Effects of immigration to the United States

File:Naturalization_ceremony_at_Kennedy_Space_Center.jpg ceremony, Kennedy Space Center, 2010]]

The Census Bureau estimates the US population will increase from 317 million in 2014 to 417 million in 2060 with immigration, when nearly 20% will be foreign-born.{{Cite report |url=https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2015/demo/p25-1143.pdf |title=Projections of the Size and Composition of the U.S. Population: 2014 to 2060 |last1=Colby |first1=Sandra L. |last2=Ortman |first2=Jennifer M. |date=March 2015 |publisher=U.S. Department of Commerce Economics and Statistics Administration U.S. Census Bureau |pages=8–9 |access-date=May 17, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160322211558/https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2015/demo/p25-1143.pdf |archive-date=March 22, 2016 |url-status=live}} A 2015 report from the Pew Research Center projects that by 2065, non-Hispanic white people will account for 46% of the population, down from the 2005 figure of 67%.{{Cite report |url=http://www.pewhispanic.org/2015/09/28/modern-immigration-wave-brings-59-million-to-u-s-driving-population-growth-and-change-through-2065/ |title=Modern Immigration Wave Brings 59 Million to U.S., Driving Population Growth and Change Through 2065 |date=September 28, 2015 |publisher=Pew Research Center |page=1 |access-date=May 17, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160511115421/http://www.pewhispanic.org/2015/09/28/modern-immigration-wave-brings-59-million-to-u-s-driving-population-growth-and-change-through-2065/ |archive-date=May 11, 2016 |url-status=live}} Non-Hispanic white people made up 85% of the population in 1960. It also foresees the population of Hispanic people increasing from 17% in 2014 to 29% by 2060. The population of Asian people is expected to nearly double in 2060. Overall, the Pew Report predicts the population of the United States will rise from 296 million in 2005 to 441 million in 2065, but only to 338 million with no immigration.According to,{{Cite web |date=2023-07-17 |title=EU immigration to the US: where is it coming from, and is brain drain real? |url=https://www.bruegel.org/blog-post/eu-immigration-us-where-it-coming-and-brain-drain-real |access-date=2023-12-06 |website=Bruegel {{!}} The Brussels-based economic think tank |language=en}} The US has 140,000 green cards each year for employment-based immigration, of which European immigrants take 65%. Thus, more than half of the European immigrants in 2013 came from legal and labor status.

Immigrant segregation declined in the first half of the 20th century but segregation still remains high, espeically between black and white Americans. This has caused questioning of the correctness of describing the United States as a melting pot. One explanation is that groups with lower socioeconomic status concentrate in more densely-populated areas that have access to public transit while groups with higher socioeconomic status move to suburban areas. Another is that some recent immigrant groups are more culturally and linguistically different from earlier groups and prefer to live together due to factors such as communication costs. Another explanation for increased segregation is white flight.{{Cite web |last=Pais |first=Jeremey F |date=June 1, 2009 |title=WHITE FLIGHT REVISITED: A MULTIETHNIC PERSPECTIVE ON NEIGHBORHOOD OUT-MIGRATION |url=https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2778315/}}

Immigration from South Asia and elsewhere has contributed to enlarging the religious composition of the United States. Islam in the United States is growing mainly due to immigration. Hinduism in the United States, Buddhism in the United States, and Sikhism in the United States are other examples.Charles H. Lippy, Faith in America: Organized religion today (2006) ch 6 pp. 107–27 Whereas non-Christians together constitute only 4% of the U.S. population, they made up 20% of the 2003 cohort of new immigrants.{{Cite journal |last1=Massey |first1=Douglas S. |last2=Higgins |first2=Monica Espinoza |date=September 2011 |title=The Effect of Immigration on Religious Belief and Practice: A Theologizing or Alienating Experience? |journal=Social Science Research |volume=40 |issue=5 |pages=1371–89 |doi=10.1016/j.ssresearch.2010.04.012 |pmc=3629734 |pmid=23606773}} Since 1992, an estimated 1.7 million Muslims, approximately 1 million Hindus, and approximately 1 million Buddhists have immigrated legally to the United States.{{cite web |date=May 17, 2013 |title=The Religious Affiliation of U.S. Immigrants: Majority Christian, Rising Share of Other Faiths |url=http://www.pewforum.org/2013/05/17/the-religious-affiliation-of-us-immigrants/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130805044821/http://www.pewforum.org/2013/05/17/the-religious-affiliation-of-us-immigrants/ |archive-date=August 5, 2013 |website=Pew Research Center}}

Conversely, non-religious people are underrepresented in the immigrant population. Although "other" non-Christian religions are also slightly more common among immigrants than among U.S. adults—1.9% compared with 1.0%—those professing no religion are slightly under-represented among new immigrants. Whereas 12% of immigrants said they had no religion, the figure was 15% for adult Americans. This lack of representation for non-religious people could be related to stigmas around atheists and agnostics or could relate to the need for identity when entering a new country. When entering a new county, studies found that immigrants were more likely to have a religious affiliation because their affilition gives them a connection to a familar group giving them a sense of community in a new country. {{Cite web |last=Mossaad |first=Nadwa |title=Immigration Gives Catholicism a Boost in the United States |url=https://www.prb.org/resources/immigration-gives-catholicism-a-boost-in-the-united-states/}}

{{notelist}}

Source: 1990, 2000 and 2010 decennial Censuses{{cite web |title=Place of Birth for the Foreign-born Population in the United States: Foreign-born population excluding population born at sea more information |url=https://www.census.gov/newsroom/pdf/cspan_fb_slides.pdf}} and 2019 American Community Survey{{cite web |title=Place of Birth for The Foreign-Born Population In The United States {{!}} 2019: ACS 1-Year Estimates Detailed Tables |url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?t=Place%20of%20Birth&tid=ACSDT1Y2019.B05006&hidePreview=false}}

File:San_Jose_May_Day_01.jpg (2006).]]

File:Andrew_Carnegie_by_Francis_Luis_Mora.jpg led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century.]]

File:Sears_Tower_ss.jpg immigrant Fazlur Rahman Khan was responsible for the engineering design of Sears Tower (now Willis Tower),{{cite web |title=Fazlur R. Khan |url=http://www.ctbuh.org/People/FazlurRKhan/tabid/1579/language/en-US/Default.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140521214909/http://www.ctbuh.org/People/FazlurRKhan/tabid/1579/language/en-US/Default.aspx |archive-date=May 21, 2014 |access-date=May 21, 2014 |publisher=Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat}}{{cite web |title=Sears Tower – Fazlur Khan – Structural Artist of Urban Building Forms |url=http://khan.princeton.edu/khanSears.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150226045656/http://khan.princeton.edu/khanSears.html |archive-date=February 26, 2015 |access-date=May 21, 2014}} the tallest building in the world until 1998.{{cite web |title=Willis Tower – The Skyscraper Center |url=http://skyscrapercenter.com/chicago/willis-tower/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131230232024/http://skyscrapercenter.com/chicago/willis-tower/ |archive-date=December 30, 2013 |work=Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat}}]]A survey of leading economists shows a consensus for the view that high-skilled immigration makes the average American better off.{{Cite web |title=Poll Results {{!}} IGM Forum |url=http://www.igmchicago.org/igm-economic-experts-panel/poll-results?SurveyID=SV_0JtSLKwzqNSfrAF |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905120022/http://www.igmchicago.org/igm-economic-experts-panel/poll-results?SurveyID=SV_0JtSLKwzqNSfrAF |archive-date=September 5, 2015 |access-date=September 19, 2015 |website=www.igmchicago.org}} A survey of the same economists also shows strong support for the notion that low-skilled immigration makes the average American better off.{{Cite web |title=Poll Results {{!}} IGM Forum |url=http://www.igmchicago.org/igm-economic-experts-panel/poll-results?SurveyID=SV_5vuNnqkBeAMAfHv |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905120414/http://www.igmchicago.org/igm-economic-experts-panel/poll-results?SurveyID=SV_5vuNnqkBeAMAfHv |archive-date=September 5, 2015 |access-date=September 19, 2015 |website=www.igmchicago.org}} According to David Card, Christian Dustmann, and Ian Preston, "most existing studies of the economic impacts of immigration suggest these impacts are small, and on average benefit the native population".{{Cite journal |last1=Card |first1=David |last2=Dustmann |first2=Christian |last3=Preston |first3=Ian |date=February 1, 2012 |title=Immigration, Wages, and Compositional Amenities |url=http://www.nber.org/papers/w15521.pdf |journal=Journal of the European Economic Association |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=78–119 |doi=10.1111/j.1542-4774.2011.01051.x |issn=1542-4774 |s2cid=154303869}} In a survey of the existing literature, Örn B Bodvarsson and Hendrik Van den Berg wrote, "a comparison of the evidence from all the studies ... makes it clear that, with very few exceptions, there is no strong statistical support for the view held by many members of the public, namely that immigration has an adverse effect on native-born workers in the destination country".{{Cite book |last1=Bodvarsson |first1=Örn B |title=The economics of immigration: theory and policy |last2=Van den Berg |first2=Hendrik |date=2013 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1461421153 |location=New York; Heidelberg [u.a.] |page=157 |oclc=852632755}}

Whereas the impact on the average native tends to be small and positive, studies show more mixed results for low-skilled natives, but whether the effects are positive or negative, they tend to be small.{{multiref2|{{Cite journal |last=Card |first=David |title=The Impact of the Mariel Boatlift on the Miami Labor Market |journal=Industrial and Labor Relations Review |volume=43 |issue=2 |year=1990 |pages=245–57 |doi=10.1177/001979399004300205 |s2cid=15116852 |url=http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dsp016h440s46f }}|{{Cite journal|last1=Foged|first1=Mette|last2=Peri|first2=Giovanni|title=Immigrants' Effect on Native Workers: New Analysis on Longitudinal Data |journal=American Economic Journal: Applied Economics|volume=8|issue=2|pages=1–34|doi=10.1257/app.20150114|year=2016|s2cid=5245205 |url=https://www.aeaweb.org/aej/app/app/0802/2015-0114_app.pdf}}|{{Cite journal|last=Borjas|first=George J.|date=November 1, 2003|title=The Labor Demand Curve is Downward Sloping: Reexamining the Impact of Immigration on the Labor Market |journal=The Quarterly Journal of Economics|language=en|volume=118|issue=4|pages=1335–74|doi=10.1162/003355303322552810|issn=0033-5533|citeseerx=10.1.1.183.1227}}|{{Cite journal|last1=Chassamboulli|first1=Andri|last2=Peri|first2=Giovanni|date=October 1, 2015|title=The labor market effects of reducing the number of illegal immigrants |journal=Review of Economic Dynamics|volume=18|issue=4|pages=792–821|doi=10.1016/j.red.2015.07.005|s2cid=16242107|url=http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/38v6c3b3}}|{{Cite journal |first1=Sari Pekkala |last1=Kerr |first2=William R. |last2=Kerr |year=2011 |title=Economic Impacts of Immigration: A Survey |journal=Finnish Economic Papers |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=1–32 |url=https://www.taloustieteellinenyhdistys.fi/images/stories/fep/fep12011/fep12011_kerr_and_kerr.pdf }}|{{Cite journal|last1=Longhi|first1=Simonetta|last2=Nijkamp|first2=Peter|last3=Poot|first3=Jacques|date=July 1, 2005|title=A Meta-Analytic Assessment of the Effect of Immigration on Wages |journal=Journal of Economic Surveys|language=en|volume=19|issue=3|pages=451–77|doi=10.1111/j.0950-0804.2005.00255.x|issn=1467-6419 |citeseerx=10.1.1.594.7035}}|{{Cite journal|last1=Longhi|first1=Simonetta|last2=Nijkamp|first2=Peter|last3=Poot|first3=Jacques|date=October 1, 2010|title=Meta-Analyses of Labour-Market Impacts of Immigration: Key Conclusions and Policy Implications |journal=Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy|language=en|volume=28|issue=5|pages=819–33|doi=10.1068/c09151r|bibcode=2010EnPlC..28..819L |s2cid=154749568|issn=0263-774X}}|{{Cite journal|last=Okkerse|first=Liesbet|date=February 1, 2008|title=How to Measure Labour Market Effects of Immigration: A Review |journal=Journal of Economic Surveys|language=en|volume=22|issue=1|pages=1–30|doi=10.1111/j.1467-6419.2007.00533.x|s2cid=55145701|issn=1467-6419 }}|{{Cite journal|last1=Ottaviano|first1=Gianmarco I. P.|last2=Peri|first2=Giovanni|date=February 1, 2012|title=Rethinking the Effect of Immigration on Wages |journal=Journal of the European Economic Association|language=en|volume=10|issue=1|pages=152–97|doi=10.1111/j.1542-4774.2011.01052.x|issn=1542-4774 |citeseerx=|s2cid=154634966 }}|{{Cite journal|last1=Battisti|first1=Michele|last2=Felbermayr|first2=Gabriel|last3=Peri|first3=Giovanni|last4=Poutvaara|first4=Panu|date=May 1, 2014|title=Immigration, Search, and Redistribution: A Quantitative Assessment of Native Welfare|doi=10.3386/w20131 |journal=NBER Working Paper No. 20131 |doi-access=free}}

