STATE POPULATION
The Census Bureau estimated that in July 2007 Arkansas’s population had increased by an annual average of about 25,620 residents since 2000 (to 2,834,797 residents). Over that period, net immigration was adding 3,715 persons each year (more immigrants arriving than leaving). During the same period there was an annual average population gain of about 8,630 residents from net domestic migration (more native-born residents arriving than leaving). Net immigrant settlement accounted for about one-seventh (14.5%) of the population increase over this period, and that does not include the children born to the immigrants after their arrival in the United States.

The 2000 Census found 2,673,400 persons resident in Arkansas. This was an increase of 322,675 persons above the 1990 Census (13.7%). The amount of increase was not among the 25 highest in the country, however the rate of increase was the 19th fastest increasing population in the country.

 The 2000 population is about 60,000 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 .

Arkansas had the 23rd greatest rate of population increase in the country   between 1960-2000.

The 1980 Census recorded 2,308,495 residents in Arkansas. By 1990, the population had increased by 2.9 percent to 2,375,358 residents.

FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION                                                      

FAIR estimates that the foreign-born population of Arkansas was about 112,690 residents in July 2007. This meant a foreign-born population share of four percent. The amount of change since the 2000 Census indicates an average annual rate of increase in the foreign-born population of about 5,340 people, which is nearly one-fourth (24.2%) of the state’s annual average population increase. Since 2000, the foreign-born population has increased by 52.9 percent compared to a 4.7 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 3,040 births a year. Combining the increase in the foreign-born population and estimated immigrant births suggests that immigration may account for adding nearly 8,380 persons to the state’s population annually, i.e., more than one-third (37.9%) of the state’s overall population increase.

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 15.1 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 more likely to account for about 22 percent of the state's population increase, based on the increase in the share of those in Arkansas who speak a language other than English at home.

The 2000 Census found that 55.3 percent of Arkansas' 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 Arkansas increased by more than one third from 2.8 percent to 3.8 percent. Less than half (46.6%) of those who said they spoke a language other than English at home in 2000 also said they spoke English less than very well.

Between the 2000 Census and the Census Bureau estimate for 2006, the foreign-born population in Arkansas increased by nearly 33,700 persons (45.7%). Latin America (including Mexico) accounted for an additional nearly 26,700 immigrants (up 61.7%). Mexico alone accounted for more than 19,000 additional immigrants (up 56.6%). Immigrants from Asia grew by 37% (about 6,300 people). Immigrants from Africa grew by 8.8% (about 130). The immigrant population from Europe and Canada increased by about 510 persons (4.3%).

The Census Bureau‘s American Community Survey found that in 2006, the state’s foreign born population was 107,346 residents, an increase of 45.7% percent since 2000. In comparison, the foreign-born population changed from 24,867 to 73,690 residents between 1990 and 2000, an increase of 196.3 percent.

The ten countries below constituted 76.1% of the foreign-born population in Arkansas in 2006. Mexico and El Salvador account for 58.1%.   

CONNECT TO LEGAL IMMIGRATION ADMISSIONS DATA

CONNECT TO STATE OPINION POLL DATA

THE IMMIGRANT STOCK
The Census Bureau estimates that there were about 124,000 people in Arkansas 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 2,673,400, the immigrant stock share of the state's population was 4.6 percent.

As the graph below shows, the amount of Arkansas’ 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 112,200 people to the population. Over this period, the increase in the foreign stock has accounted for 13.6 percent of the state’s population increase.

NATURALIZATION

Data from the 2006 American Community Survey indicate that 30,552 residents, or 28.5 percent, of the foreign-born population in Arkansas were citizens, compared to 22,055 residents, or 29.9 percent, in 2000.

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

Refugee Settlement
Arkansas has received 160 refugees over the most recent ten fiscal years (FY'97-'06) including only one person in FY'06.

 

 Under the Office of Refugee Resettlement's (HHS/ORR) assistance funding for FY'02 $106,915 is available for refugee employment training and other services programs in Arkansas based on a three-year refugee settlement program covering 426 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 $138,945 and $163,506

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 Arkansas as 2,899.  Below, a chart illustrates the sharp increase of foreign students attending school in Arkansas from 1960-2007.

 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 2006 is about 50,000 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 Alabama was 27,000 as of January 2000. This number was 21,600 higher than the INS' 1996 estimate.

Other Estimates - The Pew Hispanic Center estimates the illegal alien population of the state at 30,000 to 50,000 as of 2005.

COSTS OF ILLEGAL ALIENS

Incarceration Cost -Arkansas 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 Arkansas 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 Arizona's illegal alien inmate population had nearly tripled from the 34.4 inmate years in FY'99 to 99 inmate years in FY'02.

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 Arkansas, the proposed payment in fiscal year 2004 is $643,867.

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 Arkansas taxpayer $89.5 million dollars annually. This cost was partially for educating students who were themselves illegally in the country ($37.3 million) and in part for the education of their siblings born in the United States to illegal residents ($52.2  million).

Projected Fiscal Costs - In 2006 we estimated that Arkansas taxpayers are currently burdened with annual costs of about $117 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 $202 million per year in 2010 and to $356 million per year in 2020.

LOCAL ORGANIZATION
You can find information on local immigration reform groups 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