STATE POPULATION
The Census Bureau estimated that in July 2007 North Carolina’s population had increased by an annual average of about 138,980 residents since 2000 (to 9,061,032 residents). Over that period net immigration was adding about 25,880 persons each year (more immigrants arriving than leaving). During the same period there was a net annual average population gain of about 67,250 residents from net domestic migration (more native-born residents arriving than leaving). Net immigrant settlement accounted for more than one-sixth (18.6%) of the overall net 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 population is about 270,000 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.

FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION

FAIR estimates that the foreign-born population of North Carolina was about 643,435 residents in July 2007. This meant a foreign-born population share of 7.1 percent. The amount of change since the 2000 Census indicates an average annual rate of increase in the foreign-born population of about 29,240 people, which is more than one-fifth (21.1%) of the state’s annual average population increase. Since 2000, the foreign-born population has increased by 49.6 percent compared to a 10.5 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. A 14.2 percent share of the state’s current births is large enough to account for about 17,125 births a year. Combining the increase in the foreign-born population and estimated immigrant births suggests that immigration may account for adding nearly 46,350 persons to the state’s population annually, i.e., more than one-third (33.5%) of the state’s overall population increase.

The 2000 Census recorded 430,000 foreign-born residents in the state. That was 5.3 percent of the state's overall population and an increase of 273.7 percent above the 1990 foreign-born population of 115,077 residents. That more than tripling of the immigrant population was much higher than the 17 percent increase in the native-born population. The amount of increase was the ninth highest in the country. The rate of increase in the foreign-born population was the highest in the country.

North Carolina ranked 2rd nationally in the rate of foreign-born increase between 1970-2005.

The 2000 Census found that 62.4 percent of North Carolina'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%).

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 22.2 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 amount of the overall impact of immigration (immigrants plus their children) on population change is likely to be closer to 27 percent, which is based on the increase in the share of those who speak a language other than English at home in North Carolina.

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 North Carolina almost doubled, from 3.9 percent to 7.5 percent. Less than half (49.4%) 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 614,198 residents, an increase of 42.8% percent since 2000. In comparison, the foreign-born population changed from 115,077 to 430,000 residents between 1990 and 2000, an increase of 273.7 percent.

The ten countries below constituted approximately 62.5% of the foreign-born population in North Carolina in 2006. Mexico accounted for 41.5% alone.

 CONNECT TO LEGAL IMMIGRATION ADMISSION DATA

CONNECT TO STATE OPINION POLL DATA

THE IMMIGRANT STOCK
The Census Bureau estimated that there were about 577,000 people in North Carolina 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 a population of 8,049,313, the immigrant stock share of the state's population was 7.2 percent.

As the graph below shows, the amount and share of North Carolina’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 644,000 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 160,272 residents, or 26.1 percent, of the foreign-born population in North Carolina were citizens, compared to 112,822 residents, or 26.2 percent, in 2000.

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

REFUGEE SETTLEMENT
North Carolina has received 11,204 refugees over the most recent ten fiscal years (FY'97-'06), with 1,265 arriving 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 North Carolina as 10,064. Three schools in North Carolina are listed as having a major concentration of these students:

• Duke University and Medical Center had enrollment of 1,880 foreign students, 13.6% of total enrollment.
• North Carolina Sate University  had enrollment of 1,717 foreign students, 5.7% of total enrollment
• University of North Carolina.-Chapel Hill  had enrollment of 1,495 foreign students, 5.4% of total enrollment

Below, a chart illustrates the sharp increase of foreign students attending school in West Virginia 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 385,000 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 North Carolina was 206,000 as of January 2000. This number 184,000 higher than the INS' 1996 estimate. In Novemebr 2006, DHS updated the estimate of the state's illeagl alien population to 360,000, making a whopping 338,000 ten year increase .The most recent estimate by DHS put the illegal alien population in the state at 385,000 in 2006.

Other Estimates - The Pew Hispanic Center estimates the illegal alien population of the state at 300,000 to 400,000 as of 2005.

COSTS OF ILLEGAL ALIENS
Incarceration Costs - The INS estimated in February 2003 that the illegal alien population in North Carolina was about 206,000 residents. That was nearly ten times the last previous INS estimate that there were about 22,000 illegal alien residents in the state as of October 1996. The latter estimate was 5,000 higher than the previous estimate of 17,000 illegal aliens in October of 1992.

The current INS estimate means that North Carolina has the ninth largest illegal alien population in the country.

North Carolina 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 North Carolina 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 420 prisoner years of detention. By FY’02, the state’s reported illegal alien detention more than doubled to 958 prisoner years, while compensation rose by 40 percent and since has decreased 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 North Carolina, the proposed payment in fiscal year 2004 is $4,912,466.

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 North Carolina taxpayer $771.1 million dollars annually. This cost was partially for educating students who were themselves illegally in the country ($321.3 million) and in part for the education of their siblings born in the United States to illegal residents ($449.8  million).

Projected Fiscal Costs - In 2006 we estimated that North Carolina  taxpayers are currently burdened with annual costs of about $997 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 $1.721 billion per year in 2010 and to $3.027 billion 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