US immigrant population falls 1.4 million amid policy actions

A vast shift in the United States’ immigrant population is unfolding, with the foreign-born population dropping from 53.3 million in January to 51.9 million by June, the first decline of this magnitude in more than half a century. The change comes amid a confluence of immigration policy actions that intensified during the current administration, as well as ongoing enforcement efforts, and analysts caution that the data are preliminary while the economic effects could be uneven across regions and industries.

Between January and June, the immigrant population fell by about 1.4 to 1.5 million, according to the analysis. The June figure places the foreign-born share of the population at roughly 15.4 percent, down slightly from January. The decline also coincides with a shrinking labor force participation rate among working-age immigrants, with more than 750,000 immigrant workers no longer counted in the labor force since January. Experts note that the size and growth of the native-born workforce alone are not sufficient to compensate for this drop, underscoring how immigration has helped sustain labor market growth during a period of slower native-born population expansion.