This chart shows legal immigration into the USA by decade. As you can see, a new all-time record was set during the years 2000-2009 with 10,299,430 immigrants (click chart to enlarge):
The next chart shows annual immigration through 2010 with a 10-year moving average. As you can see, the 10-year period from 2001-2010 exceeded the prior peaks set in 1914 and 1998.
Conclusion: During the years of the Great Recession, the USA acted as if it had jobs to burn, and continued bringing in record amounts of immigrants – even when the unemployment rate went over 11% in 2009.
Data Source: 2010 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics.