}}{{multiref2|{{Cite journal|last=Card|first=David|year=2005|title=Is the New Immigration Really So Bad?|journal=Economic Journal|volume=115|issue=506|pages=F300–F323|doi=10.1111/j.1468-0297.2005.01037.x|s2cid=1601285|url=http://www.nber.org/papers/w11547.pdf|doi-access=free}}|{{Cite journal|last1=Dustmann|first1=Christian|last2=Glitz|first2=Albrecht|last3=Frattini|first3=Tommaso|date=September 21, 2008|title=The labour market impact of immigration |journal=Oxford Review of Economic Policy|language=en|volume=24|issue=3|pages=477–94|doi=10.1093/oxrep/grn024|issn=0266-903X|citeseerx=10.1.1.521.9523}}|{{Cite web|url=https://blogs.imf.org/2016/10/24/migrants-bring-economic-benefits-for-advanced-economies/|title=Migrants Bring Economic Benefits for Advanced Economies|date=October 24, 2016|website=iMFdirect - The IMF Blog|author1=Florence Jaumotte|author2=Ksenia Koloskova|author3=Sweta Saxena}}|{{Cite web|url=http://voxeu.org/article/immigration-and-macroeconomy|title=Immigration and the macroeconomy: Some new empirical evidence|last1=Furlanetto|first1=Francesco|last2=Robstad|first2=Ørjan|date=December 10, 2016|website=VoxEU.org}}|{{Cite journal|last=Constant|first=Amelie|date=May 1, 2014|title=Do migrants take the jobs of native workers?|url=http://wol.iza.org/articles/do-migrants-take-the-jobs-of-native-workers|journal=IZA World of Labor|language=en|doi=10.15185/izawol.10|doi-access=free}}|{{Cite book|title=The Economic and Fiscal Consequences of Immigration|last1=Immigration|first1=Panel on the Economic and Fiscal Consequences of|last2=Statistics|first2=Committee on National|last3=Education|first3=Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and|last4=Sciences|first4=National Academies of|last5=Engineering|last6=Medicine|first6=and|year=2016|isbn=978-0309444422|language=en|doi=10.17226/23550|hdl=10919/83151|url=http://www.ncsl.org/documents/taskforces/NAS_EconomicImpactsStates_chapter9.pdf|access-date=2022-05-08|archive-date=2022-06-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220609211558/https://www.ncsl.org/documents/taskforces/NAS_EconomicImpactsStates_chapter9.pdf|url-status=dead}}

}} Research has also found that migration leads to greater trade in goods and services.{{multiref2|{{Cite web|url=http://www.voxeu.org/article/cross-border-movement-persons-stimulates-trade|title=Cross-border movement of persons stimulates trade|last1=Aner|first1=Emilie|last2=Graneli|first2=Anna|date=October 14, 2015|website=VoxEU.org|publisher=Centre for Economic Policy Research|last3=Lodefolk|first3=Magnus|access-date=October 19, 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017024630/http://www.voxeu.org/article/cross-border-movement-persons-stimulates-trade|archive-date=October 17, 2015}}|{{Cite journal|last1=Bratti|first1=Massimiliano|last2=Benedictis|first2=Luca De|last3=Santoni|first3=Gianluca|date=April 18, 2014|title=On the pro-trade effects of immigrants |journal=Review of World Economics|volume=150|issue=3|pages=557–94|doi=10.1007/s10290-014-0191-8|hdl=11393/195448|s2cid=4981719|issn=1610-2878|url=https://dipot.ulb.ac.be/dspace/bitstream/2013/141126/1/wp13014.pdf|hdl-access=free}}|{{Cite journal|last1=Foley|first1=C. Fritz|last2=Kerr|first2=William R.|year=2013 |title=Ethnic Innovation and U.S. Multinational Firm Activity |journal=Management Science |volume=59 |issue=7 |pages=1529–44 |doi=10.1287/mnsc.1120.1684 |citeseerx=10.1.1.361.36|s2cid=7275466}}|{{Cite journal|last1=Dany|first1=Bahar|last2=Rapoport|first2=Hillel |title=Migration, knowledge diffusion and the comparative advantage of nations|url=http://scholar.harvard.edu/dbaharc/publications/migration-knowledge-diffusion-and-comparative-advantage-nations|author2-link=Hillel Rapoport |author1-link=Dany Bahar (economist) }}

}}

Immigrants may often do types of work that natives are largely unwilling to do, contributing to greater economic prosperity for the economy as a whole: for instance, Mexican migrant workers taking up manual farm work in the United States has close to zero effect on native employment in that occupation, which means that the effect of Mexican workers on U.S. employment outside farm work was therefore most likely positive, since they raised overall economic productivity.{{Cite web |title=IZA – Institute for the Study of Labor |url=http://legacy.iza.org/en/webcontent/publications/papers/viewAbstract?dp_id=10492 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170207031610/http://legacy.iza.org/en/webcontent/publications/papers/viewAbstract?dp_id=10492 |archive-date=February 7, 2017 |access-date=February 6, 2017 |website=legacy.iza.org}} Research indicates that immigrants are more likely to work in risky jobs than U.S.-born workers, partly due to differences in average characteristics, such as immigrants' lower English language ability and educational attainment.{{Cite journal |last1=Pia m. Orrenius |first1=P. M. |last2=Zavodny |first2=M. |year=2009 |title=Do Immigrants Work in Riskier Jobs? |journal=Demography |volume=46 |issue=3 |pages=535–51 |doi=10.1353/dem.0.0064 |pmc=2831347 |pmid=19771943}} Further, some studies indicate that higher ethnic concentration in metropolitan areas is positively related to the probability of self-employment of immigrants.{{cite journal |last=Toussaint-Comeau |first=Maude |year=2005 |title=Do Enclaves Matter in Immigrants' Self-Employment Decision? |url=http://www.chicagofed.org/digital_assets/publications/working_papers/2005/wp2005_23.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Working Paper 2005-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020170300/https://www.chicagofed.org/digital_assets/publications/working_papers/2005/wp2005_23.pdf |archive-date=October 20, 2012}}

Research also suggests that diversity has a net positive effect on productivity{{Cite journal |last1=Ottaviano |first1=Gianmarco I. P. |last2=Peri |first2=Giovanni |date=January 1, 2006 |title=The economic value of cultural diversity: evidence from US cities |url=http://www.nber.org/papers/w10904.pdf |journal=Journal of Economic Geography |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=9–44 |doi=10.1093/jeg/lbi002 |issn=1468-2702 |hdl-access=free |hdl=10.1093/jeg/lbi002}}{{Cite journal |last=Peri |first=Giovanni |date=October 7, 2010 |title=The Effect Of Immigration On Productivity: Evidence From U.S. States |url=http://www.nber.org/papers/w15507.pdf |journal=Review of Economics and Statistics |volume=94 |issue=1 |pages=348–58 |doi=10.1162/REST_a_00137 |issn=0034-6535 |s2cid=17957545}} and economic prosperity.{{Cite journal |last1=Alesina |first1=Alberto |last2=Harnoss |first2=Johann |last3=Rapoport |first3=Hillel |author3-link=Hillel Rapoport |date=February 17, 2016 |title=Birthplace diversity and economic prosperity |url=http://www.nber.org/papers/w18699.pdf |journal=Journal of Economic Growth |language=en |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=101–38 |doi=10.1007/s10887-016-9127-6 |issn=1381-4338 |s2cid=34712861}}{{multiref2|{{Cite web|url=http://sites.uclouvain.be/econ/DP/IRES/2016028.pdf|title=Multiculturalism and Growth: Skill-Specific Evidence from the Post-World War II Period|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220100752/http://sites.uclouvain.be/econ/DP/IRES/2016028.pdf|archive-date=December 20, 2016}}|{{Cite journal|last1=Bove|first1=Vincenzo|last2=Elia|first2=Leandro|date=January 1, 2017|title=Migration, Diversity, and Economic Growth |journal=World Development|volume=89|pages=227–39|doi=10.1016/j.worlddev.2016.08.012|doi-access=free}}|{{Cite web|url=http://voxeu.org/article/diversity-and-economic-development|title=Cultural heterogeneity and economic development|last1=Bove|first1=Vincenzo|last2=Elia|first2=Leandro|date=November 16, 2016|website=VoxEU.org|access-date=November 16, 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161117064627/http://voxeu.org/article/diversity-and-economic-development|archive-date=November 17, 2016}}

}} A study by Nathan Nunn, Nancy Qian and Sandra Sequeira found that the Age of Mass Migration (1850–1920) has had substantially beneficial long-term effects on U.S. economic prosperity: "locations with more historical immigration today have higher incomes, less poverty, less unemployment, higher rates of urbanization, and greater educational attainment. The long-run effects appear to arise from the persistence of sizeable short-run benefits, including earlier and more intensive industrialization, increased agricultural productivity, and more innovation."{{Cite journal |last1=Qian |first1=Nancy |last2=Nunn |first2=Nathan |last3=Sequeira |first3=Sandra |year=2020 |title=Immigrants and the Making of America |journal=The Review of Economic Studies |language=en |volume=87 |pages=382–419 |doi=10.1093/restud/rdz003 |s2cid=53597318}} The authors also found that the immigration had short-term benefits: "that there is no evidence that these long-run benefits come at short-run costs. In fact, immigration immediately led to economic benefits that took the form of higher incomes, higher productivity, more innovation, and more industrialization".

Using 130 years of data on historical migrations to the United States, one study found "that a doubling of the number of residents with ancestry from a given foreign country relative to the mean increases by 4.2 percentage points the probability that at least one local firm invests in that country, and increases by 31% the number of employees at domestic recipients of FDI from that country. The size of these effects increases with the ethnic diversity of the local population, the geographic distance to the origin country, and the ethno-linguistic fractionalization of the origin country."{{Cite journal |last1=Burchardi |first1=Konrad B. |last2=Chaney |first2=Thomas |last3=Hassan |first3=Tarek A. |date=January 2016 |title=Migrants, Ancestors, and Investment |journal=NBER Working Paper No. 21847 |doi=10.3386/w21847 |doi-access=free}}

Some research suggests that immigration can offset some of the adverse effects of automation on native labor outcomes in the United States.{{Cite journal |last1=Basso |first1=Gaetano |last2=Peri |first2=Giovanni |last3=Rahman |first3=Ahmed |date=October 2017 |title=Computerization and Immigration: Theory and Evidence from the United States |journal=NBER Working Paper No. 23935 |doi=10.3386/w23935 |doi-access=free}}{{Cite web |last1=Basso |first1=Gaetano |last2=Peri |first2=Giovanni |last3=Rahman |first3=Ahmed |date=January 12, 2018 |title=The impact of immigration on wage distributions in the era of technical automation |url=http://voxeu.org/article/immigration-era-automation |access-date=January 12, 2018 |website=VoxEU.org}} By increasing overall demand, immigrants could push natives out of low-skilled manual labor into better-paying occupations. A 2018 study in the American Economic Review found that the Bracero program (which allowed almost half a million Mexican workers to do seasonal farm labor in the United States) did not have any adverse impact on the labor market outcomes of American-born farm workers.{{Cite journal |last1=Clemens |first1=Michael A. |last2=Lewis |first2=Ethan G. |last3=Postel |first3=Hannah M. |date=2018 |title=Immigration Restrictions as Active Labor Market Policy: Evidence from the Mexican Bracero Exclusion |journal=American Economic Review |language=en |volume=108 |issue=6 |pages=1468–87 |doi=10.1257/aer.20170765 |issn=0002-8282 |pmc=6040835 |pmid=30008480}}

Overall immigration has not had much effect on native wage inequality,{{Cite journal |last=Card |first=David |date=April 1, 2009 |title=Immigration and Inequality |journal=American Economic Review |volume=99 |issue=2 |pages=1–21 |citeseerx=10.1.1.412.9244 |doi=10.1257/aer.99.2.1 |issn=0002-8282 |s2cid=154716407}}{{Cite journal |last1=Green |first1=Alan G. |last2=Green |first2=David A. |date=June 1, 2016 |title=Immigration and the Canadian Earnings Distribution in the First Half of the Twentieth Century |url=https://zenodo.org/record/895711 |journal=The Journal of Economic History |volume=76 |issue=2 |pages=387–426 |doi=10.1017/S0022050716000541 |issn=1471-6372 |s2cid=156620314}} but low-skill immigration has been linked to greater income inequality in the native population.{{Cite journal |last1=Xu |first1=Ping |last2=Garand |first2=James C. |last3=Zhu |first3=Ling |date=September 23, 2015 |title=Imported Inequality? Immigration and Income Inequality in the American States |url=https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/psc_facpubs/5 |journal=State Politics & Policy Quarterly |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=147–71 |doi=10.1177/1532440015603814 |issn=1532-4400 |s2cid=155197472}}

A 2011 literature review of the economic impacts of immigration found that the net fiscal impact of migrants varies across studies but that the most credible analyses typically find small and positive fiscal effects on average.{{Cite journal |last1=Kerr |first1=Sari Pekkala |last2=Kerr |first2=William R. |year=2011 |title=Economic Impacts of Immigration: A Survey |url=https://www.taloustieteellinenyhdistys.fi/images/stories/fep/fep12011/fep12011_kerr_and_kerr.pdf |journal=Finnish Economic Papers |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=1–32}} According to the authors, "the net social impact of an immigrant over his or her lifetime depends substantially and in predictable ways on the immigrant's age at arrival, education, reason for migration, and similar".

