DHS Releases 2008 Estimates of U.S.

Stewart Rabinowitz, of the Dallas-based law firm Rabinowitz &
Rabinowitz, offers informed commentary about the estimates of the 2008
U.S. legal permanent resident population.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently released
information regarding the legal permanent resident (LPR) population
living in the United States as of January 1, 2008, and has estimated
that 12.6 million LPRs lived in the United States on that date. The LPR
population includes persons granted lawful permanent residence, but not
those who have become U.S. citizens. One-half obtained LPR status in
2000 or later; one-quarter became LPRs during 2005-07.

Data on the size and characteristics of the foreign-born population
are needed to assess the impact of immigration and integration of
immigrants into U.S. society. Stewart Rabinowitz, an immigration lawyer
from the Dallas-based law firm Rabinowitz and Rabinowitz, explains how
the estimates are compiled. “The decennial census and monthly household
surveys of the Census Bureau include questions on place of birth,
citizenship, and year of entry into the United States. This data
provides information on the total foreign-born population, naturalized
citizens, and non-citizens. National population data on the major
subcategories of non-citizens, including LPRs, students, temporary
workers, and unauthorized immigrants, however, are not readily
available from any source and must be estimated.”In 1981, Congress
discontinued an alien registration program which required all legal
resident aliens to report their status annually to the legacy
Immigration and Naturalization Service making direct calculations since
then more difficult.Immigration data collected by DHS measures
administrative events such as the number of aliens granted lawful
permanent residence or the number approved for asylum, but not the
population of legal permanent residents or the population as of asylees
living in the United States at a point in time. Estimates of the LPR
population have been derived primarily from Census and DHS data by
estimating a base population as of a certain date and adding subsequent
components of population change. Adds Rabinowitz, “A variant of this
approach has been used by DHS to estimate the resident LPR population
since 2002.”

Separate population estimates were developed for LPRs who entered
the United States before 1980 and during the interval between 1980 and
2007. Two sets of estimates were added together to obtain the overall
estimated population as of January 1, 2008.

To contact a Dallas immigration lawyer or Dallas immigration attorney visit Rabinowitzrabinowitz.com.