disregard for immigration control and an apparent desire to effectively legalize illegal immigration, the Center for Immigration Studies approaches the new year with pessimism mixed with hope for the long term.
Experts at the Center share their views on the important immigration stories likely to occupy the news in 2022.
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Prediction: The overall size of the foreign-born population will continue to grow rapidly, further impacting labor force participation.
The level of immigration (legal and illegal together) will continue to increase under the Biden Administration, after falling during the Trump years, even before Covid hit. As a result, the overall size of the foreign-born population will continue to grow rapidly. It hit a record 46.2 million in November of 2021, based on the monthly Current Population Survey (CPS). While there will be variation from month to month, the overall size of foreign-born population will hit a new record high in the CPS in the coming year. Further, until like during the Trump years when labor force participation actually improved for the first time in *decades, perhaps because immigration was lower, the share of prime-age men (25-64) in the labor force (working or looking for work) will not return to the level of 2019, even if the overall economy improves.
– Dr. Steven Camarota, director of research
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Prediction: Illegal migrants will continue to be released en masse into the U.S.
https://cis.org/CIS/Looking-Forward-US-Immigration-Predictions-2022
