Nearly half of immigrants, children of immigrants in Congress represent Western states States represented by each in 116th Congress, by U.S. region
While at least 13% of voting members in Congress are immigrants or children of immigrants, relatively few of these are foreign born: 13 in the House, and just one – Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii – in the Senate. These 14 immigrant lawmakers represent just 3% of all voting members in both chambers, a slight uptick from recent Congresses but substantially below the foreign-born share of Congresses many decades ago. (For example, about 10% of members in the first and much smaller Congress of 1789-91 were foreign born. About a century later, in the 50th Congress of 1887-89, 8% of members were born abroad, according to a previous analysis.) The current share of foreign-born lawmakers in Congress is also far below the foreign-born share of the United States as a whole, which was 13.5% as of 2016.
Immigrants and children of immigrants represent 24 states, with nearly half representing Western states. California has by far the most: 19 of the state’s 55 members are immigrants or children of immigrants. (Five members of Illinois’ delegation are immigrants or children of immigrants, the second-highest total of any state.) Looked at another way, more than a quarter of all members of Congress who are immigrants or children of immigrants represent California.
Nearly half of immigrants, children  | of immigrants in Congress represent  | Western states  | States represented by each in 116th Congress,  | by U.S. region  | Child of immigrant  | Immigrant  | Total  | West  | 25  | 31  | Northeast  | 3  | 13  | 10  | South 2  | 11  | 13  | Midwest  | 3  | 8  | 11  | Note: As of Jan. 24, 2019 Regions classified by U.S. Census.  | the Pew Research Center analysis of data from the  | Biographical Directory of the United States Congress,  | members websites.  | PEW RESEARCH CENTER 