University at Buffalo (UB)
More than 40 million people living in the United States were born in other countries, and almost an equal number have at least one foreign-born parent. Together, the first generation (foreign-born) and second generation (children of the foreign-born) comprise almost one in four Americans. It comes as little surprise, then, that many U.S. residents view immigration as a major policy issue facing the nation. Not only does immigration affect the environment in which everyone lives, learns and works, but it also interacts with nearly every policy area of concern, from jobs and the economy, education and health care, to federal, state and local government budgets.