The number of people entering the United States has increased sharply in recent years. Most of the increase comes from a surge in people whom CBO categorizes as other foreign nationals. On the basis of pre-2020 trends, CBO would have expected the net immigration of people in that category to average around 200,000 per year. In the agency’s projections, the net immigration of other foreign nationals exceeds that rate by a total of 8.7 million people over the 2021–2026 period.
The increase in immigration boosts the economy and thus federal revenues, as well as mandatory spending and interest on the debt in CBO’s baseline projections, lowering deficits, on net, by $0.9 trillion over the 2024–2034 period.