A 2016 report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine concluded that over a 75-year time horizon, "the fiscal impacts of immigrants are generally positive at the federal level and generally negative at the state and local level".{{Cite web |title=New Report Assesses the Economic and Fiscal Consequences of Immigration |url=http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=23550 |access-date=April 3, 2017}} The reason for the costs to state and local governments is that the cost of educating the immigrants' children is paid by state and local governments.{{Cite news |title=The case for immigration |work=Vox |url=https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/4/3/14624918/the-case-for-immigration |url-status=live |access-date=April 3, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170403155151/http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/4/3/14624918/the-case-for-immigration |archive-date=April 3, 2017}} According to a 2007 literature review by the Congressional Budget Office, "Over the past two decades, most efforts to estimate the fiscal impact of immigration in the United States have concluded that, in aggregate and over the long-term, tax revenues of all types generated by immigrants—both legal and unauthorized—exceed the cost of the services they use."{{Cite web |date=December 6, 2007 |title=The Impact of Unauthorized Immigrants on the Budgets of State and Local Governments |url=https://www.cbo.gov/publication/41645 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160722162216/https://www.cbo.gov/publication/41645 |archive-date=July 22, 2016 |access-date=June 28, 2016}}

According to James Smith, a senior economist at Santa Monica-based RAND Corporation and lead author of the United States National Research Council's study "The New Americans: Economic, Demographic, and Fiscal Effects of Immigration", immigrants contribute as much as $10 billion to the U.S. economy each year. The NRC report found that although immigrants, especially those from Latin America, caused a net loss in terms of taxes paid versus social services received, immigration can provide an overall gain to the domestic economy due to an increase in pay for higher-skilled workers, lower prices for goods and services produced by immigrant labor, and more efficiency and lower wages for some owners of capital. The report also notes that although immigrant workers compete with domestic workers for low-skilled jobs, some immigrants specialize in activities that otherwise would not exist in an area, and thus can be beneficial for all domestic residents.{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}}

Immigration and foreign labor documentation fees increased over 80% in 2007, with over 90% of funding for USCIS derived from immigration application fees, creating many USCIS jobs involving immigration to the US, such as immigration interview officials, fingerprint processors, Department of Homeland Security, etc.{{cite web |title=Report to Congressional Requesters: January 2009 |url=http://www.gao.gov/assets/290/285071.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304063112/http://www.gao.gov/assets/290/285071.html |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |access-date=March 16, 2013 |publisher=United States Government Accountability Office}}

{{main|Economic impact of illegal immigrants in the United States}}

Research on the economic effects of undocumented immigrants is scant but existing peer-reviewed studies suggest that the effects are positive for the native population{{Cite journal |last=Palivos |first=Theodore |date=June 4, 2008 |title=Welfare effects of illegal immigration |url=http://aphrodite.uom.gr/econwp/pdf/immigration1.pdf |journal=Journal of Population Economics |language=en |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=131–44 |doi=10.1007/s00148-007-0182-3 |issn=0933-1433 |s2cid=154625546 |access-date=May 8, 2022 |archive-date=December 12, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191212040457/http://aphrodite.uom.gr/econwp/pdf/immigration1.pdf |url-status=dead }}{{Cite journal |last=Liu |first=Xiangbo |date=December 1, 2010 |title=On the macroeconomic and welfare effects of illegal immigration |url=https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/15469/1/MPRA_paper_15469.pdf |journal=Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control |volume=34 |issue=12 |pages=2547–67 |doi=10.1016/j.jedc.2010.06.030}} and public coffers. A 2015 study shows that "increasing deportation rates and tightening border control weakens low-skilled labor markets, increasing unemployment of native low-skilled workers. Legalization, instead, decreases the unemployment rate of low-skilled natives and increases income per native."{{Cite journal |last1=Chassamboulli |first1=Andri |last2=Peri |first2=Giovanni |date=October 1, 2015 |title=The labor market effects of reducing the number of illegal immigrants |url=http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/38v6c3b3 |journal=Review of Economic Dynamics |volume=18 |issue=4 |pages=792–821 |doi=10.1016/j.red.2015.07.005 |s2cid=16242107}} Studies show that legalization of undocumented immigrants would boost the U.S. economy; a 2013 study found that granting legal status to undocumented immigrants would raise their incomes by a quarter (increasing U.S. GDP by approximately $1.4 trillion over a ten-year period),{{Cite web |title=The Economic Effects of Granting Legal Status and Citizenship to Undocumented Immigrants |url=https://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/EconomicEffectsCitizenship-6.pdf |access-date=2022-05-08 |archive-date=2022-09-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220914090655/https://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/EconomicEffectsCitizenship-6.pdf |url-status=dead }} and 2016 study found that "legalization would increase the economic contribution of the unauthorized population by about 20%, to 3.6% of private-sector GDP."{{Cite journal |last1=Edwards |first1=Ryan |last2=Ortega |first2=Francesc |date=November 2016 |title=The Economic Contribution of Unauthorized Workers: An Industry Analysis |journal=NBER Working Paper No. 22834 |doi=10.3386/w22834 |doi-access=free}}

A 2007 literature by the Congressional Budget Office found that estimating the fiscal effects of undocumented immigrants has proven difficult: "currently available estimates have significant limitations; therefore, using them to determine an aggregate effect across all states would be difficult and prone to considerable error". The impact of undocumented immigrants differs on federal levels than state and local levels, with research suggesting modest fiscal costs at the state and local levels but with substantial fiscal gains at the federal level.{{Cite web |title=Fear vs. Facts: Examining the Economic Impact of Undocumented Immigrants in the U.S. |url=http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/jrlsasw39&div=42&id=&page= |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525112458/http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals%2Fjrlsasw39&div=42&id=&page= |archive-date=May 25, 2017 |access-date=February 9, 2017 |website=heinonline.org}}

In 2009, a study by the Cato Institute, a free market think tank, found that legalization of low-skilled illegal resident workers in the US would result in a net increase in US GDP of $180 billion over ten years. The Cato Institute study did not examine the impact on per capita income for most Americans. Jason Riley notes that because of progressive income taxation, in which the top 1% of earners pay 37% of federal income taxes (even though they actually pay a lower tax percentage based on their income), 60% of Americans collect more in government services than they pay in, which also reflects on immigrants. In any event, the typical immigrant and their children will pay a net $80,000 more in their lifetime than they collect in government services according to the NAS. Legal immigration policy is set to maximize net taxation. Illegal immigrants even after an amnesty tend to be recipients of more services than they pay in taxes. In 2010, an econometrics study by a Rutgers economist found that immigration helped increase bilateral trade when the incoming people were connected via networks to their country of origin, particularly boosting trade of final goods as opposed to intermediate goods, but that the trade benefit weakened when the immigrants became assimilated into American culture.{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}}

According to NPR in 2005, about 3% of illegal immigrants were working in agriculture."[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4703307 Study Details Lives of Illegal Immigrants in U.S.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111226223541/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4703307|date=December 26, 2011}}". NPR. June 14, 2005. The H-2A visa allows U.S. employers to bring foreign nationals to the United States to fill temporary agricultural jobs."[http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=889f0b89284a3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=889f0b89284a3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD H-2A Temporary Agricultural Workers]". U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The passing of tough immigration laws in several states from around 2009 provides a number of practical case studies. The state of Georgia passed immigration law HB 87 in 2011;{{cite web |title=Georgia General Assembly: HB 87 – Illegal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Act of 2011 |url=http://www1.legis.ga.gov/legis/2011_12/sum/hb87.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120502025309/http://www1.legis.ga.gov/legis/2011_12/sum/hb87.htm |archive-date=May 2, 2012 |access-date=April 25, 2012 |publisher=.legis.ga.gov}} this led, according to the coalition of top Kansas businesses, to 50% of its agricultural produce being left to rot in the fields, at a cost to the state of more than $400 million. Overall losses caused by the act were $1 billion; it was estimated that the figure would become over $20 billion if all the estimated 325,000 unauthorized workers left Georgia. The cost to Alabama of its crackdown in June 2011 has been estimated at almost $11 billion, with up to 80,000 unauthorized immigrant workers leaving the state.[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/feb/02/kansas-prepares-clash-unauthorised-migrants Guardian newspaper: Kansas prepares for clash of wills over future of unauthorised immigrants] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170208035816/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/feb/02/kansas-prepares-clash-unauthorised-migrants|date=February 8, 2017}} – Coalition of top [Kansas] businesses launch new legislation that would help undocumented Hispanics gain federal work permission. February 2, 2012

Studies of refugees' impact on native welfare are scant but the existing literature shows a positive fiscal impact and mixed results (negative, positive and no significant effects) on native welfare.{{Cite web |title=Economic Impact of Refugees in the Cleveland Area |url=http://www.hias.org/sites/default/files/clevelandrefugeeeconomic-impact.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151106140750/http://www.hias.org/sites/default/files/clevelandrefugeeeconomic-impact.pdf |archive-date=November 6, 2015 |access-date=February 7, 2017}}{{Cite journal |last=Cortes |first=Kalena E. |date=March 1, 2004 |title=Are Refugees Different from Economic Immigrants? Some Empirical Evidence on the Heterogeneity of Immigrant Groups in the United States |location=Rochester, NY |doi=10.2139/ssrn.524605 |ssrn=524605|url=https://econpapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp1063 }}{{Cite journal |last1=Evans |first1=William N. |last2=Fitzgerald |first2=Daniel |date=June 2017 |title=The Economic and Social Outcomes of Refugees in the United States: Evidence from the ACS |journal=NBER Working Paper No. 23498 |doi=10.3386/w23498 |doi-access=free}}{{Cite news |last1=Davis |first1=Julie Hirschfeld |last2=Sengupta |first2=Somini |date=September 18, 2017 |title=Trump Administration Rejects Study Showing Positive Impact of Refugees |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/18/us/politics/refugees-revenue-cost-report-trump.html |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=September 19, 2017 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220103/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/18/us/politics/refugees-revenue-cost-report-trump.html |archive-date=2022-01-03 |issn=0362-4331}}{{cbignore}} A 2017 paper by Evans and Fitzgerald found that refugees to the United States pay "$21,000 more in taxes than they receive in benefits over their first 20 years in the U.S." An internal study by the Department of Health and Human Services under the Trump administration, which was suppressed and not shown to the public, found that refugees to the United States brought in $63 billion more in government revenues than they cost the government. According to labor economist Giovanni Peri, the existing literature suggests that there are no economic reasons why the American labor market could not easily absorb 100,000 Syrian refugees in a year.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}} Refugees integrate more slowly into host countries' labor markets than labor migrants, in part due to the loss and depreciation of human capital and credentials during the asylum procedure.{{Cite journal |last1=Bevelander |first1=Pieter |last2=Malmö |first2=University of |date=May 1, 2016 |title=Integrating refugees into labor markets |url=http://wol.iza.org/articles/integrating-refugees-into-labor-markets/long |journal=IZA World of Labor |doi=10.15185/izawol.269 |doi-access=free}}

File:Chinatown_manhattan_2009.JPG]]According to one survey of the existing economic literature, "much of the existing research points towards positive net contributions by immigrant entrepreneurs".{{Cite journal |last1=Fairlie |first1=Robert W. |last2=Lofstrom |first2=Magnus |date=January 1, 2013 |title=Immigration and Entrepreneurship |journal=IZA Discussion Papers |url=https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp7669.html |url-status=live |publisher=Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160816151426/https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp7669.html |archive-date=August 16, 2016}} Areas where immigrants are more prevalent in the United States have substantially more innovation (as measured by patenting and citations).{{Cite journal |last1=Akcigit |first1=Ufuk |last2=Grigsby |first2=John |last3=Nicholas |first3=Tom |date=2017 |title=Immigration and the Rise of American Ingenuity |url=http://www.nber.org/papers/w23137.pdf |journal=American Economic Review |volume=107 |issue=5 |pages=327–31 |doi=10.1257/aer.p20171021 |s2cid=35552861}} Immigrants to the United States start businesses at higher rates than natives.{{Cite book |last1=Kerr |first1=Sari Pekkala |url=http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:27864359 |title=Measuring Entrepreneurial Businesses: Current Knowledge and Challenges |last2=Kerr |first2=William R. |year=2017 |editor-last=Haltiwanger |chapter=Immigrant Entrepreneurship |doi=10.3386/w22385 |s2cid=244385964 |editor2-last=Hurst |editor3-last=Miranda |editor4-last=Schoar}} According to a 2018 paper, "first-generation immigrants create about 25% of new firms in the United States, but this share exceeds 40% in some states".{{Cite journal |last1=Kerr |first1=Sari Pekkala |last2=Kerr |first2=William R. |date=April 2018 |title=Immigrant Entrepreneurship in America: Evidence from the Survey of Business Owners 2007 & 2012 |journal=NBER Working Paper No. 24494 |doi=10.3386/w24494 |doi-access=free}} Another 2018 paper links H-1B visa holders to innovation.{{Cite journal |last1=Khanna |first1=Gaurav |last2=Lee |first2=Munseob |date=2018 |title=High-Skill Immigration, Innovation, and Creative Destruction |journal=NBER Working Paper No. 24824 |doi=10.3386/w24824 |doi-access=free}}

