Immigrants and children of immigrants make up at least 15% of the 118th Congress

Immigrants and children of immigrants account for at least 15% of the 118th Congress, a share that has steadily grown over the past three Congresses. At least 81 voting members of Congress are foreign born or have at least one parent who was born in another country, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of members’ biographical information gathered from the Congressional Research Service, news articles, congressional offices and other sources.

There are currently 18 foreign-born voting members of Congress, including 17 in the House of Representatives and one in the Senate – Democrat Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, who was born in Japan. Together, they represent 3% of all voting members across both legislative chambers. At least 63 additional lawmakers – 47 representatives and 16 senators – have one or more immigrant parent. Overall, these children of immigrants make up 12% of the House and Senate.

Both the number and share of foreign-born members in the current Congress are the same as in the previous Congress. The share remains substantially below historical highs. For example, about 8% of lawmakers were immigrants in the 50th Congress of 1887-88, during a broader wave of immigration from Europe to the United States. The share of immigrants in the current Congress is also far below the foreign-born share of the U.S. population as a whole, which was 13.6% in 2021.

Children of immigrants, though, have increased their representation in Congress in recent years. Their share has increased from 10% (or 52 members) in the 115th Congress of 2017-18, when the Center began tracking this biographical information.  

Looking at all 81 immigrants and children of immigrants in the current Congress, Democrats make up a much larger portion of the group than Republicans. Among the 17 senators who are foreign born or have an immigrant parent, 12 are Democrats, four are Republicans (Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida, Jim Risch of Idaho, John Thune of South Dakota and Ted Cruz of Texas) and one is an independent – Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, whose father emigrated from Poland.

In the House, 48 of the 64 lawmakers who are immigrants or children of immigrants are Democrats, while 16 are Republicans. The latter group includes New York Republican Rep. George Santos, who is the son of Brazilian immigrants. However, key aspects of Santos’ biography have been called into question.

Immigrants and children of immigrants represent 25 states in Congress. About a quarter of these members (26%) represent California – the largest share representing any one state. Smaller shares represent Florida (9%), Illinois (7%) and New York (6%).

There are also regional trends. Almost half of members who are immigrants or children of immigrants (48%) hail from states in the West – 39 members in all. The South ranks as the second-most common region represented by this group, with 17 lawmakers, followed by the Northeast (13) and the Midwest (12).

In a change from previous Congresses, Central America has surpassed Europe as the most common origin region for lawmakers who are immigrants or the children of immigrants. Three-in-ten members in this group claim heritage in Central American countries. About a quarter or fewer have roots in Europe (26%), Asia (17%) and the Caribbean (16%).

Twenty-two lawmakers who are immigrants or have at least one immigrant parent have roots in Mexico, by far the largest number from any one country. The next most common countries of origin are Cuba with nine lawmakers, Germany with six and India with five. (Some lawmakers in this analysis are tallied under more than one country and region because their parents emigrated to the U.S. from different nations.)

Of the new members of Congress this year, Democratic Rep. Becca Balint, whose Hungarian father survived the Holocaust, is the first woman and openly gay person to represent Vermont in Congress. And Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia of California, who emigrated from Peru at age 5, is the first openly gay immigrant to serve in Congress.

Under the U.S. Constitution, an immigrant taking office in the House must be a U.S. citizen for seven years or more, be age 25 or older and live in the state where they are elected. Nine years of citizenship are required to serve in the Senate, and the member must be 30 or older and live in the represented state when elected.

If you know of an additional congressional legislator not included on our list, email info@pewresearch.org.

