[ti:U.S. Foreign-Born Population Rises to Highest in a Century] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.00]In the United States, the number of people who were born overseas [00:06.19]rose last year to its highest share in over a century. [00:12.98]The increase raised the number of foreign-born residents [00:18.78]to 44.5 million in 2017, up 1.8 percent from a year earlier. [00:29.07]Those numbers come from the U.S. Census Bureau. [00:35.26]The administration of President Donald Trump [00:39.73]has said it wants to restrict legal immigration. [00:44.79]It has increased efforts to detain and expel immigrants [00:50.20]who entered the country without the government's permission. [00:55.30]In fact, notes Randy Capps, [00:58.82]the government has done little to restrict legal immigration. [01:04.28]Capps studies changes in population at the Migration Policy Institute. [01:11.81]He told the Reuters news agency that America's strong job market [01:19.49]likely caused part of the increase in the foreign-born population. [01:25.81]"The economy's definitely a factor in this, [01:30.98]not just in more people coming but in more people staying," Capps said. [01:37.51]Foreign-born residents made up 13.7 percent of the U.S. population in 2017, [01:47.99]up from 13.5 percent in 2016. [01:54.02]Those numbers come from the Census Bureau. [01:57.78]That made the percentage of immigrants in the United States [02:03.89]last year the highest since 1910, [02:07.81]when they made up 14.7 percent of the population. [02:13.11]Stephen Bannon once worked as an adviser to President Trump. [02:19.15]Bannon had claimed that 20 percent of the population [02:23.56]had immigrated to the United States. [02:27.12]He called it the biggest problem for Americans who could not find a job. [02:33.05]The Census Bureau information showed that an increasing number [02:39.42]of immigrants were from Asia or had completed higher education. [02:45.95]This continues a trend over the past few years [02:50.05]during which immigration from Mexico slowed. [02:54.73]The information comes from the U.S. government's American Community Survey. [03:01.70]Experts believe this survey is the best way to estimate the immigrant population. [03:09.23]The study is also used to measure population changes in cities and counties around the country. [03:18.34]It counts all people born outside the U.S. [03:21.87]and does not identify whether they are in the country legally or illegally. [03:28.53]Experts say the survey likely undercounts those living in the country illegally. [03:35.90]Illegal immigrants can be more difficult to identify [03:40.18]in population counts because of informal housing. [03:45.22]Also, some illegal immigrants do not take part in the survey [03:50.06]for fear of being reported to the government, experts say. [03:55.67]Jeffrey Passel is a population researcher at Pew Research Center. [04:03.09]He estimates that the true immigrant population is likely three percent [04:09.18]to five percent higher than the number in the American Community Survey. [04:15.97]I'm Susan Shand. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM