Washington, D.C.
| Summary Demographic Data (and Source) | |
|---|---|
| Population (2008 CB est.): | 591,833 |
| Population (2000 Census): | 572,059 |
| Foreign-Born Population (2008 FAIR est.): | 74,420 |
| Foreign-Born Population (2000 Census): | 73,561 |
| Share Foreign-Born (2008 FAIR est.) | 12.6% |
| Share Foreign-Born (2000): | 12.9% |
| Immigrant Stock (2000 CB est.): | 98,000 |
| Share Immigrant Stock (2000 est.): | 17.1% |
| Naturalized U.S. Citizens (2006 CB est.): | 24,219 |
| Share Naturalized (2006): | 32.8% |
| Legal Immigrant Admission (DHS 1997-2006): | 13,556 |
| Refugee Admission (DHS 1997-2006): | 2,589 |
| Illegal Alien Population (2008 FAIR est.): | 35,000 |
| Costs of Illegal Aliens (2005 FAIR) | $53,000,000 |
| Projected 2050 Population (2006 FAIR) | 1,113,687 |
Over 11,000 District of Colombia residents lived in either crowded or severely crowded housing in 2005. Studies show that crowded housing often correlates with the number of foreign-born. More than one-seventh (15.1%) of immigrants in the District of Colombia had incomes below poverty level in 2005. Analysts say that high immigration is one of the reasons for D.C.'s increase in poverty over the last decade.
Washington D.C. : Extended Immigration Data
POPULATION
Using the Current Population Survey, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that in July 2008 the District of Columbia’s population had increased to 591,833 residents, i.e., an annual average increase of about 2,380 residents since 2000. That is a rate of increase of about 0.4 percent per year.
The District of Columbia, unlike all but one state lost rather than increased population between 1960-2000.
NET INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION (NIM)
Based on the Current Population Survey, the Census Bureau estimated that between the 2000 Census and July 2008 the state’s population increased by about 26,071 residents from net international migration (more foreign-born arriving than leaving). That was an annual average increase of about 3,140 residents, i.e., more than the total (132%) increase (not including the children born to the immigrants after their arrival in the United States). During the same period there was a net exodus of about 5,450 established residents annually.
FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION
Based on the American Community Survey (ACS), the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that the foreign-born population of the District of Columbia was 74,207 persons in 2006. The ACS is a large-scale, continuous sampling process designed to replace the need for a long-form in the 2010 Census. However, because the ACS does not have the same follow-up procedures as the Census to include non-respondents, it may underestimate the foreign-born population.
FAIR estimates that the foreign-born population of the District of Columbia was about 74,420 residents in July 2008. This meant a foreign-born population share of 12.6 percent. The amount of change since the 2000 Census indicates an average annual rate of increase in the foreign-born population of about 105 people, which is a small fraction (4.4%) of the state’s annual average population increase. Since 2000, the foreign-born population has increased by 1.2 percent compared to a 3.8 percent increase in the native-born population. [Note the very different estimates of increase in the foreign-born population from the two different Census Bureau surveys.]
Immigration also contributes to population growth through the children born to immigrants in this country. Nationally the share of births to the foreign-born is about double their share of the population. A 25.2 percent share of the District’s current births is large enough to account for about 1,975 births a year. Combining the increase in the foreign-born population and estimated immigrant births suggests that immigration may account for nearly 2,080 persons added to the state’s population annually, i.e., more than seven-eighths (87.4%) of the District’s overall population increase.
The 2000 Census found that 51 percent of the District's foreign-born population had arrived in the state since 1990. This demonstrates the effects of the current mass immigration, and it was a much higher share than the national average (43.7%).
In 1990, over half (55.7%) of the District's foreign-born population had arrived since 1980.
An indicator of the change in the immigrant population may be seen in data on the share of the population that speaks a language other than English at home. Between 1990 and 2000 the share of non-English speakers at home in the District of Columbia increased by more than one-fifth, from 12.5 percent to 15.3 percent. Less than half (42.3%) of those who said they spoke a language other than English at home in 2000 also said they spoke English less than very well.
| Speakers of Foreign Languages (at home in Washington, DC in the 2000 Census) | |
| Spanish | 49,460 |
| French | 9,005 |
| German | 2,695 |
| Amharic | 2,365 |
| Chinese | 2,225 |
| Arabic | 2,095 |
| Kru, Ibo, Yoruba | 1,910 |
| Italian | 1,725 |
| Vietnamese | 1,610 |
| Tagalog | 1,355 |
|
(Source: Census Bureau report: Language Spoken at Home for the Population 5 Years and Over, April 2004) | |
The Census Bureau’s American Community Survey found that in 2006, the foreign born population was 73,820, a minimal increase of .04% percent since 2000. In comparison, the foreign-born population changed from 58,887 to 73,561 residents between 1990 and 2000, an increase of 101.6 percent.
