Several times early in the twentieth century total annual immigration exceeded one million people. Current immigration figures may match those record totals. Since 1979, legal immigrants have averaged 566,000 a year; newly arrived refugees and asylees approved have averaged 135,000; and the "settled" illegal immigrant population may be growing by up to half a million a year. Many illegal immigrants entered the United States legally and then overstayed their visas, and there has also been a sharp increase in illegal border crossings from Mexico and Central America. The Census Bureau estimates that net immigration now accounts for 28% of U.S. population growth and will account for all growth by the 2030s if the currently low U.S. fertility rates continue. Public opinion strongly favors curbs on illegal immigration and legalization of illegal aliens long resident in the United States, and in 1986 Congress enacted legislation to reduce illegal immigration. Asians and Latin Americans now make up over 80 percent of legal immigrants, and Latin Americans comprised 77 percent of the illegal immigrants counted in the 1980 census. Asians far outstrip Latin American immigrants in education, occupational status, and income. Hispanic immigrants so far appear to favor cultural pluralism, and may be less likely to assimilate as easily as the Asians. Recent Hispanic immigrants have helped preserve low-wage industries and agriculture in California. Illegal immigrants appear to draw more on public health and education services then they pay back in taxes. With or without immigration reform, population and economic pressures in Mexico and the Caribbean Basin ensure that the numbers of people seeking to enter the United States are only likely to increase. (Author/KH)