Immigrants have been linked to greater invention and innovation in the US.{{Cite journal |last=Kerr |first=William R. |date=January 1, 2010 |title=Breakthrough inventions and migrating clusters of innovation |url=http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/10-020.pdf |journal=Journal of Urban Economics |series=Special Issue: Cities and EntrepreneurshipSponsored by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation (www.kauffman.org) |volume=67 |issue=1 |pages=46–60 |doi=10.1016/j.jue.2009.09.006}} According to one report, "immigrants have started more than half (44 of 87) of America's startup companies valued at $1 billion or more and are key members of management or product development teams in over 70 percent (62 of 87) of these companies".{{Cite web |title=Immigrants and Billion Dollar Startups |url=http://nfap.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Immigrants-and-Billion-Dollar-Startups.NFAP-Policy-Brief.March-2016.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161107052023/http://nfap.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Immigrants-and-Billion-Dollar-Startups.NFAP-Policy-Brief.March-2016.pdf |archive-date=November 7, 2016}} Foreign doctoral students are a major source of innovation in the American economy.{{Cite journal |last1=Stuen |first1=Eric T. |last2=Mobarak |first2=Ahmed Mushfiq |last3=Maskus |first3=Keith E. |date=December 1, 2012 |title=Skilled Immigration and Innovation: Evidence from Enrolment Fluctuations in US Doctoral Programmes |journal=The Economic Journal |language=en |volume=122 |issue=565 |pages=1143–76 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-0297.2012.02543.x |issn=1468-0297 |s2cid=19741509}} In the United States, immigrant workers hold a disproportionate share of jobs in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM): "In 2013, foreign-born workers accounted for 19.2 percent of STEM workers with a bachelor's degree, 40.7 percent of those with a master's degree, and more than half—54.5 percent—of those with a PhD"{{Cite web |title=Immigrants Play a Key Role in STEM Fields |url=https://www.nber.org/digest/nov16/w22623.html}}

The Kauffman Foundation's index of entrepreneurial activity is nearly 40% higher for immigrants than for natives. Immigrants were involved in the founding of many prominent American high-tech companies, such as Google, Yahoo, YouTube, Sun Microsystems, and eBay.{{Cite web |last=Hubbard |first=Steven |date=August 9, 2023 |title=Fortune 500 Companies with Immigrant Roots Generated More Money Than the GDP of Most Western Nations |url=https://immigrationimpact.com/2023/08/29/immigrant-fortune-500-companies-gdp/}}

{{Main|Immigration policies of American labor unions}}

The American Federation of Labor (AFL), a coalition of labor unions formed in the 1880s, vigorously opposed unrestricted immigration from Europe for moral, cultural, and racial reasons. The issue unified the workers who feared that an influx of new workers would flood the labor market and lower wages.{{cite journal |last=Collomp |first=Catherine |date=October 1988 |title=Unions, civics, and National identity: organized Labor's reaction to immigration, 1881–1897 |journal=Labor History |volume=29 |issue=4 |pages=450–74 |doi=10.1080/00236568800890311}} Nativism was not a factor because upwards of half the union members were themselves immigrants or the sons of immigrants from Ireland, Germany and Britain. However, nativism was a factor when the AFL even more strenuously opposed all immigration from Asia because it represented (to its Euro-American members) an alien culture that could not be assimilated into American society. The AFL intensified its opposition after 1906 and was instrumental in passing immigration restriction bills from the 1890s to the 1920s, such as the 1921 Emergency Quota Act and the Immigration Act of 1924, and seeing that they were strictly enforced.{{cite book |last=Mink |first=Gwendolyn |title=Old Labor and New Immigrants in American Political Development: Union, Party, and State, 1875–1920 |publisher=Cornell University Press |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-8014-9680-6 |location=Ithaca}}{{cite journal |last=Lane |first=A.T. |date=January 1984 |title=American trade unions, mass immigration and the literacy test: 1900–1917 |journal=Labor History |volume=25 |issue=1 |pages=5–25 |doi=10.1080/00236568408584739}} Mink (1986) concluded that the AFL and the Democratic Party were linked partly on the basis of immigration issues, noting the large corporations, which supported the Republicans, wanted more immigration to augment their labor force.

United Farm Workers during Cesar Chavez tenure was committed to restricting immigration. Chavez and Dolores Huerta, cofounder and president of the UFW, fought the Bracero Program that existed from 1942 to 1964. Their opposition stemmed from their belief that the program undermined U.S. workers and exploited the migrant workers. Since the Bracero Program ensured a constant supply of cheap immigrant labor for growers, immigrants could not protest any infringement of their rights, lest they be fired and replaced. Their efforts contributed to Congress ending the Bracero Program in 1964. In 1973, the UFW was one of the first labor unions to oppose proposed employer sanctions that would have prohibited hiring illegal immigrants.

On a few occasions, concerns that illegal immigrant labor would undermine UFW strike campaigns led to a number of controversial events, which the UFW describes as anti-strikebreaking events, but which have also been interpreted as being anti-immigrant. In 1973, Chavez and members of the UFW marched through the Imperial and Coachella Valleys to the border of Mexico to protest growers' use of illegal immigrants as strikebreakers. Joining him on the march were Reverend Ralph Abernathy and U.S. Senator Walter Mondale.{{Cite web |date=January 19, 2011 |title=Today in History: August 22 |url=http://memory.loc.gov:8081/ammem/today/aug22.html |website=Library of Congress:American Memory}} In its early years, the UFW and Chavez went so far as to report illegal immigrants who served as strikebreaking replacement workers (as well as those who refused to unionize) to the Immigration and Naturalization Service.{{cite book |last=Gutiérrez |first=David Gregory |url=https://archive.org/details/wallsmirrorsmexi0000guti |title=Walls and Mirrors: Mexican Americans, Mexican Immigrants and the Politics of Ethnicity |publisher=University of California Press |year=1995 |isbn=978-0520916869 |location=San Diego |pages=[https://archive.org/details/wallsmirrorsmexi0000guti/page/97 97]–98 |quote=UFW report undocumented. |url-access=registration}}{{cite web |last1=Irvine |first1=Reed |last2=Kincaid |first2=Cliff |title=Why Journalists Support Illegal Immigration |url=http://www.aim.org/publications/media_monitor/2003/03/05.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151203084534/http://www.aim.org/publications/media_monitor/2003/03/05.html |archive-date=December 3, 2015 |access-date=June 18, 2014 |publisher=Accuracy in the Media}}{{cite book |last=Wells |first=Miriam J. |url=https://archive.org/details/strawberryfields0000well |title=Strawberry Fields: Politics, Class, and Work in California Agriculture |publisher=Cornell University Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0801482793 |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/strawberryfields0000well/page/89 89]–90 |quote=ufw undocumented. |url-access=registration}}{{cite book |last1=Baird |first1=Peter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PnUgAAAAMAAJ&q=crack+down |title=Beyond the Border: Mexico & the U.S. Today |last2=McCaughan |first2=Ed |publisher=North American Congress on Latin America |year=1979 |isbn=978-0916024376 |page=169}}Farmworker Collective Bargaining, 1979: Hearings Before the Committee on Labor Human Resources Hearings held in Salinas, Calif., April 26, 27, and Washington, D.C., May 24, 1979

In 1973, the United Farm Workers set up a "wet line" along the United States–Mexico border to prevent Mexican immigrants from entering the United States illegally and potentially undermining the UFW's unionization efforts.[http://migration.ucdavis.edu/rmn/more.php?id=217_0_3_0 "PBS Airs Chávez Documentary"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305005830/http://migration.ucdavis.edu/rmn/more.php?id=217_0_3_0|date=March 5, 2016}}, University of California at Davis – Rural Migration News. During one such event, in which Chavez was not involved, some UFW members, under the guidance of Chavez's cousin Manuel, physically attacked the strikebreakers after peaceful attempts to persuade them not to cross the border failed.{{cite book |last=Etulain |first=Richard W. |url=https://archive.org/details/cesarchavezbrief00etul |title=Cesar Chavez: A Brief Biography with Documents |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2002 |isbn=978-0312294274 |page=[https://archive.org/details/cesarchavezbrief00etul/page/18 18] |quote=cesar chavez undocumented. |url-access=registration}}{{cite news |last=Arellano |first=Gustavo |title=The year in Mexican-bashing |newspaper=OC Weekly |url=http://www.ocweekly.com/2005-12-29/columns/ask-a-mexican/ |url-status=dead |access-date=June 18, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140609052417/http://www.ocweekly.com/2005-12-29/columns/ask-a-mexican/ |archive-date=June 9, 2014}}{{cite news | last=Navarrette | first=Ruben Jr. |date=March 30, 2005 |title=The Arizona Minutemen and César Chávez |newspaper=San Diego Union Tribune |url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/op-ed/navarrette/20050330-9999-lz1e30navar.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090805204302/http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/op-ed/navarrette/20050330-9999-lz1e30navar.html |archive-date=August 5, 2009}} In 1979, Chavez used a forum of a U.S. Senate committee hearing to denounce the federal immigration service, in which he said the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service purportedly refused to arrest illegal Mexican immigrants who Chavez claims are being used to break the union's strike.{{cite news |title=Chavez Employs Senate Hearing To Urge National Lettuce Boycott - The Washington Post |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1979/04/27/chavez-employs-senate-hearing-to-urge-national-lettuce-boycott/50b668f3-0b1d-46de-8c11-909a61e5bcae/}}

File:TheUsualIrishWayofDoingThings (cr).jpg

Irish immigration was opposed in the 1850s by the nativist Know Nothing movement, originating in New York in 1843. It was engendered by popular fears that the country was being overwhelmed by Irish Catholic immigrants. On March 14, 1891, a lynch mob stormed a local jail and lynched several Italians following the acquittal of several Sicilian immigrants alleged to be involved in the murder of New Orleans police chief David Hennessy. The Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act in 1921, followed by the Immigration Act of 1924. The Immigration Act of 1924 was aimed at limiting immigration overall, and making sure that the nationalities of new arrivals matched the overall national profile.{{Cite web |last=I. Chishti II. Gelatt |first=I. Muzaffar II. Julia |date=May 15, 2024 |title=A Century Later, Restrictive 1924 U.S. Immigration Law Has Reverberations in Immigration Debate |url=https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/1924-us-immigration-act-history}} Post 911 caused border patrol policies and laws to be enforced more strict to stop the spread of terrorism in the United States targeting people of color.{{Cite journal |last=Coleman |first=Mathew |date=February 2007 |title=Immigration Geopolitics Beyond the Mexico–US Border |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8330.2007.00506.x |journal=Antipode |language=en |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=54–76 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-8330.2007.00506.x |bibcode=2007Antip..39...54C |issn=0066-4812}}

