Doing Research? : Immigration in Your Backyard

Extended Immigration Data for Minnesota

 

STATE POPULATION
The Census Bureau estimated that in July 2007 Minnesota’s population had increased by an annual average of about 38,100 residents since 2000 (to 5,197,621 residents). Over that period net immigration was adding about 12,280 persons each year (more immigrants arriving than leaving). During the same period there was a net annual average population loss of about 4,795 residents from net domestic migration (more native-born residents leaving than arriving). Net immigrant settlement accounted for nearly one-third (32.2%) 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. 

 

[Note: children born in the United States to immigrants (part of the immigrant stock) are not included as part of the immigration flow.]

 

Minnesota's population registered an increase of 7.3 percent between 1980 and 1990 (from 4,075,970 to 4,375,099 residents).

The 2000 Census found 4,919,479 persons resident in Minnesota. This was an increase of 544,380 persons above the 1990 Census (12.4%). The amount of increase was the 17^th highest in the country. The rate of increase was the 21^st fastest increasing population in the country.

The 2000 population is about 90,000 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

Between the 1980 and 1990 Censuses, the population of Minnesota grew by 7.3 percent (from 4,075,970 to 4,375,099 residents).

FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION 

FAIR estimates that the foreign-born population of Minnesota was about 351,515 residents in July 2007. This meant a foreign-born population share of 6.8 percent. The amount of change since the 2000 Census indicates an average annual rate of increase in the foreign-born population of about 12,475 people, which is nearly one-third (32.7%) of the state’s annual average population increase. Since 2000, the foreign-born population has increased by 35 percent compared to a four 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 13.6 percent share of the state’s current births is large enough to account for about 9,440 births a year. Combining the increase in the foreign-born population and estimated immigrant births suggests that immigration may account for adding nearly 22,000 persons to the state’s population annually, i.e., more than half (57.6%) of the state’s overall population increase.

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 Minnesota increased more than half, from 5.6 percent to 8.7 percent. Less than half (43%) 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 339,236 residents, illustrating a change of 30.2% percent since 2000. In comparison, the foreign-born population changed from 113,039 to 260,463 residents between 1990 and 2000, a difference of 130.4 percent.

 The ten countries below constituted more than half (54.2%) of the foreign-born population in Minnesota in 2006. Mexico and India accounted for almost a quarter (22.3) alone, compared with only about six perecent (5.7%) in 1990. 

Foreign-Born Change Since 1980: Top Ten Countries 90-06
Rank	Country	1990		Country	2000		Country	2006
1	Laos	14,979		Mexico	41,592		Mexico	58,450
2	Canada	10,339		Laos	25,968		India	17,215
3	Vietnam	7,772		Vietnam	15,727		Vietnam	15,798
4	Germany	7,693		Canada	13,183		Korea	12,806
5	United Kingdom	4,646		China	10,003		China	12,588
6	Korea	4,025		Thailand	8,738		Canada	12,480
7	Mexico	3,487		Soviet Union	8,272		Philippines	7,336
8	Thailand	3,397		Germany	7,717		Germany	7,314
9	Soviet Union	3,115		United Kingdom	5,284		Russia	6,437
10	India	2,918		Ethiopa	4,646		United Kingdom	5,077
	All Others	50,668		All Others	119,333		All Others	155,501
	Total	113,039		Total	260,463		Total	339,236

 CONNECT TO LEGAL IMMIGRATION ADMISSION DATA

THE IMMIGRANT STOCK
The Census Bureau estimated that there were about 500,000 people in Minnesota 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 of 4,919,479, the immigrant stock share of the state's population was 10.2 percent.

As the graph below shows, the amount and share of Minnesota’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 363,000 people to the population. Over this period, the increase in the foreign stock has accounted for 28.2 percent of the state’s population increase.

NATURALIZATION

Data from the 2006 American Community Survey indicate that 148,080 residents, or 43.7 percent, of the foreign-born population in Minnesota were citizens, compared to 97,308 residents, or 37.4 percent, in 2000.

