President Trump’s promise to crack down on both legal and illegal immigration appears to be working.
Vice President J.D. Vance told The Gateway Pundit’s Jim Hoft earlier this month that the US would see the first negative net migration in the United States in decades.
A study by the Pew Research Center has found that some 1.5 million people have left the country between January and June of this year, marking the first fall in over five decades.
In June, the country was home to 51.9 million immigrants, a drop from 53.3 million just six months earlier.
The study states:
As of mid-2023 – the latest year for which detailed data is available – more than 11 million U.S. residents were born in Mexico, representing 22% of all immigrants nationally. The second-largest immigrant group was from India (3.2 million, or 6%), followed by China (3 million, or 6%), the Philippines (2.1 million, or 4%) and Cuba (1.7 million, or 3%).
About half of all U.S. immigrants (52%, or 26.7 million people) were born in Latin America. In addition to the millions of migrants from Mexico and Cuba, more than a million hail from El Salvador (1.6 million), Guatemala (1.4 million), the Dominican Republic (1.4 million), Colombia (1.2 million), Honduras (1.1 million) and Venezuela (1.1 million).
After Latin America, Asia is the second-largest region of birth for U.S. immigrants. In 2023, around a quarter of all immigrants (27%, or nearly 14 million people) were born in Asia.
As of 2023, there were about 11 million immigrants from every other world region combined, accounting for 22% of the U.S. foreign-born population: 10% were born in Europe, 5% in sub-Saharan Africa, 4% in the Middle East-North Africa region, and 2% in Canada or another North American country (a category that includes Bermuda and some smaller countries).
However, the analysis also found that the number of illegal aliens residing in the U.S. still remains around 14 million, underlining the enormous challenge the Trump administration faces in carrying out millions of mass deportations.
The U.S. unauthorized immigrant population reached a record 14 million in 2023 — after the largest increase in two years ever recorded. Here’s what’s behind the rise. pic.twitter.com/JQxg4honB4
— Pew Research Center (@pewresearch) August 21, 2025
Since coming to office in January, the Trump administration has taken numerous steps to curb both legal and illegal migration.
Among their efforts including tightening asylum access at the southern border, imposing stricter visa rules for students and skilled workers, and deploying thousands of federal agents to detain and deport illegal immigrants.
It has also suspended the refugee program that once provided green cards and a path to citizenship, introduced more rigorous screening of visa applicants expected to shrink the inflow of foreign workers and students.
They have also terminated temporary protections for people from countries including Haiti and Venezuela, making many of those entrants eligible for deportation.
