According to a recently released report, the overall immigrant population (referred to as the foreign-born) in the USA has reached a record 41.3 million, the highest rate in 93 years. This means 13.1 percent of the US population comprises of “foreign born” individuals. The US immigrant population increased approximately by 1.4 million in the last 3 years, totaling a number of 10.2 million immigrants since 2000.

According to the Center for Immigration Studies, which sited data from the USA Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, immigrants from Southeast Asia & the Middle East increased significantly from 2010 to 2013. On the other hand, the number of Mexican immigrants declined by 1 percent – however, this worked as an offset for the deaths & immigrants leaving the country. Here are some interesting facts: Based on the state-by-state analysis, Texas had the largest increase in the number of immigrants since 2010, at about 227,240 people. California is in second place at 160,771, followed by Florida at 140,019.

The data also showed that still the largest share of immigrant population i.e. more than 25 percent, is of Mexicans who are living in the USA.  The Indian-American population, which constitutes 3.34 million people, ranks as the 3rd largest Asian population in the US right behind China and the Philippines. Another report by the Center for American Progress indicates the Indian-American population grew 76 percent from 2000 to 2012.

So what does this mean for the United States of America? In the words of George Borjas, an economist at Harvard University, “Immigrants will redistribute income by ‘lowering the wages of competing American workers and increasing the wages of complementary American workers, as well as profits for business owners and other ‘users’ of immigrant labor. Although the overall net impact on the native-born is small, the loss or gain for particular groups of the population can be substantial.”