Immigrants, children of immigrants in the 118th U.S. Congress

Name	Immigrant or child of an immigrant	Place of origin	Party	Office	State
Balint, Becca	Child	Father: Hungary	Democrat	Representative	VT
Barragán, Nanette	Child	Both parents: Mexico	Democrat	Representative	CA
Bennet, Michael	Child	Mother: Poland	Democrat	Senator	CO
Bera, Ami	Child	Both parents: India	Democrat	Representative	CA
Bice, Stephanie	Child	Father: Iran	Republican	Representative	OK
Blumenthal, Richard	Child	Father: Germany	Democrat	Senator	CT
Boyle, Brendan	Child	Father: Ireland	Democrat	Representative	PA
Burgess, Michael	Child	Father: Canada	Republican	Representative	TX
Caraveo, Yadira	Child	Both parents: Mexico	Democrat	Representative	CO
Carbajal, Salud	Immigrant	Mexico	Democrat	Representative	CA
Cárdenas, Tony	Child	Both parents: Mexico	Democrat	Representative	CA
Casar, Greg	Child	Both parents: Mexico	Democrat	Representative	TX
Cherfilus-McCormick, Sheila	Child	Both parents: Haiti	Democrat	Representative	FL
Chu, Judy	Child	Mother: China	Democrat	Representative	CA
Ciscomani, Juan	Immigrant	Mexico	Republican	Representative	AZ
Clarke, Yvette	Child	Both parents: Jamaica	Democrat	Representative	NY
Correa, Lou	Child	Both parents: Mexico	Democrat	Representative	CA
Cruz, Ted	Child	Father: Cuba	Republican	Senator	TX
Cuellar, Henry	Child	Father: Mexico	Democrat	Representative	TX
DeLauro, Rosa	Child	Father: Italy	Democrat	Representative	CT
Diaz-Balart, Mario	Child	Both parents: Cuba	Republican	Representative	FL
Duckworth, Tammy	Child	Mother: Thailand	Democrat	Senator	IL
Durbin, Dick	Child	Mother: Lithuania	Democrat	Senator	IL
Eshoo, Anna	Child	Mother: Armenia; Father: Iran	Democrat	Representative	CA
Espaillat, Adriano	Immigrant	Dominican Republic	Democrat	Representative	NY
Frost, Maxwell Alejandro	Child	Mother: Cuba	Democrat	Representative	FL
Gallego, Ruben	Child	Mother: Colombia; Father: Mexico	Democrat	Representative	AZ
García, Jesús	Immigrant	Mexico	Democrat	Representative	IL
Garcia, Mike	Child	Both parents: Mexico	Republican	Representative	CA
Garcia, Robert	Immigrant	Peru	Democrat	Representative	CA
Gimenez, Carlos	Immigrant	Cuba	Republican	Representative	FL
Gomez, Jimmy	Child	Both parents: Mexico	Democrat	Representative	CA
Grijalva, Raúl	Child	Father: Mexico	Democrat	Representative	AZ
Harris, Andy	Child	Mother: Ukraine; Father: Hungary	Republican	Representative	MD
Heinrich, Martin	Child	Father: Germany	Democrat	Senator	NM
Hirono, Mazie	Immigrant	Japan	Democrat	Senator	HI
Horsford, Steven	Child	Mother: Trinidad	Democrat	Representative	NV
Houlahan, Chrissy	Child	Father: Poland	Democrat	Representative	PA
Hoyer, Steny	Child	Father: Denmark	Democrat	Representative	MD
Jayapal, Pramila	Immigrant	India	Democrat	Representative	WA
Khanna, Ro	Child	Both parents: India	Democrat	Representative	CA
Kilmer, Derek	Child	Mother: Germany	Democrat	Representative	WA
Kim, Andy	Child	Both parents: South Korea	Democrat	Representative	NJ
Kim, Young	Immigrant	South Korea	Republican	Representative	CA
Krishnamoorthi, Raja	Immigrant	India	Democrat	Representative	IL
Lieu, Ted	Immigrant	Taiwan	Democrat	Representative	CA
Luna, Anna Paulina	Child	Father: Mexico	Republican	Representative	FL
Malliotakis, Nicole	Child	Mother: Cuba; Father: Greece	Republican	Representative	NY
Menendez, Robert	Child	Both parents: Cuba	Democrat	Senator	NJ
Meng, Grace	Child	Both parents: Taiwan	Democrat	Representative	NY
Mooney, Alexander	Child	Mother: Cuba	Republican	Representative	WV
Napolitano, Grace	Child	Mother: Mexico	Democrat	Representative	CA
Neguse, Joe	Child	Both parents: Eritrea	Democrat	Representative	CO
Omar, Ilhan	Immigrant	Somalia	Democrat	Representative	MN
Ossoff, Jon	Child	Mother: Australia	Democrat	Senator	GA
Padilla, Alex	Child	Both parents: Mexico	Democrat	Senator	CA
Pérez, Marie Gluesenkamp	Child	Father: Mexico	Democrat	Representative	WA
Peters, Gary	Child	Mother: France	Democrat	Senator	MI
Ramirez, Delia	Child	Both parents: Guatemala	Democrat	Representative	IL
Risch, James	Child	Father: Germany	Republican	Senator	ID
Rubio, Marco	Child	Both parents: Cuba	Republican	Senator	FL
Ruiz, Raul	Immigrant	Mexico	Democrat	Representative	CA
Salazar, Maria Elvira	Child	Both parents: Cuba	Republican	Representative	FL
Salinas, Andrea	Child	Father: Mexico	Democrat	Representative	OR
Sánchez, Linda	Child	Both parents: Mexico	Democrat	Representative	CA
Sanders, Bernie	Child	Father: Poland	Independent	Senator	VT
Santos, George	Child	Both parents: Brazil	Republican	Representative	NY
Sarbanes, John	Child	Mother: UK	Democrat	Representative	MD
Schakowsky, Janice	Child	Mother: Russia; Father: Lithuania	Democrat	Representative	IL
Schatz, Brian	Child	Father: Canada	Democrat	Senator	HI
Spartz, Victoria	Immigrant	Ukraine	Republican	Representative	IN
Steel, Michelle	Immigrant	South Korea	Republican	Representative	CA
Strickland, Marilyn	Immigrant	South Korea	Democrat	Representative	WA
Thanedar, Shri	Immigrant	India	Democrat	Representative	MI
Thune, John	Child	Mother: Canada	Republican	Senator	SD
Tlaib, Rashida	Child	Both parents: Palestinian territories	Democrat	Representative	MI
Torres, Norma	Immigrant	Guatemala	Democrat	Representative	CA
Valadao, David	Child	Both parents: Portugal	Republican	Representative	CA
Vargas, Juan	Child	Both parents: Mexico	Democrat	Representative	CA
Vasquez, Gabe	Child	Both parents: Mexico	Democrat	Representative	NM
Wyden, Ron	Child	Both parents: Germany	Democrat	Senator	OR

Note: Data as of Feb. 28, 2023.
Source: Pew Research Center analysis of data from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, news reports, genealogical records and members’ published comments, and statements from congressional websites and staff.