STATE POPULATION
The Census Bureau estimated that in July 2007 Indiana’s population had increased by an annual average of about 36,270 residents since 2000 (to 6,345,289 residents). Over that period, net immigration was adding about 9,565 persons each year (more immigrants arriving than leaving). During the same period there was an annual average population loss of about 2,250 residents from net domestic migration (more native-born residents leaving than arriving). Net immigrant settlement accounted directly for more than one-fourth (26.4%) 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.

[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 35,000 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.

Indiana had the 36th greatest rate of population increase in the country between 1960-2000.

The population of Indiana rose by one percent from 1980 to 1990 (from 5,489,000 to 5,544,159).

FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION 

FAIR estimates that the foreign-born population of Indiana was about 275,840 residents in July 2007. This meant a foreign-born population share of 4.3 percent. The amount of change since the 2000 Census indicates an average annual rate of increase in the foreign-born population of about 12,235 people, i.e., more than one-third (33.7%) of the state’s annual average population increase. Since 2000, the foreign-born population has increased by 47.9 percent compared to a three 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 8.6 percent share of the state’s current births is large enough to account for about 7,520 births a year. Combining the increase in the foreign-born population and estimated immigrant births suggests that immigration may account for adding about 19,750 persons to the state’s population annually, i.e., more than half (54.5%) of the state’s overall population increase.

The 2000 Census recorded 186,534 foreign-born residents in the state. That was 3.1 percent of the state's overall population and an increase of 97.9 percent above the 1990 foreign-born population of 94,263 residents. That near doubling of the immigrant population was much higher than the 8.1 percent increase in the native-born population. The amount of increase in the immigrant population was 22^nd highest in the country, and the rate of increase in the foreign-born population was the 20 ^th highest in the country.

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 17.2 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 22 percent, which is based on the increase in the share of those who speak a language other than English at home in Indiana.

The 2000 Census found that 52.2 percent of Indiana'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%).

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 Indiana increased by more than half, from 4.8 percent to 7.6 percent. Less than half (39.6%) 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 foreign born population was 263,607 residents, an increase of 41.3 percent since 2000. In comparison, the foreign-born population changed from 94,263 to 186,534 residents between 1990 and 2000, an increase of 97.9 percent.

The ten countries below constituted 62.7% of the foreign-born population in Indiana in 2006. Mexico accounted for nearly two fifths (39%) alone.

 CONNECT TO LEGAL IMMIGRATION ADMISSION  DATA

THE IMMIGRANT STOCK
The Census Bureau estimated that there were about 370,000 people in Indiana 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 6,080,485, the immigrant stock share of the state's population was about 6.1 percent.

As the graph below shows, the amount of Indiana’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 260,300 people to the population. Over this period, the increase in the foreign stock has accounted for 25 percent of the state’s population increase.

NATURALIZATION
Data from the 2006 American Community Survey indicate that 92,773 residents, or 35.2 percent, of the foreign-born population in Indiana were citizens, compared to 70,983 residents, or 38.1 percent, in 2000.

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

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.

Refugee Settlement
Indiana has received 4,659 refugees over the most recent ten fiscal years (FY'97-'06) including 367 persons in FY’06.

 

Under the Office of Refugee Resettlement's (HHS) assistance funding for FY'02 $434,185 is available for refugee employment training and other services programs in Indiana based on a three-year refugee settlement program covering 1,730 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 $1,262,073 and $1,369,852, and discretionary grants.

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 Indiana as 14,450. One school in Indiana is listed as having a major concentration of these students:

Purdue had an enrollment of 5,581 foreign students, 14.2% of total enrollment.

University of Indiana at Bloomington had an enrollment of 3,967 foreign students, 10.4% of total enrollment

Indiana University, Purdue Univeristy at Indianapolis had an enrollment of 1, 029 foreign students, 3.4% of total enrollment

Below, a chart illustrates the sharp increase of foreign students attending school in Indiana 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 110,000 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 Indiana was 45,000 as of January 2000. This number was over 30,000 higher than the INS' 1996 estimate.

Other Estimates - The Pew Hispanic Center estimates the illegal alien population of the state at 55,000 to 85,000 as of 2005.

COSTS OF ILLEGAL ALIENS
Incarceration Costs Indiana 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 Indiana 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 126 prisoner years of detention. By FY’02, the state’s reported illegal alien detention had more than doubled to 294 prisoner years, while compensation decreased by 12 percent and then fell even more steeply.

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 Indiana, the proposed payment in fiscal year 2004 is $1,073,112.

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 Indiana taxpayer $206.2 million dollars annually. This cost was partially for educating students who were themselves illegally in the country ($85.9 million) and in part for the education of their siblings born in the United States to illegal residents ($120.3 million).

Projected Fiscal Costs - In 2006 we estimated that Indiana taxpayers are currently burdened with annual costs of about $259 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 $434 million per year in 2010 and to $753 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.

Revised January 2008