At least fifteen percent of the 118th Congress are immigrants or immigrants’ children, a number that has increased consistently over the past three Congresses.
According to data compiled by the Pew Research Center from the Congressional Research Service, news stories, congressional offices, and other sources, at least 81 current members of Congress are either themselves immigrants or have at least one parent who was born outside of the United States.
Including Hawaii’s Japanese-born Democratic Senator Mazie Hirono, there are presently 18 people serving in Congress who were born outside of the United States. Together, they make up only 3% of the total number of legislators in both houses.
At least 63 extra legislators, including 47 representatives and 16 senators, are immigrants themselves or are the children of immigrants. Twelve percent of both houses of Congress are made up of the offspring of immigrants.
The percentage of this House that was born outside of the United States is exactly the same as it was in the last. The share is still quite a ways off from its all-time peak. In the 50th Congress, which met in 1887-1888, immigrants made up about 8% of the total electorate. This was part of a larger surge of immigration from Europe. Even though there are more immigrants than native-born Americans in the United States as a whole (13.6 percent in 2021), the proportion of immigrants in the present Congress is still far below that number.
You can read more of the Pew findings by clicking here.