The ten countries below constituted 43.6% of the foreign-born population in the District of Columbia in 2006. El Salvador accounted for approximately one fifth alone (20.2%)
|
Foreign-Born Population Change | ||||||||
|
Rank |
Country |
1990 |
Country |
2000 |
Country |
2006 |
||
| 1 | El Salvador | 9,276 | El Salvador | 15,886 | El Salvador | 14,944 | ||
| 2 | Jamaica | 2,814 | Jamaica | 3,225 | India | 2,567 | ||
| 3 | U. King. | 2,137 | China | 2,740 | Mexico | 2,317 | ||
| 4 | Philippines | 1,648 | U. King. | 2,192 | Jamaica | 2,167 | ||
| 5 | Ethiopia | 1,517 | Mexico | 1,984 | China | 2,015 | ||
| 6 | Germany | 1,441 | Dom. Repub. | 1,779 | France | 1,893 | ||
| 7 | Trin.&Tob | 1,337 | Philippines | 1,697 | Philippines | 1,840 | ||
| 8 | China | 1,313 | Vietnam | 1,651 | Canada | 1,683 | ||
| 9 | Nigeria | 1,283 | Nigeria | 1,618 | England | 1,478 | ||
| 10 | France | 1,206 | Germany | 1,571 | U. King. | 1,265 | ||
| All Others | 34,915 | All Others | 39,218 | All Others | 41,651 | |||
| Total | 58,887 | Total | 73,561 | Total | 73,820 | |||
Between the 2000 Census and the Census Bureau estimate for 2006, the foreign-born population in the District of Columbia increased by less than 300 persons (0.4%). Immigrants from Latin America (including Mexico) decreased by more than 1,400 (-3.8%). Mexico alone accounted for an increase of more than 300 additional immigrants (up 16.8%). Immigrants from Asia grew by 10.3% (nearly 1,350 people). Immigrants from Africa rose by 15.1% (by nearly 1,400). The immigrant population from Europe and Canada decreased by more than 1,000 persons (7.4%).
THE IMMIGRANT STOCK
The Census Bureau estimated that there were about 98,000 people in Washington D.C. in 2000 who were "immigrant stock." That is a term that refers to immigrants and their children born here after their arrival. Based on that estimate and the population of 572,059, the immigrant stock share of the District's population was 17.1 percent in 2000 -- the 16th largest share in the country.
NATURALIZATION
Data from the 2006 American Community Survey indicate that 24,219 residents, or 32.8 percent, of the foreign-born population in District of Columbia were citizens, compared to 22,050 residents, or 30.0 percent, in 2000.
Nationally, 40.3 percent of the foreign-born population was citizens in 2000, and 42.0 percent in 2006
Refugee Settlement
The District has received 2,589 refugees over the most recent ten fiscal years (FY'97-'06) but none in FY’06.
Under the Office of Refugee Resettlement's (HHS/ORR) assistance funding for FY'02 $100,000 is available for refugee employment training and other services programs in the District of Columbia based on a three-year refugee settlement program covering 396 refugees (an average of $253 per refugee). This allocation does not include a larger share (55%) of funding programs for communities heavily affected by recent Cuban and Haitian entrants, communities with refugees whose cultural differences make assimilation especially difficult, communities impacted by federal welfare reform changes, educational support to schools with significant refugee students, and discretionary grants. ORR grants for FY’05 and FY’06 respectively were $1,749,486 and $1,519,714.
LIMITED ENGLISH PROFICIENCY STUDENTS
Data are not available nationally on immigrant students (either legally or illegally resident in the United States) who are enrolled in primary and secondary schools (K-12). However, many of these students are enrolled in Limited English Proficiency/English Language Learning (LEP/ELL) instruction programs. Many may be U.S.-born, but the majority of these students may be assumed to be either immigrants or the children of immigrants, with the exception being areas with native Americans who speak a native language other than English.
Data on enrollment in LEP/ELL programs are collected by the federal government from school systems that receive Title VII funds for these special instruction programs. The data on LEP/ELL enrollment are understated because data from private schools that do not apply for Title VII assistance are sketchy.
