Foreign-Born Population Drops 2.9M Under Trump Crackdown
The foreign-born population in the United States dropped by 2.9 million since January 2025 under Trump's enforcement policies, marking the first zero immigration rate since the 1930s.
The analysis by the Center for Immigration Studies, as reported by Breitbart News, describes the decline in the illegal migrant population as unprecedented in modern American history.
According to the CIS assessment, the foreign-born population—which includes naturalised citizens, lawful permanent residents, long-term temporary visitors, and illegal immigrants—has fallen sharply since President Trump took office in January 2025. The government’s monthly household survey, officially known as the Current Population Survey, recorded the 2.9 million decline. Of that total, CIS preliminarily estimates that the illegal immigrant population has fallen by approximately 2.3 million.
The figures indicate that the illegal immigrant population may have declined from 15.8 million in January 2025 to 13.5 million by July 2026. The net change reflects new arrivals offset by deportations, voluntary emigration, legalizations, and natural mortality, the report states.
While the drop is substantial, it represents only a fraction of the estimated 8.3 million foreign nationals who entered the country during the Joe Biden presidency.
Immigration at Zero Percent for First Time Since 1930s
The data also reveals that immigration reached a relative zero percent during the past year, the first time such a figure has been recorded since the 1930s.
Approximately forty-four percent of those who departed the country were working-age adults, with the remainder consisting of non-working family members and children.
CIS noted that the bulk of those leaving the United States are migrants from Latin America who arrived after 1980.
CIS Defends Data Interpretation
In its conclusion, CIS stated that the household survey shows a huge decline in the foreign-born population, which appears to be due primarily to a dramatic decrease in the number of illegal immigrants in the country.
The organisation acknowledged that even if half of the decline were attributable to an increased unwillingness among immigrants to participate in the survey, the actual fall-off in their numbers would still be very large and could reasonably be described as unprecedented.
Pro-illegal-alien activists have disputed the CIS interpretation of the Census numbers, arguing that the organisation is extrapolating excessively because the Current Population Survey does not directly measure the actual size of the foreign population in the United States.
With information from Breitbart News
