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Iowa


Summary Demographic State Data (and Source)
Population (2008 CB est.): 3,002,555
Population (2000 Census): 2,926,324
Foreign-Born Population (2008 FAIR est.): 119,825
Foreign-Born Population (2000 Census): 91,085
Share Foreign-Born (2008 FAIR est.): 4.0%
Share Foreign-Born (2000): 3.1%
Immigrant Stock (2000 CB est.): 275,000
Share Immigrant Stock (2000 est.): 9.4%
Naturalized U.S. Citizens (2006 CB est.): 41,022
Share Naturalized (2006): 36.5%
Legal Immigrant Admission (INS 1996-2005): 35,898
Refugee Admission (1997-2006 DHS): 8,984
Illegal Alien Popultation (2008 FAIR est.) 55,000
Costs of Illegal Aliens (2007 FAIR) $240,000,000
Projected 2050 Population (2006 FAIR) 3,671,635

Iowa, not traditionally thought of as a state of high immigration, is nevertheless beginning to feel the effects of current mass immigration policies. [new paragraph] When Iowa Governor Vilsack pushed a plan to turn some Iowa towns into "immigration magnets," thousands of citizens protested due to concerns about population growth, higher taxes, and strains on local jails and schools, and the plan was eventually dropped. A Des Moines Register poll found that 58 percent of Iowans opposed a policy of encouraging immigration.

Iowa : Extended Immigration Data

STATE POPULATION

Using the Current Population Survey, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that in July 2008 Iowa’s population had increased to 3,002,555 residents, i.e., an annual average increase of about 9,185 residents since 2000. That is a rate of increase of about 0.3 percent per year.

Iowa Population 1900-2008

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 36,665 residents from net international migration (more foreign-born arriving than leaving). That was an annual average increase of about 4,415 residents, i.e., nearly half (48.1%) of the total increase (not including the children born to the immigrants after their arrival in the United States).



Iowa Sources of Population Change 2000-08

The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) released a report in January, 2001 based upon 2000 CPS data that put the foreign-born share of the population in Iowa at 3.88 percent. Applying that percentage to the actual state population from the 2000 Census suggests that the foreign-born population of the state increased to about 113,500. This is 162.1 percent greater than the 43,316 foreign-born found in the 1990 Census.

The 2000 Census found 2,926,324 persons resident in Iowa. This was an increase of 149,569 persons above the 1990 Census. The rate of increase (5.4%) was below the 9.9 percent average rate for the country.

The 2000 population is about 25,000 more persons than the Census Bureau had expected to find in the state in 2000 when it issued its most recent state population projections in 1996. The significance of this is that the Census Bureau has concluded that much of the shortfall in their population estimates during the 1990s was due to an underestimation of the illegal alien population.

Between 1980 and 1990 Iowa's overall population declined by 4.7 percent (from 2,913,808 to 2,776,755).

FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION

Based on the American Community Survey (ACS), the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that the foreign-born population of Iowa was 112,639 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 Iowa was about 119,825 residents in July 2008. This meant a foreign-born population share of 4.0 percent. The amount of change since the 2000 Census indicates an average annual rate of increase in the foreign-born population of about 3,460 people, which is more than one-third (37.7%) of the state’s annual average population increase. Since 2000, the foreign-born population has increased by 31.6 percent compared to a 1.7 percent increase in the native-born population.

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. An eight percent share of the state’s current births is large enough to account for about 3,100 births a year. Combining the increase in the foreign-born population and estimated immigrant births suggests that immigration may account for nearly 6,560 persons added to the state’s population annually, i.e., more than seven-tenths (71.4%) of the state’s overall population increase.

Iowa Foreign-Born Population 1970-2008
Iowa ranked 5th nationally in the rate of foreign-born change between 1970-2005

The 2000 Census found that 57.5 percent of Iowa's foreign-born population had arrived in the state since 1990. This demonstrates the effects of the current mass immigration, and it is a much higher share than the national average (43.7%).

