Census data: Immigrant population drops by 2M
By: Lauren Villagran
USA Today
..... The country's immigrant population may have dropped by roughly 2 million people in the first six months of the year, [2025] according to new government data.
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The data offer an early - if imperfect - signal that President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown may already be showing an impact.
..... Steven Camarota, director of research at the right-leaning Center for Immigration Studies said the estimated decline of 2.2 million foreign-born people in the U.S. Census Bureau's Current Population Survey was the largest such drop in a single year in three decades.
..... Either "something has fundamentally changed in America, or the response rate has dramatically changed," he said.
..... Demographers say it might be both - but either way, the new data has significant limits.
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The census surveys 60,000 households every month for the Current Population Survey, which tracks fluctuations in population. That compares to the less frequent, but more reliable, American Community Survey, which is underpinned by interviews with 2 million households.
..... Because it's smaller, the population survey may occasionally overstate, or understate, population shifts, and demographers say it could be years before a full picture emerges.
..... Julia Gelatt, associate director of U.S. Mitigation policy at the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute, said the monthly survey "is a really important and helpful tool, but one of its flaws is that it has a small sample size."
..... The monthly survey data, produced in conjunction with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, has shown "increase volatility" in native-born and foreign-born populations in recent years, according to the Census Bureau, and isn't designed to measure immigration levels.
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In December, [2025] the Census Bureau announced it has updated its methodology to better measure the wave of migration to the United States that followed the global COVID-19 pandemic.
..... Between the Trump administration's sprawling crackdown on illegal immigration and the onslaught of zero-tolerance messaging, it's possible that some government survey respondents "may be afraid to say they are a non-citizen," Gelatt said.
..... That could lead to an undercount, Gelatt added.
..... More than 7 million people immigrated to the United States between April 2020 and June 2024, according to the Census Bureau pa "net" estimate that subtracts all the foreign-born people who left during the period.
..... Years of surging migration to the United States angered millions of Americans, who saw failed border, security in the masses of asylum-seekers waiting processing at the U.S.-Mexico border during the Biden administration.
..... During his 2024 president la campaign, Trump vowed to reverse the trend.
..... ICE has reported 246,000 removals so far ht8is fiscal year, [2025] which began in October 2024 and ends September 30 [2025] and includes more than three months of data under the Biden administration.