42 Million Latin Americans Want to Move to US Permanently, Poll Finds

A construction crew installs new sections of the U.S.-Mexico border barrier replacing smaller fences on January 11, 2019 as seen from Tijuana, Mexico. Mario Tama/Getty Images

The chief executive of a major polling organization suggested that open-border laws currently in effect in the United States could attract up to 42 million Latin Americans to migrate to the United States.

Jim Clifton, chairman and CEO at Gallup, made the suggestion in a commentary about the results of the pollster’s global migration survey, which found that 42 million people in Latin America and 158 million adults worldwide want to permanently move to the United States.