This map highlights the share of people who were born outside the US in every state
- The House is voting on two immigration bills this week.
- The share of each state's population who were born outside the US varies.
- In New York, 22.4% of the population were born outside the US in 2019.
Immigration continues to be a hot topic in US politics, and as two immigration bills are being discussed in the House this week, there has also been an increase in the number of children arriving at the US-Mexico border.
As the conversation around immigration reform continues, Insider decided to look at the distribution of immigrant populations across the US. Using 2019 data on the number of residents who identified as foreign-born from the American Community Survey, the following map highlights the share of each state's population who were born outside the US:
California has the highest share, where 26.7% of the 39.5 million people who lived there in 2019 were born outside the US. New Jersey and New York follow closely behind at 23.4% and 22.4% respectively. In contrast, 13 states have shares below 5.0%. West Virginia has the smallest share, where only 1.6% of its population was born outside of the US in 2019.
The foreign born data used includes both people who are not a US citizen and those who are naturalized citizens.
The House is voting on two immigration bills this week per the The Wall Street Journal. The bills are the Dream and Promise Act, which aims to help undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children, and the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, intended to help undocumented farmworkers. Both previously passed the House in 2019.
According to the Migration Policy Institute, 4.4 million people may benefit from the Dream and Promise Act, including Dreamers and people under Temporary Protected Status. The bill includes "conditional permanent resident status for 10 years."
The Farm Workforce Modernization Act includes reforming the H-2A visa program and creating a way for farmers to obtain legal status.
At the same time, there has been a rise in children arriving alone at the US-Mexico border. According to CBS News, almost 3,000 of these unaccompanied children have stayed longer than the legal 72 hours in Customs and Border Protection. They are usually transferred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement after this time period, per the article.
According to The Washington Post, many unaccompanied minors are being held for longer, an average of 120 hours. According to the Associated Press, the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas, Texas, will be used temporarily as a place for thousands of teens to help with the capacity issue.