Foreign-Born Population Falls 2.9 Million Since Trump Took Office, First Sustained Decline Since 1930s

A Center for Immigration Studies analysis of Census Bureau household survey data, released Thursday, September 3, 2026, found the total US foreign-born population fell 2.9 million from January 2025 (53.3 million) to July 2026 (50.5 million) — the illegal immigrant population accounting for most of the drop, an estimated 2.3 million decline from 15.8 million to 13.5 million, while the legal immigrant population fell roughly 600,000. CIS research director Steven Camarota called it the first sustained net decrease in US migration since the 1930s, reversing an 8.3 million increase during the post-COVID border surge under the Biden administration. CIS attributed the decline to border enforcement and interior removals; the Current Population Survey underlying the estimate covers about 60,000 households and carries a margin of error of roughly ±1 million.