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 Iowa increased more than half, from 3.9 percent to six percent. Fewer than half (42.6%) 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 Iowa in the 2000 Census)
Spanish 79,490
German 17,160
French 7,425
Vietnamese 6,180
Serbocroatian 5,745
Chinese 4,295
Laotian 3,940
Korean 2,495
Russian 2,235
Arabic 2,055
(Source: Census Bureau report: Language Spoken at Home for the Population 5 Years and Over, April 2004)

Between 1980 and 1990 Iowa's foreign-born population fell by 9.1 percent (to 43,316 from 47,659).

Foreign-Born Change Since 1980: Top Ten Countries 1980-2000
Rank Country 1980     Country 1990 Country 2000
1 Germany 4,591     Germany 6,541     Mexico 25,242
2 Mexico 3,764     Canada 2,930     Vietnam 6,412
3 Laos 2,974     U.K. 2,850     Yugo. * 6,250
4 Canada 2,625     Mexico 2,725     Korea 4,302
5 Korea 2,260     Vietnam 2,173     China * 4,132
6 Vietnam 2,175     Laos 2,041     Germany 3,948
7 U.K. 2,153     Korea 1,801     India 3,779
8 India 1,696     Sov.Un. 1,662     Canada 3,237
9 China 1,344 Neth. 1,654 Laos 3,197
10 Taiwan 1,175     Denmark 1,174     U.K. 2,159
    All Others 22,902     All Other 17,765     All Others 29,656
    Total 47,659     Total 43,316     Total 91,085

* 2000 Census data for China include Hong Kong and Taiwan; Yugoslavia data include Bosnia and Herzegovina.


The ten countries above constituted more than two-thirds (68.8%) of the foreign-born population in Iowa in 2000. Mexico alone accounted for more than one-fourth (27.7%) of the foreign-born total. Compared to the 15,299 Mexican-born residents from the 2000 Census who said they entered the United States between 1990-2000, INS data (see below) indicate that the total number of legal Mexican immigrants who listed Iowa as their intended residence during that period numbered fewer than 5,200 persons.

The Census Bureau estimated from its American Community Survey that in 2002 the foreign-born population of Iowa was about 110,700 persons. The chart below shows the regions from which those foreign residents came.

THE IMMIGRANT STOCK

The Census Bureau estimated that there were about 275,000 people in Iowa 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 2,926,324, the immigrant stock share of the state's population is 9.4 percent.

As the graph below shows, the amount of Iowa’s population change due to the increase in the foreign stock is rising rapidly. Over the past 34 years the new immigrants and children born to them have added about 127,000 people to the population. Over this period, the increase in the foreign stock has accounted for 99.3 percent of the state’s population increase.

Iowa Foreign Stock

NATURALIZATION

Data from the 2006 American Community Survey indicate that 41,022 residents or 36.5 percent, of the foreign-born population in Iowa were citizens, compared to 29,951 residents, or 32.9 percent, in 2000.

Nationally, 40.3 percent of the foreign-born population was citizens in 2000, and 42.0 percent in 2006 

REFUGEE SETTLEMENT

Iowa has received 8,984 refugees over the most recent ten fiscal years (FY'97-'06) including 356 persons in FY’06..

Under the Office of Refugee Resettlement's (HHS/ORR) assistance funding for FY'02 $971,521 is available for refugee employment training and other services programs in Iowa based on a three-year refugee settlement program covering 3,871 refugees (an average of $251 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 $1,863,871 and $2,044,124

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.

In Iowa, overall enrollment in 2002 (491,169) was 9.1 percent below enrollment in 1993. By contrast, LEP enrollment (13,337 - 2.7% of all enrollment) was 193 percent higher than a decade earlier.

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 Iowa as 7,799. Two schools in Iowa are listed as having a major concentration of these students:

University of Iowa had enrollment of 2,189 foreign students, 7.3% of total enrollment.

Iowa State University had enrollment of 2,460 foreign students, 9.7% of total enrollment

Below, a chart illustrates the sharp increase of foreign students attending school in Iowa from 1960-2000.

