A new report says the number of immigrants legally becoming U.S. citizens over the next decade will exceed the combined populations of seven major U.S. cities.
Republican Sen.
Jeff Sessions of Alabama compiled data that show the number of new legal residents, who are issued green cards, will grow by about 10 million by the end of 2024.
According to Sessions' data, the current combined population of Dallas, St. Louis, Denver, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Atlanta is 9.89 million.
"New lifetime immigrants admitted with green cards gain guaranteed legal access to federal benefits, as well as guaranteed work authorization," the report on Sessions' website reads. "[Legal permanent residents] can also petition to bring their relatives to the United States, and both the petitioner and the relatives can become naturalized citizens."
The number of immigrants legally entering the U.S. was not always on a track this aggressive, according to the report.
"In the post-World War II boom decades of the 1950s and 1960s, annual legal admissions were roughly two-thirds lower, averaging together less than 3 million grants of permanent residency per decade — or about 285,000 annually," the report reads. "Moreover, due to a variety of factors, including lower stay rates and stay incentives, the total foreign-born population in the United States actually declined from about 10.3 million in 1950 to 9.7 million in 1960 and 9.6 million in 1970."
Since then, according to the report, changes in U.S. immigration policy have led to an increase in green cards being issued.
"Since that time, the foreign-born population in the United States has increased four-fold to a record 41.3 million in 2013," the report reads. "In some cities, like Los Angeles and New York, about four in 10 residents were born outside the United States. Another trend occurred during this period, as reported by the New York Times: 'The share of prime-age men — those 25 to 54 years old — who are not working has more than tripled since the late 1960s … since the turn of the century, the share of women without paying jobs has been rising, too.'"
The rate of illegal immigrants coming to the U.S., meanwhile, continues to cause concern. A report last week said more than
3,000 illegal immigrant children crossed into the U.S. from Mexico in March.
Another report last month said an illegal immigrant crosses into the U.S. every 33 seconds.
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