Asians will become the biggest immigrant group in the US by the year 2055, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center. By the middle of this century, Asians will have overtaken Hispanics, making up as much as 38 percent of all US immigrants, with Hispanics predicted to be at 31 percent.
Asian immigrants have started to overtake Hispanic immigrants in arrivals to the US since 2010, and the Asian population in the country exploded from 11.9 million back in 2000, to 20.4 million in 2015, an increase of 72 percent. The Pew study says this is the fastest such growth rate for any major ethnic or racial group.
Hispanics, the second fastest growing group, increased in population by around 60 percent across the same period. 2044 is likely to be a watershed moment for the US when there will be no majority racial group. Asian-Americans have already become an important part of the professional and cultural landscape of the US, with prominent examples including Ajit Varadaraj Pai, the first Indian-American chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, and Transport Secretary, Elaine Chao, who is similarly breaking new ground.
The Pew study comes as the Trump administration continues its efforts to curb immigration, with President Donald Trump last week saying on Twitter that immigration legislation cannot include chain immigration, referring to immigrants who come to the US and then bring their family members over to join them.