For information on foreign student issues see: Foreign Students in the United States.

OTHER

In 2001, according to the Des Moines Register, the Iowa Poll asked whether Iowans approve or disapprove of a state policy (recommended by the governor's strategic planning council) encouraging immigration to Iowa. A large majority (58%) disapproved, compared with 34% who approved. The poll also asked whether Iowans believe immigrants are taking jobs away from Americans living in Iowa or doing jobs that otherwise might go unfilled. A large majority (59%) felt the jobs being taken might go unfilled, compared to 32%) who thought they took jobs from Americans.

ILLEGAL ALIENS

FAIR Estimate - FAIR estimates the state’s illegal alien population as of 2008 is as many as 55,000 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 Iowa was 24,000 as of January 2000. This number was more than 17,000 higher than the INS' 1996 estimate.

Other Estimates - The Pew Hispanic Center estimates the illegal alien population of the state at 55,000 to 85,000 as of 2005.

COSTS OF ILLEGAL ALIENS

Incarceration Costs - Iowa 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 Iowa has received were:

FY’99  —  $907,068
FY’00  —  $815,369
FY’01  —  $806,377
FY’02  —  $1,640,776
FY’03  —  $467,103
FY’04  —  $673,314

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 for 125 prisoner years of detention. By FY’02, the state’s reported illegal alien detention had more than doubled to 282 prisoner years, while compensation increased by 81 percent but then fell steeply.

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 Iowa, the proposed payment in fiscal year 2004 is $572,326.

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 Alabama taxpayer $99.1million dollars annually. This cost was partially for educating students who were themselves illegally in the country ($41.3million) and in part for the education of their siblings born in the United States to illegal residents ($57.8 million).

Projected Fiscal Costs - In 2006 we estimated that Alabama taxpayers are currently burdened with annual costs of about $121 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 $203million per year in 2010 and to $349 million per year in 2020.

LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS

You can view a listing of local immigration reform organizations here.

STATE CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION VOTING RECORD

You can view the voting record of your representatives in Congress regarding immigration issues in our voting report section.

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Iowa : Immigrant Admissions

Iowa Immigrant Admissions
by Fiscal Year
1996 3,037
1997 2,766
1998 1,655
1999 1,780
2000 3,052
2001 5,029
2002 5,591
2003 3,419
2004 3.981
2005 4,536
Total 24,849

Recent immigrant admissions up 445 percent since just after adoption of the current immigration system in 1965. During the 1965-'69 period, annual admissions averaged about 1,015 immigrants. During the 2002-'05 period, admissions averaged about 4,512 immigrants.

The charts below show recent immigrant admissions and the cumulative INS immigrant admissions data since 1965. The number of annual admissions has ranged from 777 in FY'66 to 5,591 in FY'02. The cumulative total of admissions to Iowa between fiscal years 1965 and 2005 was 34,849 immigrants.


 

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 Iowa was 2,412 (799 pre-1982 residents and 1,613 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 table below furnishes INS data on the immigrants who have been admitted for residence in Iowa 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).

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 four-fifths (82.4%) of all immigrant settlement and adjustment in Iowa during this ten-year period. Immigrants from Mexico, Yugoslavia and Vietnam accounted for nearly half (48.6%) of all immigrant admissions since 1996. 

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Iowa : Poll Data

A Des Moines Register poll of 801 adults surveyed in February 2008 (published September 10, 2008) found that:

  • 55 percent of Iowans say state government can deal more effectively with illegal immigration than the federal government can.
  • 85 percent of Iowans favor penalizing executives whose companies knowingly hire illegal immigrants. That idea got more support than any other possible legislative priority about which respondents were asked.
  • 69 percent say they back the notion of hiring more troopers to enforce federal immigration laws in Iowa [in the 287(g) program].
  • Almost two-thirds of Iowans say better enforcement of immigration laws in Iowa is very important for lawmakers to address this year.

