One third of the nation's 50 states now have immigrant populations over 15 percent, with six over 25 percent, raising new questions about the country's ability to absorb the immigrant flood in schools and the job market, a new report on government immigration data said.

The new Center for Immigration Studies analysis of the 61 million immigrants and their children now in America revealed the speed at how the nation's population has changed since 1970.

Center for Immigration Studies map of immigrant population in 2015.

According to interactive maps unveiled Monday by CIS, there were no states in 1970 that recorded immigrant populations over 15 percent. Today one third of the nation's states register over 15 percent immigrant: California, Nevada, Texas, Florida, New York, New Jersey, Washington, Arizona, Illinois, Maryland, Georgia, Virginia, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Delaware, and Oregon.



And the population of immigrants and their children in six are over 25 percent immigrant: California, Nevada, Texas, Florida, New York and New Jersey.

California, for example, went from 13 percent immigrant in 1970 to over 37 percent last year. Texas went from 5 percent to 25 percent over that same period.

The maps can be seen here.

The report by CIS immigration experts Steven A. Camarota and Bryan Griffith raised new concerns, heard in some corners in Congress, about the speed of legal and illegal immigration and whether states can assimilate the new people into their programs, everything from schools to jobs.

Referring to their December analysis that 61 million legal and illegal immigrants and their children in the country, the experts wrote, "The numbers represent a complete break with the recent history of the United States. As recently as 1970, there were only 13.5 million immigrants and their young children in the country, accounting for one in 15 U.S. residents."

It is likely to further push immigration critics in Congress to advocate for restrictions on the issuing of green cards and work visas until more studies can be done to make sure that native-born Americans aren't losing out to immigrants, especially for jobs.

Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner's "Washington Secrets" columnist, can be contacted at pbedard@washingtonexaminer.com