POPULATION
The Census Bureau estimated that in July 2007 that the District’s population had increased by an annual average of about 11,120 residents since 2000 (to 588,292 residents). Over that period, net immigration was adding about 3,530 persons each year (more immigrants arriving than leaving). During the same period there was an annual average population loss of about 5,950 residents from net domestic migration (more native-born residents leaving than arriving). Net immigrant settlement accounted for more than the entire population increase over this period, and that does not take into account the children born to the immigrants after their arrival in the United States.

[Note: children born in the United States to immigrants (part of the immigrant stock) are not included as part of the immigration flow.]

The 2000 Census found 572,059 persons resident in the District of Columbia. This was a decrease of 34,841 persons from the 1990 Census. The rate of change (-5.7%) compared with population increases in all of the 50 states, and a national average rate of population increase of 9.9 percent.

The 2000 population was about 49,000 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

The District of Columbia, unlike all but one state lost rather than increased population between 1960-2000.

Between 1980-1990, the District's overall population decreased by 4.9 percent (from 638,432 to 606,900 residents).

FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION                                                           FAIR estimates that the foreign-born population of the District of Columbia was about 73,860 residents in July 2007. This meant a foreign-born population share of 13.1 percent and a minimal increase in the foreign-born population since the 2000 Census.

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 26.2 percent share of the District’s current births is large enough to account for about 1,945 births a year. Combining the increase in the foreign-born population and estimated immigrant births suggests that immigration may account for adding nearly 2,000 persons to the state’s population annually, i.e., most (89.3%) of the District’s overall population increase.

The Census Bureau estimates that the foreign-born population share in the District was 14.9 percent in 2003. This implies a foreign-born population of about 83,900 people. The amount of change since the 2000 Census indicates an annual rate of increase in the foreign-born population of about 3,100 people.

The 2000 Census recorded 73,561 foreign-born residents in the District. That was 12.9 percent of the overall population and an increase of 24.9 percent above the 1990 foreign-born population of 58,887 residents. That rate of increase in the immigrant population partially offset a nine percent decrease in the native-born population, and it was lower than the national average of a 57.4 percent increase in the foreign-born population in the country.

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.

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%)

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%).

CONNECT TO LEGAL IMMIGRATION ADMISSIONS DATA

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 16^th 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’s estimate of the state’s illegal alien population as of 2007 is about 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:

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