A Rasmussen Report poll conducted 825 Likely Republican Caucus Participants in Iowa on November 12, 2007 found:

  • 91% oppose granting drivers’ licenses to illegal aliens.
  • 86% say that when police officers pull someone over for a traffic violation, they should routinely check to see if that person is in the country legally.
  • 76% believe that if an illegal immigrant is discovered in this manner, they should be deported.

.A New York/ CBS News Poll taken from November 2-11, 2007 of 1,273 attendants of Iowa Democratic and Republican Caucuses found:

  • 86% of Republicans believe immigration is a serious problem (47% “very serious” and 39% “somewhat serious”), compared to 59% of Democrats (25% “very serious” and 34% “somewhat serious”).
  • 44% (a plurality) of Republicans believe illegal immigrants should be required to leave jobs and US, compared with 51% of Democrats who believe illegal aliens should be allowed to say and apply for citizenship.
  • Among Republicans, immigration ranks first in “the one issue you would like candidates to discuss during the election.” Among Democrats, health care ranked first.

Des Moines Register, Sept, 2001

  • 91% of Iowans say they are willing to accept tighter restrictions on immigration.

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Iowa : Immigration Impact

State Population (2006 CB estimate) 2,982,085
State Population in 2000 2,926,324
Average Annual Change 2000-2006 0.3%
Foreign Born Population 2006 1/ 121,050
Foreign Born Share 2006 4.1%
Foreign Born Population 2000 91,085
Foreign Born Share 2000 3.1%
Average Annual Change 2000-2006 5.5%
Population Projection 2010 3.0 million
Population Projection 2025 2.9 million
Population Projection 2050 (FAIR) 3.5 million

All numbers are from the U.S. Census Bureau unless otherwise noted. Additional Census Bureau, INS, and other immigration-related data are available for Iowa.

POPULATION CHANGE

Iowa’s population increased by 5.5 percent, or almost 150,000 people between 1990 and 2000 and has added another 53,000 residents since then.

Approximately 60 percent of the total population increase between 2000 and 2006 in Iowa was directly attributable to immigrants.

FAIR estimates the illegal alien population in 2007 at 55,000. This number is 129% above the U.S. government estimate of 24,000 in 2000, and 1000% above the 1990 estimate of 5,000.

According to an estimate of the Pew Hispanic Center, in 2005 there were an estimated 55,000 to 85,000 illegal aliens living in Iowa.2/

FAIR estimates in 2004 that the taxpayers of Iowa spent $99 million per year on illegal aliens and their children in public schools.3/

FAIR’s projected annual fiscal costs to Iowa taxpayers for emergency medical care, education and incarceration resulting if an amnesty is adopted for illegal residents.
Current 2010 2020
$121,000,000 $203,000,000 $349,000,000
POPULATION PROFILE

Iowa increased by five percent, or almost 150,000 people, between 1990 and 2000.

Iowa, not traditionally thought of as a state of high immigration, is nevertheless beginning to feel the effects of current mass immigration policies.

When Iowa Governor Vilsack pushed a plan to turn some Iowa towns into “immigration magnets,” thousands of citizens protested due to concerns about population growth, higher taxes, and strains on local jails and schools, and the plan was eventually dropped.4/, 5/ A Des Moines Register poll found that 58 percent of Iowans oppose a policy of encouraging immigration.6/

Foreign-Born Population 

Iowa’s foreign-born population increased by about 33 percent between 2000 and 2006. During that period Iowa gained about 30,000 immigrants, bringing the total number of foreign-born residents in the state to over 121,000.

ENVIRONMENTAL AND QUALITY OF LIFE PROFEIL

Wages and Working Conditions: Iowa meatpacking and processing plants that subsist on immigrant labor have created abusive workplaces 7/ and depressed wages. 8/ Meatpacking had the highest injury and illness rate of any industry in America during the 1980s—well ahead of poultry processing and more than three times great than the overall manufacturing average.

