A record number of people living in the United States were born elsewhere. From the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS),
The government’s January 2025 Current Population Survey (CPS) shows the foreign-born or immigrant population (legal and illegal together) hit 53.3 million and 15.8 percent of the total U.S. population in January 2025 — both new record highs.
CIS adds,
At 15.8 percent of the total U.S. population, the foreign-born share is higher now than at the prior peaks reached in 1890 and 1910. No U.S. government survey or census has ever shown such a large foreign-born population.
Given the timing of the survey, it likely missed the last few million to have entered the U.S. under Pres. Biden, or any departures that may have occurred under Pres. Trump in his second term.
FWIW, of the 53 million foreign born, CIS estimates that more than 15 million are here illegally. Of the 53 million total, the largest single nation represented is Mexico, with about 11 million Mexican citizens living here.
Based on the current population of Mexico, about 1 in every 12 Mexican citizens lives in the United States.
A small part of the infrastructure that sustains this situation is an otherwise obscure international bus service that connects cities in the central U.S. with cities in the interior of Mexico.
It operates under the brand name Del Rio, and its coaches are dual registered in both Arkansas and Mexico.
The northern terminus of its network is St. Paul, Minnesota. The line’s coaches overnight in the parking lot of a suburban hotel before undertaking the journey south. I took some photos this morning:
“God is faithful”
¡Hasta luego!
