STATE POPULATION
The Census Bureau estimated that in July 2007 South Carolina’s population increased by an annual average of about 54,230 residents since 2000 (to 4,407,709 residents). Over that period net immigration was adding about 5,610 persons each year (more immigrants arriving than leaving). During the same period there was a net annual average population gain of about 31,250 residents from net domestic migration (more native-born residents arriving than leaving). Net immigrant settlement accounted directly for more than one-tenth (10.3%) 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.

 

The 2000 Census found 4,012,012 persons resident in South Carolina. This was an increase of 525,309 persons above the 1990 Census (15.1%). The amount of increase was the 19^th highest in the country. The rate of increase was the 15^th fastest increasing population in the country.

The 2000 population is about 54,000 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.

 The population of South Carolina increased by 11.7 percent between 1980 and 1990 (from 3,120,729 to 3,486,703 residents).

FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION

FAIR estimates that the foreign-born population of South Carolina was about 151,365 residents in July 2007. This meant a foreign-born population share of 3.4 percent. The amount of change since the 2000 Census indicates an average annual rate of increase in the foreign-born population of about 4,850 people, which is about one-eleventh (8.9%) of the state’s annual average population increase. Immigration contributes to population change 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 6.8 percent share of the state’s current births is large enough to account for about 3,855 births a year. Combining the increase in the foreign-born population and estimated immigrant births suggests that immigration may be adding more than 8,700 residents annually, which is about one-sixth (16.1%) of the total average annual population increase of the state.

The 2000 Census recorded 115,978 foreign-born residents in the state. That was 2.9 percent of the state's overall population and an increase of 132.1 percent above the 1990 foreign-born population of 49,964 residents. That more than doubling of the immigrant population was much higher than the 13.4 percent increase in the native-born population. The amount of increase was not among the 25 highest in the country, but the rate of increase in the foreign-born population was the 11^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 12.6 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 on population change (immigrants plus their children) is more likely to account for about 16 percent of the state's population increase, based on the increase in the share of those who speak a language other than English at home in South Carolina.

South Carolina ranked 7th nationally in the rate of foreign-born change between 1965-2005.

 

The 2000 Census found that 52.4 percent of South Carolina'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 South Carolina increased by nearly half, from 3.5 percent to 5.1 percent. Less than half (41.9%) 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 South Carolina in the 2000 Census)
Spanish	110,030
French	19,030
German	15,195
Chinese	5,005
Tagalog	4,495
Vietnamese	3,770
Korean	3,295
Italian	3,090
Japanese	2,805
Greek	2,565
(Source: Census Bureau report: Language Spoken at Home for the Population 5 Years and Over, April 2004)

The immigrant population of South Carolina increased by 8.5 percent between 1980-90 (from 46,060 to 49,964 residents). The foreign-born share of the 1990 population was 1.4 percent (1.5% in 1980).

Foreign-Born Change Since 1980: Top Ten Countries 1980-2000
Rank	Country	1980		Country	1990		Country	2000
1	Germany	6,216		Germany	6,224		Mexico	31,719
2	U.K.	4,617		U.K.	5,130		Germany	7,873
3	Philip.	2,599		Philip.	3,429		U.K.	6,890
4	Canada	2,255		Canada	3,218		Canada	5,512
5	Korea	1,560		India	2,307		India	5,130
6	France	1,469		Mexico	2,147		Philip.	5,108
7	Japan	1,285		Korea	1,866		China *	4,541
8	India	1,192		Japan	1,665		Colombia	3,394
9	Greece	1,105		Vietnam	1,041		Vietnam	3,098
10	Sov.Un.	957		Greece	1,038		Korea	3,030
	All Others	22,825		All Other	21,899		All Others	39,683
	Total	46,080		Total	49,899		Total	115,978

* 2000 Census data for China include Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The ten countries above constituted nearly two-thirds (65.8%) of the foreign-born population in South Carolina in 2000. Persons born in Mexico alone accounted for more than one-quarter (27.3%) of the total foreign-born population. Compared to the 25,524 Mexican-born residents from the 2000 Census who said they entered the United States between 1990-2000, INS data (see below) indicate that the total number of legal Mexican immigrants who listed South Carolina as their intended residence during that period numbered about 3,300 persons.

The Census Bureau estimated from its American Community Survey that in 2002 the foreign-born population of South Carolina was about 138,500 persons. The chart below shows the regions from which those foreign residents came.

CONNECT TO LEGAL IMMIGRATION ADMISSION DATA

THE IMMIGRANT STOCK
The 2000 Census recorded 131,000 people in South Carolina 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 4,012,012, the immigrant stock share of the state's population was 3.3 percent.

As the graph below shows, the amount and share of South Carolina'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 162,500 people to the population. Over this period, the increase in the foreign stock has accounted for 10.2 percent of the state’s population increase.

NATURALIZATION
Data from the 2006 American Community Survey indicate that 57,395 residents, or 32.6 percent, of the foreign-born population in South Carolina were citizens, compared to 42,983 residents, or 37.1 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
South Carolina has received 1,095 refugees over the most recent ten fiscal years (FY'97-'06), with 133 arriving in FY’06.

 

Under the Office of Refugee Resettlement's (HHS/ORR) assistance funding for FY'02 $96,932 is available for refugee employment training and other services programs in South Carolina based on a three-year refugee settlement program covering 237 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 $373,270 and $429,113.

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 South Carolina as 3,556. One school in South Carolina is listed as having a major concentration of these students:  University of South Carolina-Columbia had an enrollment of 1,114 foreign students, 4.1% of total enrollment. Below, a chart illustrates the sharp increase of foreign students attending school in South Carolina 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 75,000 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 South Carolina was 36,000 as of January 2000. This number over 31,000 higher than the INS' 1996 estimate.

Other Estimates - The Pew Hispanic Center estimates the illegal alien population of the state at 35,000 to 75,000 as of 2005.

COST OF ILLEGAL ALIENS

Incarceration Costs

The INS estimated in February 2003 that the illegal alien population in South Carolina was about 36,000. That was almost eight times the previous INS estimate that there were about 4,800 illegal aliens residing in the state as of October 1996. The latter estimate was 17 percent higher than the estimate of the number of illegal aliens in October 1992.

South Carolina 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 South Carolina 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 189 prisoner years of detention. By FY’02, the state’s reported illegal alien detention rose by 71 percent to 324 prisoner years, while compensation fell by six percent and since has decreased rapidly.

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 South Carolina, the proposed payment in fiscal year 2004 is $858,489.

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 South Carolina taxpayer $143.5 million dollars annually. This cost was partially for educating students who were themselves illegally in the country ($59.8 million) and in part for the education of their siblings born in the United States to illegal residents ($83.7 million).

Projected Fiscal Costs 

In 2006 we estimated that South Carolina taxpayers are currently burdened with annual costs of about $186 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 $333 million per year in 2010 and to $615 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