STATE POPULATION
The Census Bureau estimated that in July 2007 Louisiana’s population had decreased by an annual average of about 24,075 residents since 2000 (to 4,293,204 residents). Despite these lingering repercussions of Hurricane Katrina, over that period net immigration was adding about 3,080 persons each year (more immigrants arriving than leaving). During the same period there was a net annual average population loss of about 45,920 residents from net domestic migration (more native-born residents leaving than arriving). Net immigrant settlement mitigated the ongoing population decline over this period, and that does not take into account the children born to the immigrants after their arrival in the United States.

 

The 2000 population is about 40,000 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.

Louisiana had the 28th greatest rate of population increase in the country between 1960-2000.

The population of Louisiana increased by 0.3 percent from 1980 to 1990 (from 4,206,116 to 4,219,973 residents).

FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION

FAIR estimates that the foreign-born population of Louisiana was about 126,685 residents in July 2007. This meant a foreign-born population share of three percent. The amount of change since the 2000 Census indicates an average annual rate of increase in the foreign-born population of about 1,480 people during the overall drop in the state’s population. Since 2000, the foreign-born population has increased by 9.3 percent compared to a 4.3 percent decrease 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. A six percent share of the state’s current births is large enough to account for about 3,725 births a year. Combining the increase in the foreign-born population and estimated immigrant births suggests that immigration may account for adding nearly 5,200 persons to the state’s population annually while there was an overall population decrease.

That was 2.6 percent of the state's overall population and an increase of 32.6 percent above the 1990 foreign-born population of 87,407 residents. That rate of increase in the immigrant population was much higher than the 5.3 percent increase in the state's native-born population, but it was lower than the national average increase in the foreign-born population of 57.4 percent.

A comparison of the increase in the immigrant population from 1990 with the change in the overall population during the same period shows that immigrant settlement directly accounted for 11.4 percent of the state's overall population increase over that decade. The share of the population increase due to immigration would be still higher if the children of the immigrants born here after their arrival were included with their immigrant parents in the calculation.

The 2000 Census found that 37 percent of Louisiana's foreign-born population had arrived in the state since 1990. This demonstrates the effects of the current mass immigration, although it was a lower 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 Louisiana decreased slightly from 10.1 percent to 8.4 percent. Less than one-third (30.6%) of those who said they spoke a language other than English at home in 2000 also said they spoke English less than very well.

The Census Bureau’s American Community Survey found that in 2006, the state’s foreign born population was 125,204 residents, an increase of 8 percent since 2000. In comparison, the foreign-born population changed from 87,407 to 115,885 residents between 1990 and 2000, an increase of 32.6 percent.

The ten countries below constituted approximately half (50.2%) of the foreign-born population in Louisiana in 2006. Mexico accounted for (17.2%) alone.

CONNECT TO LEGAL IMMIGRATION ADMISSION DATA

THE IMMIGRANT STOCK
The Census Bureau estimated that there were about 215,000 people in Louisiana in 1997 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 4,468,976, the immigrant stock share of the state's population was 4.8 percent.

As the graph below shows, the amount of Louisiana’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 164,300 people to the population. Over this period, the increase in the foreign stock has accounted for 18.8 percent of the state’s population increase.

NATURALIZATION
Data from the 2006 American Community Survey indicate that 59,109 residents or 47.2 percent, of the foreign-born population in Louisiana were citizens, compared to 56,102 residents, or 48.4 percent, in 2000.

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

Refugee Settlement
Louisiana has received 3,628 refugees over the most recent ten fiscal years (FY'97-'06) including 149 persons in FY’06

 

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 Louisiana as 5,619. One school in Louisiana is listed as having a major concentration of these students:  Louisiana State University had enrollment of 1,857 foreign students, 6.3% of total enrollment. Below, a chart illustrates the sharp increase of foreign students attending school in Louisiana from 1960-2000..

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

ILLEGAL ALIENS
FAIR Estimate - FAIR’s estimate of the state’s illegal alien population as of 2007 is about 25,000 persons. This is part of an overall estimate of the U.S. illegal alien population of about 13 million persons.

COSTS OF ILLEGAL ALIENS
Incarceration Costs - Louisiana 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 Louisiana has received were:

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 178 prisoner years of detention. By FY’02, the state’s reported illegal alien detention had increased by 26 percent to 224 prisoner years, while compensation decreased by 58 percent and then fell off even more sharply.

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 Louisiana, the proposed payment in fiscal year 2004 is $119,235.

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 Louisiana taxpayer $17.5 million dollars annually. This cost was partially for educating students who were themselves illegally in the country ($7.3million) and in part for the education of their siblings born in the United States to illegal residents ($10.2 million).

Projected Fiscal Costs - In 2006 we estimated that Louisiana taxpayers are currently burdened with annual costs of about $26 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 $43 million per year in 2010 and to $72 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.

Revised July 2008