A recent analysis conducted by the Center for Immigration Studies reveals a notable decline in the number of illegal immigrants residing in the United States.
Since President Donald Trump assumed office for his second term in January 2025, the illegal immigrant population has reportedly decreased by one million. This analysis, spearheaded by Steven A. Camarota and Karen Zeigler, scrutinized data from the Census Bureaus Current Population Survey (CPS), a comprehensive dataset encompassing both legal and illegal immigrants.
The findings indicate a significant shift in immigration patterns, particularly among non-citizens from Latin America who entered the U.S. post-1980a demographic closely associated with illegal immigration.
According to The Post Millennial, the report highlights that the total foreign-born population, including those within and outside the labor force, experienced a decline of 957,000 from January to May 2025, as per the CPS data. Within this demographic, non-citizens from Latin America who arrived after 1980 saw a reduction of 1.07 million. The estimated number of illegal immigrants in the U.S. fell from 15.8 million in January to 14.8 million in May, underscoring a significant decrease.
The authors attribute this decline to a combination of factors, including President Trump's stringent immigration rhetoric, his electoral victory, and the administration's swift actions to expel illegal immigrants. "These results strongly support the idea that the election of Donald Trump, his rhetoric, and high-profile enforcement actions as soon as he took office caused a large number of illegal immigrants to leave the country," the report asserts.
Camarota and Zeigler clarify that the CPS survey does not explicitly identify illegal immigrants. Instead, they estimate the illegal immigrant population by calculating the number of legal immigrants and subtracting it from the total foreign-born population post-1980. The study also notes a slight increase in the number of naturalized U.S. citizens, suggesting that the decline in non-citizens was primarily due to departures rather than a reduction in naturalizations.
The CPS data revealed a 3.7 percent decrease in foreign-born respondents between January and May. However, the researchers caution that their May estimate is preliminary, as some administrative data necessary to fully account for legal immigration remains unavailable.
WThey also acknowledge that heightened enforcement fears may have led some non-citizens to avoid participating in government surveys, potentially impacting the results.
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