U.S. Immigrant Population Falls for First Time in Over Half a Century

For the first time in over 50 years, America’s immigrant population has declined. Cal Matters reports the latest data from the Pew Research Center. 

“In January 2025, the immigrant population in the United States topped out at 53.3 million. That number shrank 2.6% to 51.9 million as of June 2025, marking the first decline in the U.S. immigrant population since the 1960s,” with foreign-born residents either choosing to leave the country or being deported, writes Wendy Fry. 

Pew attributes the 1.4 million immigrant population decline since President Donald Trump took office to a number of factors. 

“There are a number of possible reasons from the natural ebb and flow of immigrants, but also policy, which has made it harder to cross the border and also increased enforcement in the U.S., all of which could be shaping the immigrant population and whether or not it grows or declines,” Cal Matters quotes Mark Hugo Lopez, the director of race and ethnicity research at Pew Research Center. Researchers also noted that fewer immigrants may be taking part in census surveys, contributing further to the estimation of decline. 

The report notes that an unprecedented number of immigrants — more than 11 million — arrived in the U.S. between 2020 and 2025. That included more than 3 million in 2023 alone, the largest annual total ever recorded, according to the Pew analysis of government data sources, Cal Matters reports. 

Since taking office, Trump has rescinded deportation protections and work permits for about 500,000 immigrants and has stated a goal of one million deportations in his first year.