Doing Research? : Immigration in Your Backyard
| Extended Immigration Data - Washington |
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| Summary Demographic State Data (and Source) |
| Population (2007 CB est): |
6,395,798 |
| Population (2000 Census): |
5,894,121 |
Foreign-Born Population (2007 FAIR est.):
Foreign-Born Population (2000 Census): |
744,985
614,457 |
Share Foreign-Born (2007 FAIR est.):
Share Foreign-Born (2000): |
11.6%
10.4% |
| Immigrant Stock (2000 CB est.): |
950,000 |
| Share Immigrant Stock (1997 estimate): |
16.1% |
| Naturalized U.S. Citizens (2006 CB est.): |
343,319 |
| Share Naturalized (2006): |
43.3% |
| Legal Immigrant Admission (DHS 1997-2006): |
203,651 |
| Refugee Admission (DHS 1997-2006): |
37,872 |
| Illegal Alien Population (2007 FAIR est.): |
255,000 |
| Projected Population - 2050 (2006 FAIR): |
11,045,211 |
MENU OF WASHINGTON IMMIGRATION DATA RESOURCES
- General Information: Refugees, Limited English Enrollment, Foreign Students, Local Reform Organizations, Congressional Voting Recordsy (below)
- Census Bureau Data - the state's population (past and current and projected to 2025)
- Legal Immigrants - details on the 186,000 post-1993 immigrants.
- Illegal Immigrants - over 136,000 illegal aliens and growing.
Refugee Settlement
Washington has received 37,872 refugees over the most recent ten fiscal years (FY'97-'06), with 165 arriving in FY’06.
Under the Office of Refugee Resettlement's (HHS/ORR) assistance funding for FY'02, $3,865,253 is available for refugee employment training and other services programs in Washington based on a three-year refugee settlement program covering 15,401 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 $14,972,999 and $13,445,341..
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.
In Washington, overall enrollment in 2002 (1,009,626) was 4.9 percent above enrollment in 1993. By contrast, LEP enrollment (70,431 - 7% of all enrollment) was 114 percent higher than a decade earlier.
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 Washington as 11,663. Two schools in Washington are listed as having a major concentration of these students:
- Washington State University had enrollment of 1,430 foreign students, 6.0% of total enrollment.
- University of Washington had enrollment of 2,884 foreign students, 6.7% of total enrollment
Below, a chart illustrates the sharp increase of foreign students attending school in Washington 1960-2000.
For information on foreign student issues see: Foreign Students in the United States.
FAIR’s estimate of the state’s illegal alien population as of 2007 is about 255,000 persons. This is part of an overall estimate of the illegal alien population of about 13 million persons.
INS ESTIMATE
The INS estimated in February 2003 that the number of illegal aliens in Washington had risen to about 136,000 residents. That was more than double the previous INS estimate of 52,000 illegal aliens resident in the state as of October 1996. The INS previously had estimated the number at 30,000 in October 1992. It later increased that estimate by 12,000 to account for more Mexican illegal residents. Thus, the illegal resident alien population is estimated to have grown by 22,000 (73%) or by 10,000 (24%) over those four years.
The current INS estimate means that there are only ten states that have a higher level of illegal resident aliens than Washington.
This illegal resident population is mostly recent arrivals, as the amnesty in 1986 gave legal status to earlier illegal aliens. In the 1986 amnesty for illegal resident aliens, 37,000 applied from Washington to "legalize" their status.
INCARCERATION COSTS
Washington 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 Washington has received were:
FY'99—$14,478,854
FY'00—$5,576,121
FY'01—$13,679,341
FY'02—$8,173,908
FY'03—$3,627,398
FY'04—$4,300,435
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 1,778 prisoner years of detention. By FY’02, the state’s reported illegal alien detention increased to 1,813 prisoner years, while compensation fell by 44 percent and since has fallen more steeply.
MEDICAL COSTS OF ILLEGAL ALIENS
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 Washington, the proposed payment in fiscal year 2004 is $3,243,181.
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 |
