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The number of illegal immigrants living in the United States has declined by 1.6 million since President Donald Trump took office, according to a new report released Tuesday by the Center for Immigration Studies.
The findings, based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s monthly Current Population Survey, estimate the current illegal immigrant population at 14.2 million.
The total foreign-born population declined by 2.2 million between January and July, with most of that attributed to a drop in the number of illegal immigrants, the study said.
CIS research director Steven A. Camarota told The Washington Times the number had previously grown from 10.2 million at the beginning of the Biden administration to 15.8 million by January. That figure has now fallen to 14.2 million.
Illegal immigration had increased at a rate of about 120,000 people per month during the Biden years, but recent months have seen a reversal.
“The best evidence we have is that the illegal population is now falling at a rate that even exceeds the massive growth that we had in Biden’s four years,” Camarota said.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem noted that foreign leaders across the Western Hemisphere have reported a wave of citizens returning home after leaving the United States.
“Over and over again, I’m hearing that hundreds of thousands of their citizens are coming home, voluntarily,” she said last week.
While some individuals returned to their countries, others either gained legal status or died, contributing to the population decline.
Camarota said the trend could lead to a rare drop in the total U.S. population, possibly for the first time since the Great Depression.
“It’s likely that this represents a savings in money for the taxpayer,” he said. “It will take pressure off schools and hospitals and other services. It’s likely it will potentially create job opportunities for Americans.”
He acknowledged the possibility that some illegal immigrants may be misreporting their status or avoiding Census Bureau surveys altogether, but said such factors were unlikely to fully account for the observed decrease.