Number of Foreign-Born U.S. Residents Drops

The Washington Post reports:

The number of foreign-born people living in the United States declined last year, particularly among low-skilled immigrants from Mexico, according to a Census Bureau report released Tuesday.

The immigrant losses were particularly pronounced in California, Florida, Arizona and Michigan, all states where the recession hit early and hard. The metropolitan Washington area gained about 1,000 foreign-born residents, but a jump in the Asian population was offset by a significant drop in Mexicans and Salvadorans, the largest Hispanic immigrant group in the region.

The nationwide total of about 38 million foreign-born people decreased slightly, by just under 100,000. That brought down the share of the overall population that is foreign-born from 12.6 percent to 12.5 percent. Although the drop is relatively small, it was the first official decline in at least four years.

Demographers and other analysts said immigration is bound to pick up once the economy improves, although some said stricter enforcement of immigration laws played a role in the decline.