A 2018 study in the American Sociological Review found that within racial groups, most immigrants to the United States had fully assimilated within a span of 20 years.{{Cite journal |last1=Villarreal |first1=Andrés |last2=Tamborini |first2=Christopher R. |year=2018 |title=Immigrants' Economic Assimilation: Evidence from Longitudinal Earnings Records |journal=American Sociological Review |volume=83 |issue=4 |pages=686–715 |doi=10.1177/0003122418780366 |pmc=6290669 |pmid=30555169}} Immigrants arriving in the United States after 1994 assimilate more rapidly than immigrants who arrived in previous periods. Measuring assimilation can be difficult due to "ethnic attrition", which refers to when descendants of migrants cease to self-identify with the nationality or ethnicity of their ancestors. This means that successful cases of assimilation will be underestimated. Research shows that ethnic attrition is sizable in Hispanic and Asian immigrant groups in the United States.{{Cite journal |last1=Duncan |first1=Brian |last2=Trejo |first2=Stephen J |year=2011 |title=Tracking Intergenerational Progress for Immigrant Groups: The Problem of Ethnic Attrition |journal=American Economic Review |volume=101 |issue=3 |pages=603–08 |doi=10.1257/aer.101.3.603 |s2cid=46552371}}{{Cite journal |last1=Alba |first1=Richard |last2=Islam |first2=Tariqul |date=January 1, 2009 |title=The Case of the Disappearing Mexican Americans: An Ethnic-Identity Mystery |journal=Population Research and Policy Review |volume=28 |issue=2 |pages=109–21 |doi=10.1007/s11113-008-9081-x |jstor=20616620 |s2cid=154929099}} By taking ethnic attrition into account, the assimilation rate of Hispanics in the United States improves significantly.{{Cite journal |last1=Duncan |first1=Brian |last2=Trejo |first2=Stephen |year=2017 |title=The Complexity of Immigrant Generations: Implications for Assessing the Socioeconomic Integration of Hispanics and Asians |journal=ILR Review |volume=70 |issue=5 |pages=1146–75 |citeseerx= |doi=10.1177/0019793916679613 |pmc=5602570 |pmid=28935997}} A 2016 paper challenges the view that cultural differences are necessarily an obstacle to long-run economic performance of migrants. It finds that "first generation migrants seem to be less likely to success the more culturally distant they are, but this effect vanishes as time spent in the US increases".{{Cite web |title=Achieving the American Dream: Cultural Distance, Cultural Diversity and Economic Performance {{!}} Oxford Economic and Social History Working Papers {{!}} Working Papers |url=http://www.economics.ox.ac.uk/Oxford-Economic-and-Social-History-Working-Papers/achieving-the-american-dream-cultural-distance-cultural-diversity-and-economic-performance |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160807014939/http://www.economics.ox.ac.uk/Oxford-Economic-and-Social-History-Working-Papers/achieving-the-american-dream-cultural-distance-cultural-diversity-and-economic-performance |archive-date=August 7, 2016 |access-date=May 18, 2016 |website=www.economics.ox.ac.uk}} A 2020 study found that recent immigrants to the United States assimilated at a similar pace as historical immigrants.{{Cite journal |last1=Abramitzky |first1=Ran |last2=Boustan |first2=Leah |last3=Eriksson |first3=Katherine |year=2020 |title=Do Immigrants Assimilate More Slowly Today Than in the Past? |journal=American Economic Review: Insights |language=en |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=125–41 |doi=10.1257/aeri.20190079 |pmc=7508458 |pmid=32968736 |doi-access=free}}

{{See also|Immigration reform|Nativism (politics)}}

File:May_Day_Immigration_March_LA20.jpg, California on May Day, 2006.]]

A Boston Globe article attributed Barack Obama's win in the 2008 U.S. presidential election to a marked reduction over the preceding decades in the percentage of white people in the American electorate, attributing this demographic change to the Immigration Act of 1965. The article quoted Simon Rosenberg, president and founder of the New Democrat Network, as having said that the Act is "the most important piece of legislation that no one's ever heard of", and that it "set America on a very different demographic course than the previous 300 years".{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}}

Immigrants differ on their political views; however, the Democratic Party is considered to be in a far stronger position among immigrants overall. Research shows that religious affiliation can also significantly impact both the social values and voting patterns of immigrants, as well as the broader American population. Hispanic evangelicals, for example, are more strongly conservative than non-Hispanic evangelicals. This trend is often similar for Hispanics or others strongly identifying with the Catholic Church, a religion that strongly opposes abortion and gay marriage.{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}}

File:May_1_2006_Rally_in_Chicago.jpg, part of the Great American Boycott and 2006 U.S. immigration reform protests, on May 1, 2006.]]

In a 2012 news story, Reuters reported, "Strong support from Hispanics, the fastest-growing demographic in the United States, helped tip President Barack Obama's fortunes as he secured a second term in the White House, according to Election Day polling.""[https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-campaign-latinos-idUSBRE8A62KR20121107 Hispanic vote tilts strongly to Obama in win] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141111073300/http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/07/us-usa-campaign-latinos-idUSBRE8A62KR20121107|date=November 11, 2014}}," Reuters, November 7, 2012.

Before President Trump took office, there was discussion among several Republican leaders, such as governors Bobby Jindal and Susana Martinez, of taking a new, friendlier approach to immigration. Former US Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez is promoting the creation of Republicans for Immigration Reform.{{cite news |author=Peter Wallsten |author-link=Peter Wallsten |date=November 17, 2012 |title=New super PAC hopes to give cover to pro-immigration Republicans |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/new-super-pac-hopes-to-give-cover-to-pro-immigration-republicans/2012/11/16/c3070b74-300b-11e2-a30e-5ca76eeec857_story.html}}"[https://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/mexico-gov-susana-martinez-comments-romney-set-us-042536026--election.html New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez: Comments like Romney's set 'us back as a party'] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305002422/http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/mexico-gov-susana-martinez-comments-romney-set-us-042536026--election.html|date=March 5, 2016}}", Yahoo News, November 15, 2012

Bernie Sanders opposes guest worker programs{{cite web |last=Jamieson |first=Dave |date=June 19, 2013 |title=Senator Sounds Alarm On Teen Unemployment |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/19/bernie-sanders-immigration-reform_n_3467243.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150617061302/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/19/bernie-sanders-immigration-reform_n_3467243.html |archive-date=June 17, 2015 |access-date=June 15, 2015 |website=The Huffington Post}} and is also skeptical about skilled immigrant (H-1B) visas, saying, "Last year, the top 10 employers of H-1B guest workers were all offshore outsourcing companies. These firms are responsible for shipping large numbers of American information technology jobs to India and other countries."{{cite web |last=Thibodeau |first=Patrick |date=May 1, 2015 |title=Meet Bernie Sanders, H-1B skeptic |url=http://www.computerworld.com/article/2916827/it-outsourcing/bernie-sanders-h-1b-skeptic.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150617062258/http://www.computerworld.com/article/2916827/it-outsourcing/bernie-sanders-h-1b-skeptic.html |archive-date=June 17, 2015 |access-date=June 15, 2015 |website=Computerworld}} In an interview with Vox he stated his opposition to an open borders immigration policy, describing it as:

{{blockquote|... a right-wing proposal, which says essentially there is no United States ... you're doing away with the concept of a nation-state. What right-wing people in this country would love is an open-border policy. Bring in all kinds of people, work for $2 or $3 an hour, that would be great for them. I don't believe in that. I think we have to raise wages in this country, I think we have to do everything we can to create millions of jobs.{{cite web |last=Bier |first=Daniel |url=http://www.newsweek.com/bernie-sanders-immigrants-silly-tribal-and-economically-illiterate-358369 |title=Bernie Sanders on Immigrants: Silly, Tribal and Economically Illiterate |date=July 30, 2015 |publisher=Newsweek.com |access-date=July 27, 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160726161507/http://www.newsweek.com/bernie-sanders-immigrants-silly-tribal-and-economically-illiterate-358369 |archive-date=July 26, 2016 |df=mdy-all }}{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/03/bernie-sanders-open-borders-economy|title=Bernie Sanders is wrong on open borders; they'd help boost the economy - Cory Massimino|last=Massimino|first=Cory|work=the Guardian|date=August 3, 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170409205750/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/03/bernie-sanders-open-borders-economy|archive-date=April 9, 2017}}}}

In April 2018, then-president Trump called for National Guard at the border to secure the ongoing attempts at a border wall along the United States–Mexico border. According to the Los Angeles Times, "Defense Secretary James N. Mattis has signed an order to send up to 4,000 National Guard troops to the U.S.–Mexico border but barred them from interacting with migrants detained by the Border Patrol in most circumstances".{{Cite web |last=Tanfani |first=David S. Cloud, Joseph |date=April 7, 2018 |title=Mattis authorizes up to 4,000 National Guard troops for U.S. border with Mexico |url=https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-border-troops-20180406-story.html |access-date=May 2, 2018 |website=Los Angeles Times}}

The caravan of migrants from Central America have reached the United States to seek asylum. The last of the caravan have arrived and are processing as of May 4, 2018.{{Cite news |last=Schrank |first=Delphine |title=Last big group of caravan asylum seekers cross into U.S. |language=en-US |work=U.S. |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-caravan/last-big-group-of-caravan-asylum-seekers-cross-into-us-idUSKBN1I52HY |access-date=May 5, 2018}} Remarks by Attorney General Sessions have expressed hesitation with asylum seekers. Sessions has stated, "The system is being gamed; there's no doubt about it".{{Cite news |title=Trump Administration Moves To Reshape Who Qualifies For Asylum |language=en |work=NPR.org |url=https://www.npr.org/2018/03/12/592823598/attorney-general-jeff-sessions-reshapes-who-qualifies-for-asylum |access-date=May 5, 2018}} This statement implied asylum seekers were attempting to immigrate to the United States for work or various other reasons rather than seeking refuge.{{Tone inline|date=July 2021|reason=The preceding paragraph uses presentist language.}}

The key interests groups that lobby on immigration are religious, ethnic and business groups, together with some liberals and some conservative public policy organizations. Both the pro- and anti- groups affect policy.{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}} Studies have suggested that some special interest groups lobby for less immigration for their own group and more immigration for other groups since they see effects of immigration, such as increased labor competition, as detrimental when affecting their own group but beneficial when affecting other groups.{{Citation needed|date=April 2011}} Major American corporations spent $345 million lobbying for just three pro-immigration bills between 2006 and 2008.{{Cite web |title=How did opening borders to mass immigration become a 'Left-wing' idea? |url=http://churchandstate.org.uk/2016/02/how-did-opening-borders-to-mass-immigration-become-a-left-wing-idea/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170325211050/http://churchandstate.org.uk/2016/02/how-did-opening-borders-to-mass-immigration-become-a-left-wing-idea/ |archive-date=March 25, 2017 |access-date=July 7, 2018}} The two most prominent groups lobbying for more restrictive immigration policies for the United States are NumbersUSA and the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR); additionally, the Center for Immigration Studies think tank produces policy analysis supportive of a more restrictive stance.{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}}

A 2011 paper found that both pro- and anti-immigration special interest groups play a role in migration policy. "Barriers to migration are lower in sectors in which business lobbies incur larger lobbying expenditures and higher in sectors where labor unions are more important." A 2011 study examining the voting of US representatives on migration policy suggests that "representatives from more skilled labor abundant districts are more likely to support an open immigration policy towards the unskilled, whereas the opposite is true for representatives from more unskilled labor abundant districts".{{cite journal |last1=Facchini |first1=Giovanni |last2=Steinhardt |first2=Max Friedrich |year=2011 |title=What drives U.S. immigration policy? Evidence from congressional roll call votes |url=http://www.dagliano.unimi.it/media/WP2010_294.pdf |journal=Journal of Public Economics |volume=95 |issue=7–8 |pages=734–43 |doi=10.1016/j.jpubeco.2011.02.008 |issn=0047-2727 |s2cid=6940099}}

After the 2010 election, Gary Segura of Latino Decisions stated that Hispanic voters influenced the outcome and "may have saved the Senate for Democrats". Several ethnic lobbies support immigration reforms that would allow illegal immigrants that have succeeded in entering to gain citizenship. They may also lobby for special arrangements for their own group. The Chairman for the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform has stated that "the Irish Lobby will push for any special arrangement it can get—'as will every other ethnic group in the country{{' "}}. The irredentist and ethnic separatist movements for Reconquista and Aztlán see immigration from Mexico as strengthening their cause.{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}}

The book Ethnic Lobbies and US Foreign Policy (2009) states that several ethnic special interest groups are involved in pro-immigration lobbying. Ethnic lobbies also influence foreign policy. The authors wrote that "Increasingly, ethnic tensions surface in electoral races, with House, Senate, and gubernatorial contests serving as proxy battlegrounds for antagonistic ethnoracial groups and communities. In addition, ethnic politics affect party politics as well, as groups compete for relative political power within a party". However, the authors argued that ethnic interest groups, in general, do not currently{{When|date=July 2021}} have too much power in foreign policy and can balance other special interest groups.{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}}

{{Main|Immigrant health care in the United States}}

{{See also|Mental health and immigration detention}}

File:Health Inspection of Immigrants in the 19th Century (7844851684).jpg

A 2020 study found no evidence that immigration was associated with adverse health impacts for native-born Americans.{{Cite journal |last=Gunadi |first=Christian |year=2020 |title=Immigration and the Health of U.S. Natives |journal=Southern Economic Journal |language=en |volume=86 |issue=4 |pages=1278–1306 |doi=10.1002/soej.12425 |issn=2325-8012 |s2cid=214313284}} To the contrary, the study found that "the presence of low‐skilled immigrants may improve the health of low‐skilled U.S.‐born individuals", possibly by moving low-skilled Americans from physically dangerous and risky jobs toward occupations that require more communication and interactive ability. From data retrieved from the U.S Census Bureau in 2021, it shows that Mexicans have the lowest health insurance coverage rates compared to other immigrant groups. This is due to lack of acceptance by many insurance companies and can lead to worse health conditions to the hispanic community.{{Cite web |last=Rosenbloom |first=Raquel |date=October 12, 2022 |title=Mexican Immigrants in the United States |url=https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/mexican-immigrants-united-states}}