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

Refugee Settlement
Minnesota has received 31,428 refugees over the most recent ten fiscal years (FY'97-'06) including 4,573 persons in FY’06.

 

Under the Office of Refugee Resettlement's (HHS/ORR) assistance funding for FY'02 $3,430,064 is available for refugee employment training and other services programs in Minnesota based on a three-year refugee settlement program covering 13,667 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 $17,234,242 and $21,620,721.

SOCIAL ISSUES
Minnesota is experiencing a sharp jump in new HIV infections after a five-year period of declining rates. This has public health authorities concerned and looking for an explanation. Part of the reason appears to be an increase of the disease among African-born immigrants. In the past, African immigrant HIV data were lumped together with data for all blacks. This apparently exaggerated the infection rates in the black community.

The newly separated data show that among HIV-positive persons from Africa there was a 61 percent increase in new infections last year, from 28 to 45, with women infected in higher numbers than men. One possible contributing factor to the rise in infections is that Minneapolis is one of six U.S. urban centers for HIV-positive African refugees, although those cases (49 since 2000) are not included with the data on new infections.

According to Dr. Keith Henry, an AIDS researcher at the Hennepin County Medical Center, African immigrants who are HIV positive are getting through the State Department s medical screening process for immigrant applicants. He noted that the virus that immigrants carry is a different strain than the one commonly found in the United States, and that it is not accurately detected using the commonly available blood tests.

The executive director of the Confederation of Somali Communities in Minnesota, Saeed Fahia, says he is concerned about outreach and education programs among the immigrants, because AIDS is never discussed, and no one would come to a meeting to learn about the infection or about safe-sex practices.
(Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune, April 16, 2002)

A disproportionate amount of the public subsidized housing in St. Paul is occupied by immigrants. According to a former mayor of St. Paul, 85 percent of that city's public housing is occupied by immigrants.
(Source: Fresh Blood, by Sanford Ungar)

Due to immigration, the number of births in Minnesota increased in the 1990s, despite predictions it would fall. Minnesota Planning, a state agency, announced recently that births in the state increased each year between 1995 and 1998. The number of births grew from 63,259 in 1995 to 65,207 in 1998. The fertility rate (the number of births per 1000 women aged 15 to 44) went up from 60.4 to 61.8. Commenting on the new figures, state demographer Tom Gillaspy said that immigration played a factor in the increase. The share of all births in Minnesota to mothers born outside the U.S. went from 5.4 percent in 1990 to 10.7 percent in 1998. Mothers born in Mexico had 1,487 of Minnesota s births in 1998, up from 779 in 1985.

Minnesota Legal Assistance (MLA), an organization that offers court representation to immigrants, is suing the state of Minnesota for not providing welfare applications in languages other than English. MLA asserts that its clients are disadvantaged because their lack of English hinders their ability to fill out the existing welfare applications forms.
(Source: Associated Press, June, 2000)

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 Minnesota as 9,048. Two schools in Minnesota are listed as having a major concentration of these students:

• University of Minnesota- Twin Cities had enrollment of 3,701 foreign students, 7.3% of total enrollment.
• St. Cloud St. University had enrollment of 1,084 foreign students, 6.7% of total enrollment

Below, a chart illustrates the sharp increase of foreign students attending school in Minnesota 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 Minnesota was 60,000 as of January 2000. This number nealy 53,000 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.

COSTS OF ILLEGAL ALIENS
Incarceration Costs - Minnesota 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 Minnesota 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 157 prisoner years of detention. By FY’02, the state’s reported illegal alien detention more than doubled to 365 prisoner years, while compensation decreased by 20 percent and then fell 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 Minnesota, the proposed payment in fiscal year 2004 is $1,430,815. 

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 Minnesota taxpayer $276.6 million dollars annually. This cost was partially for educating students who were themselves illegally in the country ($115.2 million) and in part for the education of their siblings born in the United States to illegal residents ($161.3 million).

Projected Fiscal Costs  - In 2006 we estimated that Minnesota taxpayers are currently burdened with annual costs of about $345 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 $589 million per year in 2010 and to $1.023 billion 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