Foreign-Born Number and Share of U.S. Population at All-Time Highs

Parsing Immigration Policy

The latest episode of the Center for Immigration Studies podcast series features a discussion between guest host Marguerite Telford, the Center’s Director of Communications, and Steven Camarota, the Center’s Director of Research.
Camarota’s interview highlights a recently released analysis that examines the size and growth of the foreign-born population in the January Current Population Survey, the first government survey to be adjusted to better reflect the recent surge in illegal immigrants. The analysis finds that the foreign-born or immigrant population (legal and illegal together) hit 53.3 million and 15.8 percent of the total U.S. population in January 2025 — both new record highs.
Telford and Camarota continue the discussion, hitting topics both in the analysis and those effected by immigration stock and flow, including population projections, employment, education levels, assimilation, and more.
Host
Marguerite Telford is the Director of Communications at the Center for Immigration Studies
Guest
Steven Camarota is the Director of Research at the Center for Immigration Studies.
Related
Foreign-Born Number and Share of U.S. Population at All-Time Highs in January 2025
The Declining Education Level of Newly Arrived Immigrants
Working-Age, but Not Working, 1960 to 2024
Intro Montage
Voices in the opening montage:

• Sen. Barack Obama at a 2005 press conference.
• Sen. John McCain in a 2010 election ad.
• President Lyndon Johnson, upon signing the 1965 Immigration Act.
• Booker T. Washington, reading in 1908 from his 1895 Atlanta Exposition speech.
• Laraine Newman as a "Conehead" on SNL in 1977.
• Hillary Clinton in a 2003 radio interview.
• Cesar Chavez in a 1974 interview.
• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaking to reporters in 2019.
• Prof. George Borjas in a 2016 C-SPAN appearance.
• Sen. Jeff Sessions in 2008 comments on the Senate floor.
• Charlton Heston in "Planet of the Apes".