America at 300 Million

In 1850, 9.7% of the US population was born outside the US
In 1890, 14.8% of the US population was born outside the US.
In 1970, 4.7% of the US population was born outside the US.
Today, 12% of the US population was born outside the US, or 14.6% of the US population was born outside the US if an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants are now living in the US. However, if estimates of 20 million illegal immigrants living in the US are correct, this means that there is a greater percentage of foreign born people living in the US than at any other time in our nation’s history. This would mean that immigration numbers are larger than at any other point in our history including the Irish immigrations after the Potato Famine.