Disappearing open space: Through population growth and consequent development, Iowa is losing its rural character and open farmland; according to the Iowa Agricultural Statistical Survey, Iowa farms are disappearing at a rate of about 1,000 a year.9/ Each year, Iowa loses 13,800 acres of open space and farmland due to development.10/ Iowa has already lost 72 percent of its original forest coverage, 11/ and due to loss of habitat, over 50 animal and 60 plant species are endangered in the state. Of Iowa’s original prairie land, which many endangered species need to survive, 90 percent is gone, and the largest piece that remains is only 240 acres.12/ Other habitats for endangered species are suffering a similar fate: 95 percent of Iowa’s original wetlands and gone, along with 99 percent of its prairie marshes.13/

A study of urban sprawl between 1970 and 1990 that calculated the impact of population increase and per capita land use found that 50.6 square miles of additional land were consumed by urban sprawl in the Des Moines metropolitan area, and 36.2 percent of that sprawl was attributable to population increase. In the Omaha, Nebraska area, which crosses into Iowa, sprawl consumed an additional 41.8 square miles and population increase accounted for 41.6 percent of the increase. 14/

Traffic: As population growth put more traffic on the roads, the average commute for Iowa residents increased 14 percent during the 1990s, from 16.2 minutes to 18.5 minutes in 2000.15/, 16/ More than a quarter (28%) of Iowa's major urban roads are congested and  more than one-third (35%) of Iowa's major roads are in poor or mediocre condition. Vehicle travel on Iowa's highways increased 35 percent from 1990 to 2003.Driving on roads in need of repair costs Iowa motorists $568 million a year in extra vehicle repairs and operating costs — $287 per motorist. 17/

In the Omaha, Nebraska - Iowa area, travelers experience and annual delay of 23 hours. 18/.  Seven percent of Iowans have a commute that is 45 minutes or more. 19/

In Des Moines, growing concern over traffic congestion has forced local government and business to form a Traffic Management Association, whose goal is to reduce the rush hour jams that are hampering the city’s economy.20/

Sprawl: Concern is rising in Iowa about multiplying costs of urban sprawl—loss of farmland and natural areas, urban-center deterioration, tax-base erosion, duplication of infrastructure, and higher taxes for construction and upkeep. In 2000, an Iowa State University poll, found that more than 70 percent of respondents see conversion of farmland and natural areas as a serious problem.21/ Some of Iowa’s larger cities have doubled in physical size since 1975.

Increased residential development due to population growth and sprawl threatens the state’s fiscal solvency. Altoona, Wauke, and Indianola found that they pay $1.12 to service residential developments for every dollar those developments generate in taxes.22/

Crowded housing: In 2005 over 15,000 Iowa households are defined as crowded or severely crowded by housing authorities. 23/ Studies show that a rise in crowded housing often correlates with an increase in the number of foreign-born.24/, 25/ Iowa’s housing shortage is magnified in its small towns, which are experiencing influxes of immigrants seeking work at local agricultural processing plants; in such towns, immigrants living eight or ten to an apartment is not uncommon.26/ The GAO has confirmed that in communities with meatpacking plants, immigrant workers frequently double up in order to afford housing.27/

Affordable housing: As population increases, the affordable housing supply often drops. According to the Iowa Commission on Latino Affairs, large immigrant families have led to a lack of affordable housing in destination communities like Marshalltown.28/ In Dubuque, the need for affordable housing is so pressing that the city council is giving financial off-sets to developers willing to create some.29/

A GAO report found that the immigration of workers for meatpacking plants affected the affordability of housing in their communities. For example, in some communities, average rent rose 30 percent for an apartment and 29 percent for a two-bedroom trailer between 1990 and 1997.30/

Poverty: In 2005 18.5 percent of immigrants in Iowa have incomes below the poverty level, a 22.2 percent increase since 2000. Among non-citizens, the rate climbs to 22.2 percent.31/ Wages in Iowa are now among the lowest in the nation.32/ Because of the availability of cheap labor through mass immigration, the Iowa meatpacking industry, formerly a middle-class employer, slashed wages and is now the most dangerous form of employment in the state, with a turnover rate of 80 percent a year at some plants.33/

