Immigration

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Immigration, especially from Latin America and Asia, drives much of the population growth and promises to reshape the United States as a more diverse nation well into the future.

HOUSTON, Texas (LAL) - Immigration has influenced the cultural and economic heart of the United States of America from its birth. Known as the "Great Melting Pot", the United States is a country that respects people no matter what their culture or country of origin. Our nation is a nation of immigrants, and today the United States accepts more legal immigrants as permanent residents than the rest of the world combined.

The U.S. population increases about 2.8 million people a year. About 40 percent of the growth comes from immigration. This is supported by data presented in the Department of Homeland Security Office of Immigration Statistics Annual Flow Report for 2010 with information on the number and characteristics of foreign nationals aged 18 years and over who were naturalized during 2010.

Naturalization is the process by which U.S. citizenship is conferred upon foreign citizens or nationals after fulfilling the requirements established by Congress in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). After naturalization, foreign-born citizens enjoy nearly all the same benefits, rights and responsibilities that the Constitution gives to native-born U.S. citizens, including the right to vote.

According to the data, in 2010, the total number of persons naturalizing was 619,913. The leading countries of birth of new citizens were Mexico (67,062), India (61,142), the Philippines (35,465), the People’s Republic of China (33,969), and Vietnam (19,313). The average annual number of persons naturalizing increased from less than 120,000 during the 1950s and 1960s to 210,000 during the 1980s, 500,000 during the 1990s, and to 680,000 between 2000 and 2010. Naturalizations rose sharply during the mid-1990s. Factors that may have accounted for this increase include:

• the 2.7 million undocumented immigrants legalized under the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986 becoming eligible for citizenship,
• legislative efforts to restrict public benefits for non-citizens, and
• implementation of a mandatory program requiring replacement of permanent resident cards issued before 1977.

Until the 1970s, the majority of persons naturalizing were born in European countries. The regional origin of new citizens shifted from Europe to Asia due to increased legal immigration from Asian countries, the arrival of Indochinese refugees in the 1970s, and the historically higher naturalization rate of Asian immigrants. Consequently, Asia has been the leading region of origin of new citizens in most years since 1976.