FOREIGN STUDENTS
The 2006/07 annual report of the Institute of International Education (IIE) lists the number of foreign students attending post-secondary school in the District of Columbia as 2,531. Four schools in the District of Columbia are listed as having a major concentration of these students:
George Washington University had enrollment of 1,863 foreign students, 7.6% of total enrollment.
Georegtown University had enrollment of 1,667 foreign students, 11.8% of total enrollment
Howard University had enrollment of 1,150 foreign students, 10.7% of total enrollment
Strayer Univeristy had enrollment of 1,138 foreign students, 3.6% of total enrollment
Below, a chart illustrates the sharp increase of foreign students attending school in the District of Columbia from 1960-2000.
For information on foreign student issues see: Foreign Students in the United States.
ILLEGAL ALIENS
FAIR Estimate - FAIR estimates the District’s illegal alien population as of 2008 is as many as 35,000 persons. This is part of an overall estimate of the U.S. illegal alien population of about 13 million persons.
INS/DHS Estimate - The INS (now dissolved into the Dept. of Homeland Security) estimated in February 2003 that the resident illegal population in the District of Columbia was 7,000 as of January 2000. This number was 23,000 higher than the INS' 1996 estimate.
Other Estimates - The Pew Hispanic Center estimates the illegal alien population of the state at 15,000 to 30,000 as of 2005.
COST OF ILLEGAL ALIENS
Incarceration Costs- Washington, D.C. has received partial compensation under the federal State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) that was established in 1994 to compensate the states and local jurisdictions for incarceration of "undocumented," aliens who are serving time for a felony conviction or at least two misdemeanors.
The recent SCAAP amounts that Washington, D.C. has received were:
| FY’99 | — | $3,261,785 |
| FY’00 | — | $5,051,620 |
| FY’01 | — | $780,571 |
| FY’02 | — | $449,547 |
| FY’03 | — | $88,517 |
| FY’04 | — | $44,472 |
The amount of SCAAP awards has been declining in both total distributions and even more as a share of the state’s expenses. In FY’99 the state received 38.6% of its costs. SCAAP data indicate that Washington, D.C.'s illegal alien inmate population had decreased by 60 percent from the 124 inmate years in FY'99 to 49 inmate years in FY'02, while compensation declined by 86 percent.
Medical Costs- Under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, hospitals with emergency rooms are required to treat and stabilize patients with emergency medical needs regardless whether or not they are in the country legally or whether they are able to pay for the treatment. Congress in 2003 enacted an appropriation of $250 million per year (for 4 years) to help offset some of the costs due to use of this service by illegal aliens. This amount has been allocated among the states based upon estimates of the illegal alien population and data on the apprehension of illegal aliens in each state. This amount compensates only a fraction of the medical outlays. For District of Columbia, the proposed payment in fiscal year 2004 is $166,928.
Educational Costs- In our study Breaking the Piggy Bank: How Illegal Immigration is Sending Schools into the Red, we estimated based on 2004 data that educational expenditures for illegal immigration were costing the District of Columbia taxpayer $47.1 million dollars annually. This cost was partially for educating students who were themselves illegally in the country ($19.6 million) and in part for the education of their siblings born in the United States to illegal residents ($27.5million).
Projected Fiscal Costs - In 2006 we estimated that District of Columbia taxpayers are currently burdened with annual costs of about $53 million because of illegal aliens residing in the state. That estimate was based on only expenditures for education, emergency medical care and incarceration. We projected that those costs will rise unless we gain control over our borders and our worksites. If a new amnesty and increases in immigrants and guest workers were enacted, as proposed by business and ethnic advocacy groups, we project that the cost to the state’s taxpayers for those same programs would rise to $88 million per year in 2010 and to $150 million per year in 2020.
LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS
You can view a listing of local immigration reform organizations here.
Revised July 2008
District of Columbia : Immigrant Admissions
| District of Columbia Immigrant Admissions by Fiscal Year | |
| 1997 | 3,373 |
| 1998 | 2,377 |
| 1999 | 2,234 |
| 2000 | 2,548 |
| 2001 | 3.043 |
| 2002 | 2,723 |
| 2003 | 2,491 |
| 2004 | 2,110 |
| 2005 | 2,457 |
| 2006 | 3,775 |
| Total | 13,556 |
Recent immigrant admissions are lower than the level of admissions just after adoption of the current immigration system in 1965. During the 1965-'69 period, annual admissions averaged about 3,055 immigrants. During the 2002-'06 period, admissions averaged about 2,710 immigrants.