Health Care: The poverty of many immigrant patients weighs heavily on Iowa hospitals. At Buena Vista county hospital, which began to pay for translators on its staff in 1997, uncompensated health care constitutes 25 percent of the total services. Buena Vista County social services are provided to “…a diverse ethnic population, making communication difficult and time-consuming.” 34/ The illegal immigrant population is likely to account for a significant share of uncompensated care because it is ineligible for Medicare or Medicaid coverage. At Buena Vista’s Storm Lake, workers at the IBP meatpacking plant don’t get health insurance until they’ve worked at the plant for six months; as a result, the county’s medical services are under “tremendous pressure,” according to City Supervisor Jim Gustafson. Buena Vista had a 63 percent increase in Medicaid claims between 1990 and 1996. 35/

Education: The number of Limited English Proficient students in Iowa, a side effect of immigration and an indicator of lack of assimilation, rose 135 percent between 1994 and 2002, and over fifteen percent in 2005-2006 alone. 36/, 37/

In immigrant-heavy Dubuque, many of the elementary schools are housing 10 to 30 percent more students than they are designed for.38/, 39/ In Waukee, population increase is forcing the construction of a new elementary school and middle school.40/

In Waterloo, the elementary school requires two full-time translators.41/ In Marshalltown, the children of immigrants brought by meatpacking plants account for 25 percent of the student body.42/

Water: Between 2000 and 2006, Iowa’s foreign-born population increased by 23.3 percent.43/That compares with a 1.2 percent increase in the native-born population and that includes the children born to immigrants. When the U.S-born children of immigrants are included, immigration accounts for 69.2 percent of the state’s overall growth during that time.44/ By 2050 the state’s population is expected to rise from 3.0 million in 2006 to over 3.5 million.45/ Iowa has a daily, per-capita water demand of 130.9 gallons.46/

Solid Waste: Iowa generates 1.16 tons of solid waste per capita. 47/

ILLEGAL RESIDENTS

Iowa’s meatpacking industry is dependent on foreign workers, many of whom are illegal aliens; without them it would have to raise wages and improve working conditions.48/ Meatpackers like IBP do direct recruiting in Mexico with radio ads, paying a private bus company to transport workers to its plants.49/

In 1998 and 1999, Storm Lake’s county, Buena Vista, asked IBP, owner of the local meatpacker plant and employer of most of the town’s immigrants, to help pay to operate the jail, to build a new jail and to provide health care benefits to its production workers. IBP refused.50/

