The Biden administration's lax approach in tackling the surge of illegal immigrants into the US is upsetting immigration demographics and leading to a decline in education levels, as revealed by a report on Thursday.
Since taking office in January 2021, Joe Biden has reversed many of the border policies put in place by his predecessor, Donald Trump. Among those are a deal aimed at reducing asylum seekers from South and Central America and ending Title 42, a Trump-era border restriction enacted during the COVID pandemic.
The US is home to 13.7 million illegal immigrants and 51.4 million immigrants in total, an uptick of 6.4 million within three years since Biden became president, according to the Center for Immigration Studies.
This surge results in an average of 172,000 new immigrants per month, which is approximately four times higher than the rate during the Trump administration and about three times higher than the figure during Obama's presidency.
This raises concerns about America’s ability to accommodate such an increase, as the Biden administration lacks a plan to address this immigration crisis it has contributed to.
Republicans argue that the administration's lenient policies encourage illegal immigration rather than deter it, advocating for stricter asylum rules and limits on humanitarian parole.
Most newcomers hail from South America, with 3.7 million entering the US illegally. Only 44 percent have a high school education, and many are high school dropouts.
Steven A. Camarota, the study's lead author, emphasized the critical role education plays in determining success in the United States. It affects job prospects, income levels, poverty rates, and eligibility for welfare programs, particularly among the children of illegal immigrants.
In 2018, 55 percent of immigrants held a bachelor’s degree, but this figure has plummeted to 41 percent, while the proportion of those without a high school diploma has jumped from 29 to 44 percent, according to Camarota's findings.
These shifts challenge the notion that high immigration rates lead to an improvement in education levels among newcomers.
The US currently boasts the highest immigrant-to-population ratio ever recorded, at 15.5 percent, a 2-percentage-point rise since 2020, surpassing the 14.8 percent recorded in 1890.
This rapid rise defies the Census Bureau's projections, which estimated that the United States would not reach a 15.5 percent ratio until about 2040. These projections underscore the unprecedented nature of the current immigration surge, Camarota noted.
These recent revelations come as a heated debate, surrounding the economic impact of immigrants in the United States, continues to rage. Analysts at the Congressional Budget Office have observed a significant increase in gross domestic product (GDP) in recent years, largely crediting this growth to the influx of illegal immigrants. These immigrants have expanded the labor force and boosted overall productivity, contributing to a more robust economy.
Cristobal Ramon and Viktor Olah, writing for Unidos, a prominent Hispanic rights group, argue that recent arrivals will eventually integrate into the labor market and become vital contributors to the US workforce, akin to past migrants in the Latino community. This will thereby benefit the country's economy and boost federal tax revenues.
However, Camarota cautioned against assuming workers are better off due to immigration. While the GDP has risen by approximately 1 percent due to the influx, the population has increased by 2 percent, diluting the gains among a larger populace. “Immigration makes the economy larger and makes per capita GDP lower,” he emphasized.