The US’s foreign-born population (including illegal and legal immigrants) has decreased by 2.2 million between the months of January and July 2025, indicating an overall decline in light of the Trump administration’s efforts against illegal immigration.
This number comes as the number of illegal immigrants also decreased by an estimated 1.6 million within the same time period
According to the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), which uncovered this information, this number is an estimate and specifically related to the Latin American non-citizen population, which has been a subject of focus for the Trump administration due to the harmful influence of several cartels on the US populace.
“Although this population accounts for a little less than one-third of the immigrant population, they represent 73 percent of the decline in the total foreign-born in the last six months,” the CIS noted. “These results strongly support the idea that the election of Donald Trump, his rhetoric, high-profile enforcement actions, and border policies have caused a large number of illegal immigrants to leave the country and many fewer to enter.”
The CIS further reports that this trend had been “upward in the preceding four years.” On the other hand, this is “the largest six-month decline ever within the same year” in foreign-born population.
While the number of non-citizens is down 2.6 million, those who are naturalized have increased by 373,000. According to the CIS, “Since illegal immigrants are not citizens, the decline in the number of people who are not American citizens is consistent with what would be expected if the number of illegal immigrants fell. The fact that there has not been a decline in naturalized citizens or even long-time non-citizens is an indication that the foreign-born in general are still willing to respond and identify as such.”