ENDNOTES:
  1. "FAIR estimate based on Census Bureau data from the Current Population Survey"
  2. "Estimates of the Unauthorized Migrant Population for States based on the March 2005 CPS", Pew Hispanic Center.
  3. Martin, Jack. “Breaking the Piggy Bank: How Illegal Immigration is Sending Schools into the Red,” A Report by the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
  4. Opposition to Immigration Plan Growing,” Associated Press, July 6, 2001.
  5. Jennifer Dukes Lee, “Vilsack Downplays Immigrant Recruiting,” Des Moines Register, July 24, 2001.
  6. “Iowa Recruits Immigrants to Boost Population,” Associated Press, September 4, 2000
  7. Mike Wilson, “Fired Migrant Workers Tell of Poor Packing Plant Conditions,” Associated Press, August 24, 2001.
  8. “Lawsuit Accuses IBP of Recruiting Illegal Immigrants,” Associated Press, March 19, 2002.
  9. Rick Smith, “Once Mostly Rural, Iowa Turning Urban,” Associated Press, May 28, 2002.
  10. Natural Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, “State Rankings by Acreage and Rate of Non-Federal Land Developed.”
  11. Iowa Association of Naturalists, Iowa Woodlands, Iowa’s Biological Community Series, January 2002.
  12. Iowa Association of Naturalists, Iowa Habitat Loss and Disappearing Wildlife, Iowa Environmental Series, September 1998.
  13. Iowa Association of Naturalists, Iowa Wetlands, Iowa’s Biological Community Series, January 2002.
  14. Beck, Roy and Leon Kolankiewicz, “Weighing Sprawl Factors in Large U.S. Cities,” NumbersUSA, March 2001.
  15. “Table DP-1-4, Profile of General Demographic Characteristics: 2000,” Census 2000, U.S. Census Bureau.
  16. “Table DP-1-4, Profile of General Demographic Characteristics: 1990,” 1990 Census, U.S. Census Bureau.
  17. Report Card for America's Infrastructure 2005," American Society of Civil Engineers.
  18. "The 2005 Urban Mobility Report", Texas Transportation Institute.
  19. “U.S. Population 2007 Data Sheet,” Population Reference Bureau.
  20. Mike Glover, “Groups Call for Transit Spending, Sprawl Controls,” Associated Press, November 13, 2001.
  21. Jay Howe, “Urban Sprawl: We Ignore Smart Growth at Our Peril,” Des Moines Register, February 8, 2001.
  22. 1000 Friends of Iowa, Ten Top Things Adversely Affected by Urban Sprawl, 2000.
  23. Selected Housing Characteristics: 2005 Data Set- 2005 American Community Survey, American Fact Finder, U.S. Census Bureau.
  24. Haya El Nasser, “U.S. Neighborhoods Grow More Crowded,” USA Today, July 7, 2002.
  25. Randy Capps, “Hardship Among Children of Immigrants: Findings from the 1999 National Survey of America’s Families,” Urban Institute, 2001.
  26. The Impact of Immigration on Small- to Mid-Sized Iowa Communities,” Iowa State University Extension, June 2001.
  27. “Changes in Nebraska’s and Iowa’s Counties With Large Meatpacking Plant Workforces,” GAO, February 1998, GAO/RCED-98-62.
  28. Carol Ann Riha, “Bigger Hispanic Households Spotlight Need for Housing,” Associated Press, July 12, 2001.
  29. Erin Coyle, “Housing Costs Deter Development,” Dubuque Telegraph Herald, May 28, 2002.
  30. “Changes in Nebraska’s and Iowa’s Counties With Large Meatpacking Plant Workforces,” GAO, February 1998, GAO/RCED-98-62.
  31. “Iowa State Factsheet,” Migration Information Source, Migration Policy Institute.
  32. “New Study Finds Sluggish Wage, Population Growth,” Associated Press, June 12, 2001.
  33. Christopher Conte, “Strangers on the Prairie,” Governing Magazine, January 2002.
  34. “Family Well-Being and Welfare Reform in Iowa: A Profile of Storm Lake,” Iowa State University, October 1999.
  35. John Taylor, “Meatpacker Rejects Nebraska Request to Ameliorate Ills of Its Workers,” Omaha World-Herald, September 20, 1999.
  36. Iowa State Department of Education, The Annual State of Education Report, 2002.
  37. Iowa State Department of Education, The Annual State of Education Report, 2006.
  38. “School Board Hears Long List of Overcrowding Woes,” Dubuque Telegraph Herald, October 15, 2002.
  39. “No School Realignment Next Year,””Dubuque Telegraph Herald, March 3, 2003.
  40. Michael Corey, “Waukee Plans More Classrooms,” Des Moines Register, October 25, 2001
  41. Karla Scoon Reid, “Iowa Grapples with Growing Diversity,” Education Week, October 9, 2000.
  42. Christopher Conte, op.cit.
  43. U.S. Census Bureau 2006.
  44. Jack Martin. “Issue Brief: Estimation of Foreign Born Birthrate.” FAIR. 2008
  45. Jack Martin and Stanley Fogel. “Projecting the U.S. Population to 2050.” FAIR. March 2006.
  46. U.S. Geological Survey 2000
  47. Report Card for America's Infrastructure 2005," American Society of Civil Engineers.
  48. David Barboza, “Meatpackers’ Profits Hinge on Pool of Immigrant Labor,” New York Times, December 21, 2001.
  49. Laurie P. Cohen, “Free Ride: With Help from INS, U.S. Meatpacker Taps Mexican Work Force,” Wall Street Journal, October 15, 1998.
  50. John Taylor, op.cit.

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