The charts below show recent immigrant admissions and the cumulative immigrant admissions data since 1965. The number of annual admissions has ranged from 2,110 persons in FY'04 to 5,510 persons in FY'91. The cumulative total of admissions to the District of Columbia between fiscal years 1965 and 2006 was about 128,930 refugees
The data for fiscal years 1989-91 were artificially raised slightly by the inclusion of former illegal aliens who were amnestied in 1986. According to INS data (1991) the number of amnesty applicants from the District of Columbia was 6,032 (4,570 pre-1982 residents and 1,462 agricultural workers[!!!]).
The data for FY'95, FY'97-'99 and FY'03 were artificially low because the government did not issue green cards to all the eligible applicants for adjustment of status who were already in the United States. In those four years, new immigration could have registered as much as 30 percent higher, if the government had kept up with its workload.
Beginning with FY'01, the INS began to increase admissions as a result of reducing the size of the backlog of Section 245(i) adjustment of status cases, i.e., amnesty, for illegal aliens.
INS DATA BY NATIONALITY: FY'96 - FY'05
The INS data below are furnished for nationals of the countries with the largest number of immigrants admitted or adjusted to legal residence each year since 1996. The absence of data means that the total number of admissions to the United States by nationals of that country was not enough to merit detailed reporting in that year.
The nationalities may change each year, so the totals in some cases will not reflect all the immigrants of that nationality who have become legal immigrants in the District of Columbia during this period.
The table below furnishes INS data on the immigrants who have been admitted for residence in the Disctrict of Columbia since 1996 by nationality.
The INS data are for nationals of the countries with the largest number of immigrants admitted or adjusted to legal residence each year since 1996. The absence of data means that the total number of admissions to the United States by nationals of that country was not enough to merit detailed reporting in that year.
The nationalities may change each year, so the totals in some cases will not reflect all the immigrants of that nationality who have become legal immigrants in Louisiana during this period.
The Department of Homeland Security website is has detailed data on immigrant admissions since FY’03 by year and by country. That resource has data for all source countries. (See http://www.dhs.gov/ximgtn/statistics/data/dslpr.shtm).
| Immigrant Admissions by Fiscal Year | |||||||||||
| Country | FY'96 | FY'97 | FY'98 | FY'99 | FY'00 | FY'01 | FY'02 | FY'03 | FY'04 | FY'05 | Total |
| Bangladesh | 50 | 48 | 42 | 30 | 39 | - | 17 | 12 | 12 | 19 | 269 |
| Canada | 21 | 32 | 7 | 15 | 31 | 27 | 31 | 31 | 16 | 29 | 240 |
| China * | 223 | 125 | 119 | 92 | 130 | 143 | 164 | 151 | 123 | 122 | 1,392 |
| Colombia | 24 | 16 | 16 | 15 | 15 | 43 | 21 | 28 | 8 | 32 | 218 |
| Cuba | 3 | 11 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 60 |
| Dom. Rep. | 95 | 65 | 46 | 57 | 59 | 54 | 38 | 63 | 53 | 29 | 558 |
| Ecuador | 15 | 9 | 11 | 10 | 16 | 3 | 16 | 13 | 4 | 10 | 107 |
| El Salvador | 557 | 562 | 427 | 423 | 544 | 752 | 521 | 416 | 333 | 311 | 4,846 |
| Germany | - | 17 | 18 | 22 | 32 | 32 | 22 | 27 | 15 | 30 | 215 |
| Guatemala | 47 | 40 | 37 | 38 | 46 | 70 | 38 | 28 | 30 | 41 | 415 |
| Guyana | 58 | 30 | 17 | 16 | 12 | - | 29 | 14 | 32 | 19 | 227 |
| Haiti | 32 | 26 | 13 | 21 | 35 | 26 | 17 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 189 |
| Honduras | - | 18 | 25 | 37 | 28 | - | 20 | 15 | 14 | 17 | 172 |
| India | 60 | 51 | 36 | 36 | 53 | 53 | 115 | 85 | 49 | 60 | 598 |
| Iran | 37 | 32 | 14 | 17 | 23 | 22 | 30 | 25 | 12 | 16 | 228 |