On average, per capita health care spending is lower for immigrants than it is for native-born Americans.{{Cite journal |last1=Mohanty |first1=Sarita A. |last2=Woolhandler |first2=Steffie |last3=Himmelstein |first3=David U. |last4=Pati |first4=Susmita |last5=Carrasquillo |first5=Olveen |last6=Bor |first6=David H. |date=August 1, 2005 |title=Health Care Expenditures of Immigrants in the United States: A Nationally Representative Analysis |journal=American Journal of Public Health |volume=95 |issue=8 |pages=1431–38 |doi=10.2105/ajph.2004.044602 |issn=0090-0036 |pmc=1449377 |pmid=16043671}} The non-emergency use of emergency rooms ostensibly indicates an incapacity to pay, yet some studies allege disproportionately lower access to unpaid healthcare by immigrants. For this and other reasons, there have been various disputes about how much immigration is costing the United States public health system. University of Maryland economist and Cato Institute scholar Julian Lincoln Simon concluded in 1995 that while immigrants probably pay more into the health system than they take out, this is not the case for elderly immigrants and refugees, who are more dependent on public services for survival. Immigration itself may impact women's health. A 2017 study found that Latino women suffer higher rates of intimate partner violence (IPV) than native US women. Migration may worsen IPV rates and outcomes. Migration itself may not cause IPV, but it may make it more difficult for women to get help. According to Kim et al., the IPV is usually the result of unequal family structures rather than the process of migration.{{cite journal |last1=Kim |first1=T |last2=Draucker |first2=CB |last3=Bradway |first3=C |last4=Grisso |first4=JA |last5=Sommers |first5=MS |year=2017 |title=Somos Hermanas Del Mismo Dolor (We Are Sisters of the Same Pain): intimate partner sexual violence narratives among Mexican immigrant women in the United States |journal=Violence Against Women |volume=23 |issue=5 |pages=623–42 |doi=10.1177/1077801216646224 |pmid=27130923 |s2cid=43738091}}

Immigration from areas of high incidences of disease is thought to have been one of the causes of the resurgence of tuberculosis (TB), chagas, and hepatitis in areas of low incidence. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), TB cases among foreign-born individuals remain disproportionately high, at nearly nine times the rate of U.S.-born persons. To reduce the risk of diseases in low-incidence areas, the main countermeasure has been the screening of immigrants on arrival. HIV/AIDS entered the United States in around 1969, likely through a single infected immigrant from Haiti. Conversely, many new HIV infections in Mexico can be traced back to the United States. People infected with HIV were banned from entering the United States in 1987 by executive order, but the 1993 statute supporting the ban was lifted in 2009. The executive branch is expected to administratively remove HIV from the list of infectious diseases barring immigration, but immigrants generally would need to show that they would not be a burden on public welfare. Researchers have also found what is known as the "healthy immigrant effect", in which immigrants in general tend to be healthier than individuals born in the U.S. Immigrants are more likely than native-born Americans to have a medical visit labeled uncompensated care.{{Cite journal |last1=Stimpson |first1=Jim P. |last2=Wilson |first2=Fernando A. |last3=Eschbach |first3=Karl |date=March 2010 |title=Trends in health care spending for immigrants in the United States |journal=Health Affairs |volume=29 |issue=3 |pages=544–50 |doi=10.1377/hlthaff.2009.0400 |issn=1544-5208 |pmid=20150234 |s2cid=2757401}}

{{further|Immigration and crime#United States|Illegal immigration to the United States and crime}}

There is no empirical evidence that either legal or illegal immigration increases crime in the United States.{{Cite news |last=Doleac |first=Jennifer |date=February 14, 2017 |title=Are immigrants more likely to commit crimes? |language=en-US |newspaper=Econofact |publisher=Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy |url=http://econofact.org/are-immigrants-more-likely-to-commit-crimes |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170216053942/http://econofact.org/are-immigrants-more-likely-to-commit-crimes |archive-date=February 16, 2017}}{{cite news |last1=Gomez |first1=Alan |date=January 31, 2018 |title=Trump painted a dark picture of immigrants, despite the facts |language=en |work=USA Today |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/01/31/trump-painted-dark-picture-immigrants-despite-facts/1081208001/ |access-date=February 1, 2018 |quote=All available national crime statistics show immigrants commit fewer crimes, not more, than those born in the U.S.}} In fact, a majority of studies in the U.S. have found lower crime rates among immigrants than among non-immigrants, and that higher concentrations of immigrants are associated with lower crime rates.{{Cite book |url=https://www.nap.edu/read/21746/chapter/9#326 |title=The Integration of Immigrants into American Society |date=2015 |publisher=National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine |isbn=978-0-309-37398-2 |language=en |doi=10.17226/21746 |quote=Americans have long believed that immigrants are more likely than natives to commit crimes and that rising immigration leads to rising crime ... This belief is remarkably resilient to the contrary evidence that immigrants are in fact much less likely than natives to commit crimes.}}* {{Cite journal |last1=Graif |first1=Corina |last2=Sampson |first2=Robert J. |date=July 15, 2009 |title=Spatial Heterogeneity in the Effects of Immigration and Diversity on Neighborhood Homicide Rates |journal=Homicide Studies |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=242–60 |doi=10.1177/1088767909336728 |issn=1088-7679 |pmc=2911240 |pmid=20671811}}

• {{Cite journal |last1=Lee |first1=Matthew T. |last2=Martinez |first2=Ramiro |last3=Rosenfeld |first3=Richard |date=September 1, 2001 |title=Does Immigration Increase Homicide? |journal=Sociological Quarterly |language=en |volume=42 |issue=4 |pages=559–80 |doi=10.1111/j.1533-8525.2001.tb01780.x |issn=1533-8525 |s2cid=143182621}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Ousey |first1=Graham C. |last2=Kubrin |first2=Charis E. |date=October 15, 2013 |title=Immigration and the Changing Nature of Homicide in US Cities, 1980–2010 |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6gt5r3xv |journal=Journal of Quantitative Criminology |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=453–83 |doi=10.1007/s10940-013-9210-5 |s2cid=42681671}}
• {{Cite journal |last1=Martinez |first1=Ramiro |last2=Lee |first2=Matthew T. |last3=Nielsen |first3=Amie L. |date=March 1, 2004 |title=Segmented Assimilation, Local Context and Determinants of Drug Violence in Miami and San Diego: Does Ethnicity and Immigration Matter? |journal=International Migration Review |language=en |volume=38 |issue=1 |pages=131–57 |doi=10.1111/j.1747-7379.2004.tb00191.x |issn=1747-7379 |s2cid=144567229}}
• {{Cite journal |author1=Kristin F. Butcher |author2=Anne Morrison Piehl |date=Summer 1998 |title=Cross-city evidence on the relationship between immigration and crime |journal=Journal of Policy Analysis and Management |volume=17 |issue=3 |pages=457–93 |doi=10.1002/(SICI)1520-6688(199822)17:3<457::AID-PAM4>3.0.CO;2-F}}
• {{Cite journal |last1=Butcher |first1=Kristin F. |last2=Piehl |first2=Anne Morrison |date=July 1, 2007 |title=Why are Immigrants' Incarceration Rates so Low? Evidence on Selective Immigration, Deterrence, and Deportation |url=http://www.nber.org/papers/w13229.pdf |journal=NBER Working Paper No. 13229 |doi=10.3386/w13229 |hdl=10419/31301 |s2cid=31160880}}
• {{Cite journal |last1=Butcher |first1=Kristin F. |last2=Piehl |first2=Anne Morrison |date=1998 |title=Recent Immigrants: Unexpected Implications for Crime and Incarceration |url=http://www.nber.org/papers/w6067.pdf |journal=Industrial and Labor Relations Review |volume=51 |issue=4 |pages=654–79 |doi=10.1177/001979399805100406 |s2cid=154971599}}
• {{Cite journal |last1=Wolff |first1=Kevin T. |last2=Baglivio |first2=Michael T. |last3=Intravia |first3=Jonathan |last4=Piquero |first4=Alex R. |date=November 1, 2015 |title=The protective impact of immigrant concentration on juvenile recidivism: A statewide analysis of youth offenders |journal=Journal of Criminal Justice |volume=43 |issue=6 |pages=522–31 |doi=10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2015.05.004}}
• {{Cite journal |last1=Reid |first1=Lesley Williams |last2=Weiss |first2=Harald E. |last3=Adelman |first3=Robert M. |last4=Jaret |first4=Charles |date=December 1, 2005 |title=The immigration–crime relationship: Evidence across US metropolitan areas |journal=Social Science Research |volume=34 |issue=4 |pages=757–80 |doi=10.1016/j.ssresearch.2005.01.001}}
• {{Cite journal |last1=Davies |first1=Garth |last2=Fagan |first2=Jeffrey |date=May 1, 2012 |title=Crime and Enforcement in Immigrant Neighborhoods Evidence from New York City |journal=The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science |language=en |volume=641 |issue=1 |pages=99–124 |doi=10.1177/0002716212438938 |issn=0002-7162 |s2cid=143497882}}
• {{Cite journal |last1=Martinez |first1=Ramiro Jr. |last2=Stowell |first2=Jacob I. |last3=Iwama |first3=Janice A. |date=March 21, 2016 |title=The Role of Immigration: Race/Ethnicity and San Diego Homicides Since 1970 |journal=Journal of Quantitative Criminology |language=en |volume=32 |issue=3 |pages=471–88 |doi=10.1007/s10940-016-9294-9 |issn=0748-4518 |s2cid=147072245}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Chalfin |first=Aaron |date=March 1, 2014 |title=What is the Contribution of Mexican Immigration to U.S. Crime Rates? Evidence from Rainfall Shocks in Mexico |journal=American Law and Economics Review |language=en |volume=16 |issue=1 |pages=220–68 |doi=10.1093/aler/aht019 |issn=1465-7252 |doi-access=free}}
• {{Cite web |date=October 15, 2013 |title=Crime rises among second-generation immigrants as they assimilate |url=http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/10/15/crime-rises-among-second-generation-immigrants-as-they-assimilate/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160211221622/http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/10/15/crime-rises-among-second-generation-immigrants-as-they-assimilate/ |archive-date=February 11, 2016 |publisher=Pew Research Center}}
• {{Cite journal |last1=Ousey |first1=Graham C. |last2=Kubrin |first2=Charis E. |date=August 1, 2009 |title=Exploring the Connection between Immigration and Violent Crime Rates in U.S. Cities, 1980–2000 |url=https://scholarworks.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2143&context=aspubs |journal=Social Problems |language=en |volume=56 |issue=3 |pages=447–73 |doi=10.1525/sp.2009.56.3.447 |s2cid=3054800 |issn=0037-7791}}
• {{Cite journal |last1=Light |first1=Michael T. |last2=Ulmer |first2=Jeffery T. |date=April 1, 2016 |title=Explaining the Gaps in White, Black, and Hispanic Violence since 1990 Accounting for Immigration, Incarceration, and Inequality |journal=American Sociological Review |language=en |volume=81 |issue=2 |pages=290–315 |doi=10.1177/0003122416635667 |issn=0003-1224 |s2cid=53346960}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Bersani |first=Bianca E. |date=March 4, 2014 |title=An Examination of First and Second Generation Immigrant Offending Trajectories |journal=Justice Quarterly |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=315–43 |doi=10.1080/07418825.2012.659200 |issn=0741-8825 |s2cid=144240275}}
• {{Cite web |last=Spenkuch |first=Jörg L. |date=June 2, 2014 |title=Does Immigration Increase Crime? |url=http://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/article/does_immigration_increase_crime |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160514111125/http://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/article/does_immigration_increase_crime |archive-date=May 14, 2016 |access-date=June 23, 2016}}
• {{Cite web |title=Crime, Corrections, and California: What Does Immigration Have to Do with It? (PPIC Publication) |url=http://www.ppic.org/main/publication.asp?i=776 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160514005955/http://www.ppic.org/main/publication.asp?i=776 |archive-date=May 14, 2016 |access-date=June 23, 2016 |website=www.ppic.org}}
• {{cite journal |last1=MacDonald |first1=John M. |last2=Hipp |first2=John R. |last3=Gill |first3=Charlotte |date=June 2, 2012 |title=The Effects of Immigrant Concentration on Changes in Neighborhood Crime Rates |url=http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/9x17m7w5 |journal=Journal of Quantitative Criminology |volume=29 |issue=2 |pages=191–215 |doi=10.1007/s10940-012-9176-8 |s2cid=26475008}}
• {{Cite journal |last1=Adelman |first1=Robert |last2=Reid |first2=Lesley Williams |last3=Markle |first3=Gail |last4=Weiss |first4=Saskia |last5=Jaret |first5=Charles |date=January 2, 2017 |title=Urban crime rates and the changing face of immigration: Evidence across four decades |journal=Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=52–77 |doi=10.1080/15377938.2016.1261057 |issn=1537-7938 |s2cid=147588658}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Harris |first1=Casey T. |last2=Feldmeyer |first2=Ben |date=January 2013 |title=Latino immigration and White, Black, and Latino violent crime: A comparison of traditional and non-traditional immigrant destinations |journal=Social Science Research |volume=42 |issue=1 |pages=202–16 |doi=10.1016/j.ssresearch.2012.08.014 |pmid=23146607}} Explanations proposed to account for this relationship have included ethnic enclaves, self-selection, and the hypothesis that immigrants revitalize communities to which they emigrate.{{Cite book |last=Kubrin |first=Charis |title=Theoretical Perspectives on the Immigration-Crime Relationship |date=2018 |location=Rochester, NY |language=en |ssrn=3082442}} Some research even suggests that increases in immigration may partly explain the reduction in the U.S. crime rate.{{Cite journal |last=Wadsworth |first=Tim |date=June 1, 2010 |title=Is Immigration Responsible for the Crime Drop? An Assessment of the Influence of Immigration on Changes in Violent Crime Between 1990 and 2000 |journal=Social Science Quarterly |volume=91 |issue=2 |pages=531–53 |doi=10.1111/j.1540-6237.2010.00706.x |issn=1540-6237}}{{multiref2 |1={{Cite journal |last1=Stowell |first1=Jacob I. |last2=Messner |first2=Steven F. |last3=Mcgeever |first3=Kelly F. |last4=Raffalovich |first4=Lawrence E. |date=August 1, 2009 |title=Immigration and the Recent Violent Crime Drop in the United States: A Pooled, Cross-Sectional Time-Series Analysis of Metropolitan Areas |journal=Criminology |language=en |volume=47 |issue=3 |pages=889–928 |doi=10.1111/j.1745-9125.2009.00162.x |issn=1745-9125}} |2={{Cite journal |last=Sampson |first=Robert J. |date=February 1, 2008 |title=Rethinking Crime and Immigration |journal=Contexts |language=en |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=28–33 |doi=10.1525/ctx.2008.7.1.28 |issn=1536-5042 |doi-access=free}}{{Cite journal |last=Ferraro |first=Vincent |date=February 14, 2015 |title=Immigration and Crime in the New Destinations, 2000–2007: A Test of the Disorganizing Effect of Migration |journal=Journal of Quantitative Criminology |language=en |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=23–45 |doi=10.1007/s10940-015-9252-y |issn=0748-4518 |s2cid=144058620}} |3={{cite journal |last1=Stansfield |first1=Richard |date=August 2014 |title=Safer Cities: A Macro-level analysis of Recent Immigration, Hispanic-owned Businesses, and Crime Rates in the United States |journal=Journal of Urban Affairs |volume=36 |issue=3 |pages=503–18 |doi=10.1111/juaf.12051 |s2cid=154982825}}}}

