Immigration, United States

Often described as a nation of immigrants, the United States had a foreign-born population of 12.4 percent in 2005. Before the 19th century, however, people rarely used the term immigrant. Instead, the foreign-born came as settlers, pioneers, slaves, or indentured servants.

The Naturalization Act of 1790 first established a centralized process for becoming a citizen, originally open to any free white individual who could demonstrate residence in the country for 2 years. In the mid-19th century, the short-lived Know-No thing movement emerged as a reaction to a surge in immigration, particularly of Irish Catholics after the potato famine of 1845–1851. No national legislation, however, was enacted in response. Immigration was, for the most part, welcomed as a route to national development until the late 19th century. This changed with the passing of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which barred Chinese from entering the country and excluded those already in the country from naturalization. From this point forward, who could and could not “become an American” was regulated at the national level. The immigrant became a distinct legal, as well as social, category.

Historically, two major peaks occurred in the foreign-born population as a percentage of the total population. According to U.S. Census Bureau statistics, 9.7 percent of the population was foreign-born in 1850, rising to 14.8 percent in 1890 and 14.7 percent in 1910. Midcentury, the proportion of foreign-born plummeted, representing just 5.4 percent of the total [Page 479]population in 1960 and 4.7 percent in 1970. Since the 1970s, however, the number of foreign-born has risen rapidly. Estimated at more than 35.6 million in 2005, there are now more than twice as many immigrants than at any time before 1980. In addition to the increasing numbers of foreign-born people, there are significant trends in their ethnic and racial composition. In 1910, 87.4 percent of immigrants came from Europe. In 2005, 31 percent of foreign-born arrived from Latin America, 36 percent from Asia, and just 16 percent from Europe.

The gender and age cohorts of immigrants to the United States also varied over the past 100 years. Earlier immigrants were primarily male; in 1910 there were 131.2 males per 100 female immigrants. By 1960, this trend reversed, and in 1970 there were just 84.4 males per 100 female immigrants. The proportion of male immigrants rose again by 1990, with 95.8 males per 100 females, a pattern that continued through 2005. Similarly, the age distribution of the immigrant population shifted over time. In 1910, 5.7 percent of immigrants were under age 15 and 8.9 percent were over age 65. In 1940, less than 1 percent of immigrants were under age 15 and 18 percent were over age 65. By 1990,7.5 percent of immigrants were under age 15 and 13.6 percent were over age 65.

Scholars analyze the determinants of migration to understand these changing demographic patterns, such as the shift from fewer female migrants in the early 1900s to many more females than males in the 1970s. Researchers also examine the experiences of immigrant groups and their offspring in relation to nonimmigrant populations. They may consider how race and ethnicity shape immigrants' experiences of adaptation and mobility, how an influx of young immigrants impacts the educational system, or how the changing profile of older immigrants affects social security and health care institutions.

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