One thing the CIS analysis doesn’t tell us is what the immigrant percentages looked like 100 years ago, or 150. But the comparison it does here — between 1970, 2000, and 2015 — is sobering.
The increase in America’s immigrant population is, objectively, huge. In 1970, immigrants represented 6.6% of the U.S. population. In 2015, they represented 18.9%. With the best will in the world to welcome immigrants — and I favor liberal immigration policies, and always have — the questions CIS poses are legitimate (e.g., what number of immigrants can be reasonably assimilated?).
There were no U.S. states in 1970 with immigrant populations representing 15% or more of the total state population. In 2015, there were 16 of them. There were six states with immigrant populations of 25% or more — including California, with a whopping 37%.
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
(H/t: Washington Examiner)