A 2005 study showed that immigration to large U.S. metropolitan areas does not increase, and in some cases decreases, crime rates there.{{cite journal |last1=Reid |first1=Lesley Williams |last2=Weiss |first2=Harald E. |last3=Adelman |first3=Robert M. |last4=Jaret |first4=Charles |date=December 2005 |title=The immigration–crime relationship: Evidence across US metropolitan areas |journal=Social Science Research |volume=34 |issue=4 |pages=757–80 |doi=10.1016/j.ssresearch.2005.01.001}} A 2009 study found that recent immigration was not associated with homicide in Austin, Texas.{{cite journal |last1=Akins |first1=S. |last2=Rumbaut |first2=R. G. |author2-link=Rubén G. Rumbaut |last3=Stansfield |first3=R. |date=June 10, 2009 |title=Immigration, Economic Disadvantage, and Homicide: A Community-level Analysis of Austin, Texas |journal=Homicide Studies |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=307–14 |doi=10.1177/1088767909336814 |s2cid=144273748}} The low crime-rates of immigrants to the United States despite having lower levels of education, lower levels of income and residing in urban areas (factors that should lead to higher crime-rates) may be due to lower rates of antisocial behavior among immigrants.{{Cite journal |last1=Vaughn |first1=Michael G. |last2=Salas-Wright |first2=Christopher P. |last3=DeLisi |first3=Matt |last4=Maynard |first4=Brandy R. |date=November 29, 2013 |title=The immigrant paradox: immigrants are less antisocial than native-born Americans |journal=Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology |language=en |volume=49 |issue=7 |pages=1129–37 |doi=10.1007/s00127-013-0799-3 |issn=0933-7954 |pmc=4078741 |pmid=24292669}} A 2015 study found that Mexican immigration to the United States was associated with an increase in aggravated assaults and a decrease in property crimes.{{cite journal |last1=Chalfin |first1=Aaron |date=May 2015 |title=The Long-Run Effect of Mexican Immigration on Crime in US Cities: Evidence from Variation in Mexican Fertility Rates |journal=American Economic Review |volume=105 |issue=5 |pages=220–25 |doi=10.1257/aer.p20151043 |s2cid=29504806}} A 2016 study finds no link between immigrant populations and violent crime, although there is a small but significant association between undocumented immigrants and drug-related crime.{{Cite journal |last=Green |first=David |date=May 1, 2016 |title=The Trump Hypothesis: Testing Immigrant Populations as a Determinant of Violent and Drug-Related Crime in the United States |journal=Social Science Quarterly |language=en |volume=97 |issue=3 |pages=506–24 |doi=10.1111/ssqu.12300 |issn=1540-6237 |s2cid=148324321}}

A 2018 study found that undocumented immigration to the United States did not increase violent crime.{{Cite journal |last1=Light |first1=Michael T. |last2=Miller |first2=TY |year=2018 |title=Does Undocumented Immigration Increase Violent Crime? |journal=Criminology |language=en |volume=56 |issue=2 |pages=370–401 |doi=10.1111/1745-9125.12175 |issn=1745-9125 |pmc=6241529 |pmid=30464356}} Research finds that Secure Communities, an immigration enforcement program which led to a quarter of a million of detentions (when the study was published; November 2014), had no observable impact on the crime rate.{{Cite journal |last1=Miles |first1=Thomas J. |last2=Cox |first2=Adam B. |date=October 21, 2015 |title=Does Immigration Enforcement Reduce Crime? Evidence from Secure Communities |journal=The Journal of Law and Economics |volume=57 |issue=4 |pages=937–73 |doi=10.1086/680935 |s2cid=8406495}} A 2015 study found that the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, which legalized almost 3 million immigrants, led to "decreases in crime of 3–5 percent, primarily due to decline in property crimes, equivalent to 120,000–180,000 fewer violent and property crimes committed each year due to legalization".{{Cite journal |last=Baker |first=Scott R. |year=2015 |title=Effects of Immigrant Legalization on Crime |url=https://zenodo.org/record/894372 |journal=American Economic Review |volume=105 |issue=5 |pages=210–13 |doi=10.1257/aer.p20151041}}

According to one study, sanctuary cities—which adopt policies designed to not prosecute people solely for being an illegal immigrant—have no statistically meaningful effect on crime.{{Cite news |title=Sanctuary cities do not experience an increase in crime |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/10/03/sanctuary-cities-do-not-experience-an-increase-in-crime/ |url-status=live |access-date=October 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161003200516/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/10/03/sanctuary-cities-do-not-experience-an-increase-in-crime/ |archive-date=October 3, 2016}}

One of the first political analyses in the U.S. of the relationship between immigration and crime was performed in the beginning of the 20th century by the Dillingham Commission, which found a relationship especially for immigrants from non-Northern European countries, resulting in the sweeping 1920s immigration reduction acts, including the Emergency Quota Act of 1921, which favored immigration from northern and western Europe.{{cite web |title=Open Collections Program: Immigration to the US, Dillingham Commission (1907-1910) |url=http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/immigration/dillingham.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130125123555/http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/immigration/dillingham.html |archive-date=January 25, 2013}}

Researchers are skeptical of the conclusion drawn by the Dillingham Commission. One study finds that "major government commissions on immigration and crime in the early twentieth century relied on evidence that suffered from aggregation bias and the absence of accurate population data, which led them to present partial and sometimes misleading views of the immigrant-native criminality comparison. With improved data and methods, we find that in 1904, prison commitment rates for more serious crimes were quite similar by nativity for all ages except ages 18 and 19, for which the commitment rate for immigrants was higher than for the native-born. By 1930, immigrants were less likely than natives to be committed to prisons at all ages 20 and older, but this advantage disappears when one looks at commitments for violent offenses."{{Cite journal |last1=Moehling |first1=Carolyn |last2=Piehl |first2=Anne Morrison |date=November 1, 2009 |title=Immigration, crime, and incarceration in early twentieth-century america |journal=Demography |volume=46 |issue=4 |pages=739–63 |doi=10.1353/dem.0.0076 |issn=0070-3370 |pmc=2831353 |pmid=20084827}}

For the early twentieth century, one study found that immigrants had "quite similar" imprisonment rates for major crimes as natives in 1904 but lower for major crimes (except violent offenses; the rate was similar) in 1930. Contemporary commissions used dubious data and interpreted it in questionable ways.

Research suggests that police practices, such as racial profiling, over-policing in areas populated by minorities and in-group bias may result in disproportionately high numbers of racial minorities among crime suspects.{{Cite journal |last1=Warren |first1=Patricia Y. |last2=Tomaskovic-Devey |first2=Donald |date=May 1, 2009 |title=Racial profiling and searches: Did the politics of racial profiling change police behavior? |journal=Criminology & Public Policy |language=en |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=343–69 |doi=10.1111/j.1745-9133.2009.00556.x |issn=1745-9133}}[https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/217822/stats-race-and-the-criminal-justice-system-2008-09c1.pdf Statistics on Race and the Criminal Justice System 2008/09] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161022140821/https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/217822/stats-race-and-the-criminal-justice-system-2008-09c1.pdf|date=October 22, 2016}}, p.p 8, 22{{Cite journal |last=West |first=Jeremy |date=February 2018 |title=Racial Bias in Police Investigations |url=https://people.ucsc.edu/~jwest1/articles/West_RacialBiasPolice.pdf |journal=Working Paper}}{{Cite journal |last1=Donohue III |first1=John J. |last2=Levitt |first2=Steven D. |date=January 1, 2001 |title=The Impact of Race on Policing and Arrests |url=http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1036&context=fss_papers |journal=The Journal of Law & Economics |volume=44 |issue=2 |pages=367–94 |doi=10.1086/322810 |jstor=10.1086/322810 |s2cid=1547854}} Research also suggests that there may be possible discrimination by the judicial system, which contributes to a higher number of convictions for racial minorities.{{Cite journal |last1=Abrams |first1=David S. |last2=Bertrand |first2=Marianne |last3=Mullainathan |first3=Sendhil |date=June 1, 2012 |title=Do Judges Vary in Their Treatment of Race? |url=https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1354&context=faculty_scholarship |journal=The Journal of Legal Studies |volume=41 |issue=2 |pages=347–83 |doi=10.1086/666006 |issn=0047-2530 |s2cid=2338687}}{{Cite journal |last=Mustard |first=David B. |date=April 1, 2001 |title=Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Disparities in Sentencing: Evidence from the U.S. Federal Courts |journal=The Journal of Law and Economics |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=285–314 |doi=10.1086/320276 |issn=0022-2186 |s2cid=154533225}}{{Cite journal |last1=Anwar |first1=Shamena |last2=Bayer |first2=Patrick |last3=Hjalmarsson |first3=Randi |date=May 1, 2012 |title=The Impact of Jury Race in Criminal Trials |journal=The Quarterly Journal of Economics |language=en |volume=127 |issue=2 |pages=1017–55 |doi=10.1093/qje/qjs014 |issn=0033-5533 |doi-access=free}}{{Cite journal |last1=Daudistel |first1=Howard C. |last2=Hosch |first2=Harmon M. |last3=Holmes |first3=Malcolm D. |last4=Graves |first4=Joseph B. |date=February 1, 1999 |title=Effects of Defendant Ethnicity on Juries' Dispositions of Felony Cases1 |journal=Journal of Applied Social Psychology |language=en |volume=29 |issue=2 |pages=317–36 |doi=10.1111/j.1559-1816.1999.tb01389.x |issn=1559-1816}}{{Cite journal |last1=Depew |first1=Briggs |last2=Eren |first2=Ozkan |last3=Mocan |first3=Naci |year=2017 |title=Judges, Juveniles, and In-Group Bias |url=http://www.nber.org/papers/w22003.pdf |journal=Journal of Law and Economics |volume=60 |issue=2 |pages=209–39 |doi=10.1086/693822 |s2cid=147631237}} A 2012 study found that "(i) juries formed from all-white jury pools convict black defendants significantly (16 percentage points) more often than white defendants, and (ii) this gap in conviction rates is entirely eliminated when the jury pool includes at least one black member." Research has found evidence of in-group bias, where "black (white) juveniles who are randomly assigned to black (white) judges are more likely to get incarcerated (as opposed to being placed on probation), and they receive longer sentences". In-group bias has also been observed when it comes to traffic citations, as black and white police officers are more likely to cite out-groups.

