STATE POPULATION
The Census Bureau estimated that in July 2007 Utah’s population increased by an annual average of about 56,455 residents since 2000 (to 2,645,330 residents). Over that period net immigration was adding about 8,670 persons each year (more immigrants arriving than leaving). During the same period there was a net annual average population gain of about 4,205 residents from net domestic migration (more native-born residents arriving than leaving). Net immigrant settlement accounted directly for more than one-seventh (15.4%) of the total 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 a part of the immigration flow.]

The 2000 population is about 25,000 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.

 

UT Utah had the 5th greatest rate of population increase in the country between 1960-2000.

Between 1980 and 1990 Utah's overall population increased by 17.9 percent (from 1,461,037 to 1,722,850 residents).

FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION 

FAIR estimates that the foreign-born population of Utah was about 218,730 residents in July 2007. This meant a foreign-born population share of 8.3 percent. The amount of change since the 2000 Census indicates an average annual rate of increase in the foreign-born population of about 8,230 people, which is about one-seventh (14.6%) of the state’s annual average population increase. Since 2000, the foreign-born population has increased by 37.9 percent compared to a 17 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 16.6 percent share of the state’s current births is large enough to account for about 8,320 births a year. Combining the increase in the foreign-born population and estimated immigrant births suggests that immigration may account for adding about 16,545 persons to the state’s population annually, i.e., nearly three-tenths (29.3%) of the state’s overall population increase.

The 2000 Census recorded 158,664 foreign-born residents in the state. That was 7.1 percent of the state's overall population and an increase of 170.8 percent above the 1990 foreign-born population of 58,600 residents. That near tripling of the immigrant population was much higher than the 24.7 percent increase in the native-born population. The amount of increase was the 20^th highest in the country. The rate of increase in the foreign-born population was the fifth highest in the country.

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 Utah increased by nearly half, from 7.8 percent to 11.5 percent. Less than half (41.7%) of those who said they spoke a language other than English at home in 2000 also said they spoke English less than very well.

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 Utah increased by nearly half, from 7.8 percent to 11.5 percent. Less than half (41.7%) of those who said they spoke a language other than English at home in 2000 also said they spoke English less than very well.

Speakers of Foreign Languages (at home in Utah in the 2000 Census)
Spanish	150,245
German	12,095
Navaho	9,375
French	7,875
Portuguese	5,715
Vietnamese	5,200
Tongan	5,180
Japanese	5,030
Chinese	5,015
Korean	3,215
(Source: Census Bureau report: Language Spoken at Home for the Population 5 Years and Over, April 2004)

The Census Bureau’s American Community Survey found that in 2006, the foreign born population was 210,500 residents, an increase of 32.7 percent since 2000. In comparison, the foreign-born population changed from 58,600 to 158,664 residents between 1990 and 2000, an increase of 170.8 percent.

The ten countries below constituted approximately three fifths (67.2%) of the foreign-born population in Utah in 2006. Of the total foreign-born population, Mexico alone accounted for approximately one half (49.1%). 

CONNECT TO LEGAL IMMIGRANT ADMISSION DATA

THE IMMIGRANT STOCK
The Census Bureau estimated that there were about 222,000 people in Utah 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 2,233,169, the immigrant stock share of the state's population was 9.9 percent.

As the graph below shows, the amount and share of Utah’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 226,600 people to the population. Over this period, the increase in the foreign stock has accounted for 17.1 percent of the state’s population increase.

NATURALIZATION

Data from the 2006 American Community Survey indicate that 62,083 residents, or 29.5 percent, of the foreign-born population in Utah were citizens, compared to 48,178 residents, or 30.4 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
Utah has received 8,353 refugees over the most recent ten fiscal years (FY'97-'06), with 691 arriving in FY’06.

 

Under the Office of Refugee Resettlement's (HHS/ORR) assistance funding for FY'02 $798,851 is available for refugee employment training and other services programs in Utah based on a three-year refugee settlement program covering 3,183 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 $3,294,973 and $3,883,038.

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 Utah as 6,122. Two schools in Utah are listed as having a major concentration of these students:

• University of Utah had enrollment of 1,478 foreign students, 5.2% of total enrollment.
• Brigham Young Univeristy had enrollment of 2,212 foreign students, 6.7% of total enrollment. 

Below, a chart illustrates the sharp increase of foreign students attending school in Utah 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 125, 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 Utah was 65,000 as of January 2000. This number 50,000 higher than the INS' 1996 estimate.

Other Estimates - The Pew Hispanic Center estimates the illegal alien population of the state at 75,000 to 100,000 as of 2005.

COST OF ILLEGAL ALIENS
Incarceration Costs

Utah 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 Utah 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 454 prisoner years of detention. By FY’02, the state’s reported illegal alien detention rose by 35 percent to 614 prisoner years, while compensation fell by 41 percent.

Each year 6 million Utah taxpayer dollars are spent housing undocumented workers at the state prison. Utah Department of Corrections Deputy Director Christine Mitchell says five percent of the prison population is illegal and most come from Mexico. …Mitchell says the federal government has recently acknowledged the financial impact to states of keeping illegal aliens in state correctional systems. However, federal reimbursement for Utah's alien prison population has now declined from over two million dollars in the year 2000 to just $360,000 in 2006. (“Hundreds of Illegal Aliens Fill Prison Beds in Utah,” KCPW News, June 21, 2006)

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 Utah, the proposed payment in fiscal year 2004 is $1,550,050.

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 Utah taxpayer $184.4 million dollars annually. This cost was partially for educating students who were themselves illegally in the country ($76.8 million) and in part for the education of their siblings born in the United States to illegal residents ($107.6 million).

Projected Fiscal Costs 

In 2006 we estimated that Utah taxpayers are currently burdened with annual costs of about $244million 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 $414  million per year in 2010 and to $727 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 July 2008