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General Immigration Fact Sheet
- There are over 150 million migrants in the world
today. The United States receives less than 2% of the world's
migrants on an annual basis.
- The number of documented immigrants admitted in 1998
totaled 660,477, the lowest level since 1988. This decrease was
largely due to a backlog of applications within the INS for
adjustment of status, which would enable people in the US borders
to apply for permanent residency status.
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Crosses commemorating migrant deaths at Mexico-U.S. Border
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- In 1998, 38.3% of immigrants arriving in the United
States came from North America, including Canada, Mexico, Central
America, and the Caribbean, followed by Asia with 33.3% and
Europe with 13.7%. · In 1998, 131,575 documented migrants
came from Mexico, comprising 19.9% of the total. Other leading
source countries included China, India, the Philippines, and the
Dominican Republic.
- In 1999, 26.4 million people, or 9.7 % of the total US
population was foreign born, compared to 15% in 1915.
- Immigrants tend to settle in selected states and urban
areas. In 1999, almost one out of two immigrants live in central
cities within a metropolitan area. The top 6 states of intended
residence for immigrants admitted in 1998 were California, New
York, Florida, Texas, New Jersey, and Illinois.
- During the last several years, the median age of
documented immigrants has remained constant at 29 years of
age.
- 54% of the documented immigrants admitted in 1998 were
female, sustaining a pattern developed in the previous four
years.
- Some leading occupations among documentedimmigrants
reporting a professional or technical occupation included:
nurses, engineers, social or religious workers, mathematical or
computer scientists, natural scientists, and post-secondary
teachers. Many immigrants also work in agricultural labor, the
garment industry, food processing, construction, and the hotel
and restaurant industries.
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