Crimmigration has emerged as a field in which critical immigration scholars conceptualize the current immigration law enforcement system. Crimmigration is broadly defined as the convergence of the criminal justice system and immigration enforcement,{{Cite journal |last=Armenta |first=Amanda |date=2016 |title=Radicalizing Crimmigration: Structural Racism, Colorblindness, and the Institutional Production of Immigrant Criminality |journal=Sociology of Race and Ethnicity |volume=3}} where immigration law enforcement has adopted the "criminal" law enforcement approach. This frames undocumented immigrants as "criminal" deviants and security risks.{{Cite journal |last=García Hernández |first=César Cuauhtémoc |date=2013 |title=Creating Crimmigration |journal=Brigham Young University Law Review 1457}} Crime and migration control have become completely intertwined,{{Colloquialism|date=July 2021}} so much so that both undocumented and documented individuals suspected of being a noncitizen may be targeted.

Using a "crimmigration" point of thought, César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández explains the criminalization of undocumented immigrants began in the aftermath of the civil rights movement. Michelle Alexander explores how the U.S. criminal justice system is made of "colorblind" policies and law enforcement practices that have shaped the mass incarceration of people of color into an era of "The New Jim Crow".{{Cite book |last=Alexander |first=Michelle |title=The New Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the age of colorblindnes |publisher=The New Press |year=2012}} As Alexander and García Hernández state, overt racism and racist laws became culturally scorned, and covert racism became the norm. This new form of racism focuses on penalizing criminal activity and promoting "neutral" rhetoric.

"Crimmigration" recognizes how laws and policies throughout different states contribute to the convergence of criminal law enforcement and immigration law. For example, states are implementing a variety of immigration-related criminal offenses that are punishable by imprisonment. California, Oregon, and Wyoming criminalize the use of fraudulent immigration or citizenship documents.{{Cite journal |last=García Hernández |first=César Cuauhtémoc |date=2017 |title=Abolishing Immigration Prisons |journal=Boston University Law Review |volume=97 |pages=17–05}} Arizona allows judges to confine witnesses in certain "criminal" cases if they are suspected of being in the U.S. without documentation. The most common violations of immigration law on the federal level are unauthorized entry (a federal misdemeanor) and unauthorized reentry (a federal felony). These "offenses" deemed as "crimes" under immigration law set the tone of "crimmigration" and for what García Hernández refers to as the "removal pipeline" of immigrants.

Some scholars focus on the organization of "crimmigration" as it relates to the mass removal of certain immigrants. Jennifer Chacón finds that immigration law enforcement is being decentralized.{{Cite journal |last=Chacón |first=Jennifer |date=2010 |title=A Diversion of Attention? Immigration Courts and the Adjudication of Fourth and Fifth Amendment Rights |journal=Duke Law Journal |volume=59 |pages=1563–1633}} Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are the central law enforcement agencies in control of enforcing immigration law. However, other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, such as sheriff's offices, municipal police departments, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Drug and Enforcement Agency (DEA), aid in immigrant removal. In 1996, Congress expanded power to state and local law enforcement agencies to enforce federal immigration law. These agencies keep people locked up in jails or prison when they receive an "immigration detainer" from ICE, and therefore aid in interior enforcement. In addition, some agencies participate in the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program ("SCAAP"), which gives these agencies financial incentives to cooperate with ICE in identifying immigrants in their custody.

{{further|Education of immigrants in the United States}}

Scientific laboratories and startup Internet opportunities have been a significant factor in immigration to the United States. By 2000, 23% of scientists with a PhD in the U.S. were immigrants, including 40% of those in engineering and computers.{{cite book |last=Crane |first=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2ChqGIvW-rsC&pg=PA319 |title=The Political Junkie |publisher=SP Books |year=2004 |isbn=978-1561718917 |page=319 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101041323/https://books.google.com/books?id=2ChqGIvW-rsC&pg=PA319 |archive-date=January 1, 2016 |url-status=live}} Roughly a third of the United States' college and universities graduate students in STEM fields are foreign nationals—in some states it is well over half of their graduate students.{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}} A study on public schools in California found that white enrollment declined in response to increases in the number of Spanish-speaking Limited English Proficient and Hispanic students. This white flight was greater for schools with relatively larger proportions of Spanish-speaking Limited English Proficient.{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}} A North Carolina study found that the presence of Latin American children in schools had no significant negative effects on peers, but that students with limited English skills had slight negative effects on peers.{{Cite web |title=Gender and Racial Differences in Peer Effects of Limited English Students: A Story of Language or Ethnicity? |url=http://www.iza.org/en/webcontent/publications/papers/viewAbstract?dp_id=9661 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160128031908/http://www.iza.org/en/webcontent/publications/papers/viewAbstract?dp_id=9661 |archive-date=January 28, 2016 |access-date=January 21, 2016 |website=www.iza.org}}

On Ash Wednesday, March 5, 2014, the presidents of 28 Catholic and Jesuit colleges and universities joined the "Fast for Families" movement.{{cite journal |last1=Rymer |first1=Nataliya |date=March 17, 2014 |title=Leaders in Higher Education Call for Immigration Reform |url=http://www.natlawreview.com/article/leaders-higher-education-call-immigration-reform |url-status=live |journal=The National Law Review |issn=2161-3362 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714205834/http://www.natlawreview.com/article/leaders-higher-education-call-immigration-reform |archive-date=July 14, 2014 |access-date=June 15, 2014}} The "Fast for Families" movement revived the immigration debate in the autumn of 2013 when the movement's leaders, supported by many members of Congress and the President, fasted for twenty-two days on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.{{cite news |last1=Foley |first1=Elise |date=February 3, 2014 |title=The Man Who Kept Immigration Reform Alive |work=The Huffington Post |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/03/eliseo-medina-immigration-reform_n_4703948.html |url-status=live |access-date=June 15, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140911100506/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/03/eliseo-medina-immigration-reform_n_4703948.html |archive-date=September 11, 2014}}

File:FR_khan_sculputure_at_Sears_tower.jpg is known for making some very important advancements in skyscraper engineering.{{cite web |title=15 Genius Skyscraper Engineers You've Probably Never Heard Of |url=https://interestingengineering.com/culture/15-genius-skyscraper-engineers-youve-probably-never-heard-of |website=amp.interestingengineering.com|date=27 January 2018 }} Sculpture honoring Khan at the Willis Tower.]]

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| caption1 = Jawed Karim (above) and Steve Chen (below), co-founders of YouTube; they are both immigrants to the US

| image2 = ECDaily 40y YouTubeForum SteveChen.jpg

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In the United States, a significant proportion of scientists and engineers are foreign-born, as well as students in science and engineering programs. However, this is not unique to the US since foreigners make up significant amounts of scientists and engineers in other countries. As of 2011, 28% of graduate students in science, engineering, and health are foreign.{{cite web |date=2013 |title=Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering: Fall 2011 |url=https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf13331/pdf/nsf13331.pdf |publisher=National Science Foundation |page=22 |access-date=2022-05-08 |archive-date=2022-04-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220424000248/http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf13331/pdf/nsf13331.pdf |url-status=dead }} The number of science and engineering (S&E) bachelor's degrees has increased steadily over the past 15 years, reaching a new peak of about half a million in 2009. Since 2000, foreign-born students in the United States have consistently earned a small share (3–4%) of S&E degrees at the bachelor's level. Foreign students make up a much higher proportion of S&E master's degree recipients than of bachelor's or associate degree recipients. In 2009, foreign students earned 27% of S&E master's degrees and 33% in doctorate degrees.{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}}

Significant numbers of foreign-born students in science and engineering are not unique to America, since foreign students now account for nearly 60% of graduate students in mathematics, computer sciences, and engineering globally. In Switzerland and the United Kingdom, more than 40% of doctoral students are foreign. A number of other countries, including Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States, have relatively high percentages (more than 20%) of doctoral students who are foreign. Foreign student enrollment in the United Kingdom has been increasing. In 2008, foreign students made up 47% of all graduate students studying S&E in the United Kingdom (an increase from 32% in 1998). Top destinations for international students include the United Kingdom (12%), Germany (9%), and France (9%). Together with the U.S., these countries receive more than half of all internationally mobile students worldwide.{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}}

Although the United States continues to attract the largest number and fraction of foreign students worldwide, its share of foreign students has decreased in recent{{When|date=July 2021}} years.{{cite web |date=2012 |title=Ch. 2 Higher Education in Science and Engineering |url=https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind12/pdf/c02.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170527011414/https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind12/pdf/c02.pdf |archive-date=May 27, 2017 |access-date=December 5, 2018 |publisher=National Science Foundation}} 55% of PhD students in engineering in the United States are foreign-born (2004).William A. Wulf, President, National Academy of Engineering, Speaking before the 109th US Congress, September 15, 2005 Between 1980 and 2000, the percentage of PhD scientists and engineers employed in the United States who were born abroad increased from 24% to 37%. 45% of PhD physicists working in the United States were foreign-born in 2004. 80% of total post-doctoral chemical and materials engineering in the United States were foreign-born in 1988.'Foreign and Foreign-Born Engineers in the United States: Infusing Talent, Raising Issues', Office of Scientific and Engineering Personnel, 1988. [http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=POD292 online text]

At the undergraduate level, US-born engineering students constitute upwards of 90–95% of the student population (most foreign-born candidates for engineering graduate schools are trained in their home countries). However, the pool of BS engineering graduates with US citizenship is much larger than the number who apply to engineering graduate schools. The proportion of foreign-born engineers among assistant professors younger than 35 years increased from 10% in 1972 to 50–55% in 1983–1985, illustrating a dramatic increase on US dependence on foreign-born students in the US college system. The increase in non-citizen assistant professors of engineering is the result of the fact that, in recent{{When|date=July 2021}} years, foreign-born engineers received close to 50 percent of newly awarded engineering doctorates (naturalized citizens accounted for about 4 percent) and, furthermore, they entered academe in disproportionately large numbers. 33% of all U.S. PhDs in science and engineering were awarded to foreign-born graduate students as of 2004.

In 1982, foreign-born engineers constituted about 3.6% of all engineers employed in the United States, 13.9% of which were naturalized; and foreign-born PhDs in Engineering constituted 15% and 20% were naturalized. In 1985, foreign-born PhDs represented almost 33% of the engineering post-doctorate researchers in US universities. Foreign-born PhD engineers often accept postdoctoral positions because other employment is unavailable until a green card is obtained. A system that further incentivising replacement of US citizens in the upper echelons of academic and private sector engineering firms due to higher educational attainment relative to native-born engineer who for the most part do train beyond undergraduate level.Walker, 'Incentivizing Replacement of Native Talent in the Upper Echelons of Science and Technology', Flattening the United States. 2004.{{Sentence fragment|date=July 2021}}

In recent{{when|date=January 2019}} years, the number of applicants for faculty openings at research universities have increased dramatically. Numbers of 50 to 200 applications for a single faculty opening have become typical, yet even with such high numbers of applicants, the foreign-born component is in excess of 50%. 60% of the top science students and 65 percent of the top math students in the United States are the children of immigrants. In addition, foreign-born high school students make up 50 percent of the 2004 U.S.Math Olympiad's top scorers, 38 percent of the U.S. Physics Team, and 25 percent of the Intel Science Talent Search finalists—the United States' most prestigious awards for young scientists and mathematicians.Anderson, 'The Multiplier Effect', International Educator. 2004.

Among 1985 foreign-born engineering doctorate holders, about 40% expected to work in the United States after graduating. An additional 17 percent planned to stay on as post-doctorates, and most of these are likely to remain permanently in the United States. Thus, almost 60% of foreign-born engineering doctorate holders are likely to become part of the US engineering labor force within a few years after graduating. The other approximately 40% of foreign born engineering PhDs mostly likely find employment working for multinational corporations outside of the US.

In the 2004 Intel Science Talent Search, more children (18) have parents who entered the country on H-1B (professional) visas than parents born in the United States (16). New H-1B visa holders each year represent less than 0.04 percent of the U.S. population. Foreign born faculty now account for over 50% of faculty in engineering (1994).

27 out the 87 (more than 30%) American Nobel Prize winners in Medicine and Physiology between 1901 and 2005 were born outside the US.{{cite journal |last1=Vilcek |first1=J. |last2=Cronstein |first2=B.N |year=2006 |title=A prize for the foreign-born |journal=FASEB Journal |volume=20 |issue=9 |pages=1281–83 |doi=10.1096/fj.06-0702ufm |doi-access=free |pmid=16816100 |s2cid=31328895}}

Immigrants from North Africa and the Middle East, on average, have higher levels of education. Their industries tend to be more similar to those of workers born in the United States than to those from other countries, with relatively higher shares of workers in management, business, science, and the arts.{{Cite web|url=https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/middle-eastern-and-north-african-immigrants-united-states|title=Middle Eastern and North African Immigrants in the United States {{!}} Department of Economic and Social Affairs|website=www.migrationpolicy.org|access-date=2024-06-12}}

1993 median salaries of U.S. recipients of a PhD in Science and Engineering foreign-born vs. native-born were as follows:Unpublished National Science Foundation tabulation of the 1993 Survey of Doctoral Recipients and the 1993 National Survey of College Graduates. Foreign-Born includes naturalized U.S. citizens, permanent residents and workers on temporary visas (including H-1B visas).

{{reflist}}

{{Immigration to the United States}}

Category:Immigration to the United States

Category:Effects of human migration