PROVIDENCE — Immigration to Rhode Island continues to increase rapidly and immigrants and their U.S.-born children now make up a larger percentage of the population than in any other New England state, according to a report released last week that showed immigration to the United States over the past seven years was the highest for any seven-year period in American history.

The survey, based on U.S. Census data, found that immigration to Rhode Island increased by 61 percent between 2000 and 2007 and that immigrants and their U.S.-born children make up 17.7 percent of the state’s population. By contrast, that segment of the population totaled 17.4 percent in Massachusetts; 15.9 percent in Connecticut; 5.8 percent in Vermont; 7.8 percent in New Hampshire and 3.1 percent in Maine.

The study was conducted by the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Immigration Studies, which did not break down the status of legal or illegal immigration by state. The analysis did state that about 11.3 million illegal immigrants are in the United States, which is close to other estimates by demographers.

Rhode Island has long been a magnet for immigrants. The survey results came as little surprise to those on the frontlines of what has become a contentious debate over the impact of immigration on state services and culture.

“I am not a cruel person, but our country is going to go away if we continue to believe we can support 12 million who are undereducated and need health care and other services,” said Terry Gorman, executive director of Rhode Islanders for Immigration Law Enforcement, a group that supports tougher enforcement of immigration laws. “Big business isn’t going to suddenly say we’re going to pay people a living wage, so the taxpayers will have to subsidize them.”

William Shuey, executive director of the International Institute of Rhode Island, which helps immigrants and refugees settle in the state, says critics of immigrants overstate the extent to which immigrants use welfare and other state-financed programs. Shuey also said that the economic impact of immigrants is not a drag on the state’s economy.

“A lot of this is just scapegoating a group that is vulnerable,” said Shuey. “It is easy to beat up on these people because they are politically powerless. If you take the long view, you’ll find that over 20 years immigrants are as likely as natives to own a house, have a steady job, be good citizens.”

The survey showed that Rhode Island has about 140,000 immigrants in a population of slightly over 1 million, meaning that 13.3 percent of the state’s population are immigrants.

That may seem like a large number, but Rhode Island has long been a crucible for immigration, especially from Europe between 1880 and the early 1920s, when a nativist political backlash after World War I shut down immigration.

In 1905, 7 out of every 10 Rhode Islanders were either first- or second-generation Americans. A state census that year showed that Rhode Island had become the first state in the country to have a Roman Catholic majority. The 1910 census calculated the number of immigrants living in the state at 180,000, more than the present-day total of 140,000.

The immigration of the early 20th century created a political firestorm, as native Protestants tired of the influx from abroad — particularly from Italy— and persuaded the federal government in the 1920s to slam the immigration door.

The study released last week showed that one of every eight people living in the United States is an immigrant. It also found that a large proportion of immigrants, both legal and illegal, are low-skilled workers and that about one-third of those have not completed high school.

smackay@projo.com