STATE POPULATION
The Census Bureau estimated that in July 2007 Hawaii’s population had increased by an annual average of about 9,845 residents since 2000 (to 1,283,388 residents). Over that period, net immigration was adding about 4,232 persons each year (more immigrants arriving than leaving). During the same period there was an annual average population loss of about 2,820 residents from net domestic migration (more native-born residents leaving than arriving). Net immigrant settlement accounted directly for more than one-sixth (43%) 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 Unied State to immigrants (part of the immigrant stock) are not inlcuded as part of the immigration flow.]

The 2000 population is about 45,000 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.

Hawaii had the 14th highest rate of population increase in the country between 1960-2000.

The population of Hawaii increased by 14.4 percent between 1980-1990 (from 964,691 to 1,108,229 residents).

FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION                                                      

FAIR estimates that the foreign-born population of Hawaii was about 209,835 residents in July 2007. This meant a foreign-born population share of 16.3 percent. The amount of change since the 2000 Census was insignificant.

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 32.6 percent share of the state’s current births is large enough to account for about 5,860 births a year. Combining the increase in the foreign-born population and estimated immigrant births suggests that immigration may account for more than half (56.2%) of the state’s overall population increase.

 The 2000 Census recorded 212,229 foreign-born residents in the state. That was 17.5 percent of the state's overall population and an increase of 30.4 percent above the 1990 foreign-born population of 162,704 residents. That rate of increase in the immigrant population was much higher than the 5.7 percent increase in the state's native-born population, but it was lower than the national average increase in the foreign-born population of 57.4 percent.

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 47.9 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 2000 Census found that 34.1 percent of Hawaii's foreign-born population had arrived in the state since 1990. This demonstrates the effects of the current mass immigration, although it was a lower 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 Hawaii increased by more than three-quarters, from 14.7 percent to 26.1 percent. Less than half (47.5%) of those who said they spoke a language other than English at home in 2000 also said they spoke English less than very well.

Speakers of Foreign Languages (at home in Hawaii in the 2000 Census)
Tagalog	60,965
Japanese	56,225
Ilocano	45,900
Chinese	21,760
Hawaiian	19,045
Spanish	18,820
Korean	18,335
Samoan	11,530
Vietnamese	8,270
Cantonese	4,995
(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 210,162 residents, an decrease of 1.0% percent since 2000. In comparison, the foreign-born population changed from 162,704 to 212,229 residents between 1990 and 2000, an increase of 30.4 percent.

The ten countries below constituted nearly three fifths (83.4%) of the foreign-born population in Hawaii in 2006. Philippines accounted for approximately one third alone (47.3%)

CONNECT TO LEGAL IMMIGRATION ADMISSIONS DATA

THE IMMIGRANT STOCK
The Census Bureau estimated that there were about 433,000 people in Hawaii 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 the population size of 1,211,537, the immigrant stock share of the state's population was about 35.7 percent -- the 2^nd highest share in the country.

As the graph below shows, the amount of Hawaii’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 322,100 people to the population. Over this period, the increase in the foreign stock has accounted for 63.6 percent of the state’s population increase.

NATURALIZATION
Data from the 2006 American Community Survey indicate that 120,587 residents, or 57.4 percent, of the foreign-born population in Hawaii were citizens, compared to 127,532 residents, or 60.1 percent, in 2000.

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

Refugee Settlement
Hawaii has received 206 refugees over the most recent ten fiscal years (FY'97-'06) including five persons in FY’06.

 

Under the Office of Refugee Resettlement's (HH/ORR) assistance funding for FY'02 $75,000 is available for refugee employment training and other services programs in Hawaii based on a three-year refugee settlement program covering about 100 refugees. 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 $141,945 and $160,236..

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.

IMMIGRANT CHILDREN
In 2000, about three-tenths of all of Hawaii's children are either foreign-born or the child of an immigrant. Five percent are first-generation immigrants (foreign born) and 25 percent are second-generation (a child of an immigrant).
(Source: "Check Points," The Urban Inst. Sept. 2, 2000)

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 Hawaii as 6,032. Three schools in Hawaii are listed as having a major concentration of these students:

University of Hawaii had enrollment of 1,984 foreign students, 9.6% of total enrollment.

Hawaii Pacific University had enrollment of 1,247 foreign students, 15.4% of total enrollment.

Brighman Young University had enrollment of 1,201 foreign students, 48.2% of total enrollment.

Below, a chart illustrates the sharp increase of foreign students attending school in Hawaii 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 3,000 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 Hawaii was 2,000 as of January 2000. This number was actually 7,000 lower than the INS' 1996 estimate.

Other Estimates - The Pew Hispanic Center estimates the illegal alien population of the state at 2,000 to 3,500 as of 2005.

COST OF ILLEGAL ALIENS
Incarceration Costs- Hawaii 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 Hawaii 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. FY'02 SCAAP data indicate that Hawaii's illegal alien inmate population had decreased by 23 percent from the 166 inmate years in FY'99 to 128 inmate years in FY'02, while compensation decreased by 75 percent, and then dropped much 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 Hawaii, the proposed payment in fiscal year 2004 is $47,694.

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 Hawaii taxpayer $7.2 million dollars annually. This cost was partially for educating students who were themselves illegally in the country ($3.0 million) and in part for the education of their siblings born in the United States to illegal residents ($4.2 million).

Projected Fiscal Costs- In 2006 we estimated that Hawaii taxpayers are currently burdened with annual costs of about $9 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 $15 million per year in 2010 and to $25 million per year in 2020.

STATE CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION VOTING RECORD
You can view the voting record of your representatives in Congress regarding immigration issues in our voting report section.

LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS
You can view a listing of local immigration reform organizations here.

Revised July 2008