| Ireland | - | 7 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 11 | - | 5 | 4 | 4 | 30 |
| Jamaica | 104 | 87 | 83 | 80 | 71 | 54 | 39 | 63 | 47 | 68 | 696 |
| Japan | - | 19 | 19 | 21 | 41 | 38 | 47 | 55 | 35 | 25 | 300 |
| Korea | 25 | 18 | 15 | 27 | 17 | 26 | 22 | 75 | 22 | 15 | 262 |
| Mexico | 40 | 40 | 42 | 34 | 39 | 46 | 29 | 29 | 27 | 39 | 365 |
| Nicaragua | - | 51 | 29 | 18 | 79 | 69 | 36 | 11 | 16 | 17 | 326 |
| Nigeria | 194 | 154 | 125 | 117 | 96 | - | 68 | 101 | 94 | 112 | 1,061 |
| Pakistan | 33 | 35 | 15 | 25 | 24 | 33 | 28 | 12 | 22 | 19 | 246 |
| Peru | 76 | 65 | 46 | 30 | 18 | 51 | 44 | 30 | 33 | 42 | 435 |
| Philippines | 108 | 82 | 80 | 61 | 75 | 88 | 180 | 215 | 95 | 98 | 1,082 |
| Poland | 5 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 14 | 4 | 10 | 6 | 8 | 16 | 73 |
| Sov. Un. * | 61 | 60 | 66 | 66 | 66 | 66 | 76 | 53 | 76 | 115 | 705 |
| Trin.& Tob. | - | 73 | 40 | 33 | 48 | - | 33 | 36 | 30 | 36 | 329 |
| U. Kingdom | 51 | 58 | 37 | 26 | 41 | 56 | 51 | 38 | 44 | 51 | 453 |
| Vietnam | 350 | 243 | 111 | 16 | 65 | 69 | 46 | 28 | 20 | 33 | 981 |
| Yugo. * | 47 | 22 | 12 | 17 | 24 | 38 | 46 | 9 | 18 | 24 | 257 |
| Other | 1,468 | 1,274 | 820 | 727 | 749 | 1,172 | 881 | 802 | 807 | 999 | 9,699 |
| Total | 3,784 | 3,373 | 2,377 | 2,134 | 2,542 | 3,043 | 2,723 | 2,491 | 2,110 | 2,457 | 27,034 |
A dash (-) indicates that the data for that year was not published for that country in the Immigration Statistical Yearbook. * China includes Hong Kong and Taiwan. The Soviet Union includes Russia and former parts of the USSR. Yugoslavia includes Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro-Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia.
The 31 nationalities above represent more than three-fifths (64 %) of all immigrant settlement and adjustment in the District of Columbia during this ten-year period. Immigrants from El Salvador, Nigeria, the Philippines and China accounted for nearly one-third (31%) of all immigrant admissions since 1996.
Revised January 2008
Washington D.C. : Immigration Impact
Environmental and Quality of Life Profile
Crowded Housing: In 2005 over 11,000 District of Colombia residents lived in either crowded or severely crowded housing.1 Studies show that a rise in crowded housing often correlates with an increase in the number of foreign-born.2,3
Poverty: 15.1 percent of immigrants in the District of Colombia had incomes below poverty level in 2005.4 Analysts say that high immigration is one of the reasons for D.C.'s increase in poverty over the last decade.5
Air Quality: The District of Colombia received a grade of “F” from the American Lung Association’s “State of the Air 2005” report.6
Illegal Residents: An executive order prohibiting police from asking about immigration status has allowed many area gang members and other criminals to gain sanctuary from immigration laws.7 In the summer of 2003, D.C. Police Chief Charles Ramsey held a news conference to reiterate that the city's officers are not permitted to ask about immigration status during routine police procedures.8
Endnotes
- Selected Housing Characteristics: 2005 Data Set - 2005 American Community Survey, American Fact Finder, U.S. Census Bureau.
- Haya Nasser, "U.S. Neighborhoods Grow More Crowded," USA Today, July 7, 2002.
- Randy Capps, "Hardship Among Children of Immigrants: Findings from the 1999 National Survey of America's Families," Urban Institute, 2001.
- "District of Colombia State Factsheet," Migration Information Source, Migration Policy Institute.
- At Home in the Nation's Capital: Immigrant Trends in Metropolitan Washington, The Brookings Institution, June 2003.
- "State of the Air 2005: District of Colombia", American Lung Association.
- "Gang Wars," Washington Times, August 3, 2003.
- "Metro: In Brief," Washington Post, July 29, 2003.