STATE POPULATION
The Census Bureau estimated that in July 2007 Oklahoma’s population had increased by an annual average of about 22,830 residents since 2000 (to 3,617,316 residents). Over that period net immigration was adding about 5,775 persons each year (more immigrants arriving than leaving). During the same period there was a net annual average population gain of about 1,630 residents from net domestic migration (more native-born residents arriving than leaving). Net immigrant settlement accounted for more than one-fourth (25.3%) 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.

 

The 2000 population is about 80,000 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.

Oklahoma had the 25th greatest rate of population increase in the country between 1960-2000.

The state's population increased by four percent between 1980 and 1990 (from 3,025,487 to 3,145,585 residents).

FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION

FAIR estimates that the foreign-born population of Oklahoma was about 183,010 residents in July 2007. This meant a foreign-born population share of 5.1 percent. The amount of change since the 2000 Census indicates an average annual rate of increase in the foreign-born population of about 7,020 people, which is nearly one-third (30.8%) of the state’s annual average population increase. Since 2000, the foreign-born population has increased by 38.9 percent compared to a 3.5 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 10.2 percent share of the state’s current births is large enough to account for about 5,165 births a year. Combining the increase in the foreign-born population and estimated immigrant births suggests that immigration may account for adding nearly 12,200 persons to the state’s population annually, i.e., more than half (53.4%) of the state’s overall population increase.

A comparison of the increase in the immigrant population since 1990 with the change in the overall population during the same period shows that immigrant settlement directly accounted for 21.7 percent of the state's overall population increase over that decade. The effect of immigration on population change is still greater when the children of the immigrants born here after their arrival are 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 31 percent, which is based on the increase in the share of those who speak a language other than English at home in Oklahoma.

The 2000 Census found that 53 percent of Oklahoma's foreign-born population had arrived in the state since 1990. This demonstrates the effects of the current mass immigration, and it is much higher 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 Oklahoma increased by more than two-fifths, from five percent to 7.1 percent. About two-fifths (41.5%) 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 175,978 residents, an increase of 33.6 percent since 2000. In comparison, the foreign-born population changed from 65,489 to 131,747 residents between 1990 and 2000, an increase of 101.2 percent.

The ten countries below constituted approximately 70.4% of the foreign-born population in Oklahoma in 2006.  Mexico accounted for nearly fifty percent (48.6) alone.

 CONNECT TO LEGAL IMMIGRATION ADMISSION DATA

THE IMMIGRANT STOCK
The Census Bureau estimated that there were about 258,000 people in Oklahoma 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 3,450,654, the immigrant stock share of the state's population was 7.5 percent.

As the graph below shows, the amount and share of Oklahoma’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 197,700 people to the population. Over this period, the increase in the foreign stock has accounted for 20.3 percent of the state’s population increase.

NATURALIZATION
Data from the 2006 American Community Survey indicate that 57,954 residents, or 32.9 percent, of the foreign-born population in Oklahoma were citizens, compared to 45,766 residents, or 34.7 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
Oklahoma has received 1,119 refugees over the most recent ten fiscal years (FY'97-'06), with 99 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 Oklahoma as 8,364. Three schools in Oklahoma are listed as having a major concentration of these students:

• Oklahoma State University at Stillwater had enrollment of 1,770 foreign students, 7.5% of total enrollment.
• University of Oklahoma at Norman had enrollment of 1,493 foreign students, 5.5% of total enrollment
•  University Central Oklahoma had enrollment of 1,281 foreign students, 8.0% of total enrollment

Below, a chart illustrates the sharp increase of foreign students attending school in Oklahoma 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 85,000 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 Oklahoma was 46,000 as of January 2000. This number 25,000 higher than the INS' 1996 estimate.

Other Estimates - The Pew Hispanic Center estimates the illegal alien population of the state at 50,000 to 75,000 as of 2005.

COST OF ILLEGAL ALIENS

Incarceration Costs

The INS estimated in February 2003 that the illegal alien population in Oklahoma as of January 2000 was 46,000 residents. This was more than double the previous INS estimate that in October 1996 the resident illegal alien population in Oklahoma had reached 21,000 from an estimated 17,000 four years earlier.

Oklahoma 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 Oklahoma 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 262 prisoner years of detention. By FY’02, the state’s reported illegal alien detention rose by 173 percent to 715 prisoner years, while compensation fell by 25 percent and since has decreased further.

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 Oklahoma, the proposed payment in fiscal year 2004 is $1,096,958.

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 Oklahoma taxpayer $161.1 million dollars annually. This cost was partially for educating students who were themselves illegally in the country ($67.1million) and in part for the education of their siblings born in the United States to illegal residents ($94 million).

Projected Fiscal Costs

In 2006 we estimated that Oklahoma taxpayers are currently burdened with annual costs of about $207 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 $43356 million per year in 2010 and to $624 million per year in 2020

LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS
You can view a listing of 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.