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! State population: 4,352,000 (1998 CB est.) !
! Foreign-born population: 95,000 (1998 CPS) !
! Percent foreign born: 2.2% (1998) !
! Foreign-born stock: 123,000 (1997 CB est.) !
! Illegal alien population: 4,000 (1996 INS est.) !
! New legal immigrants: 14,245 (1991 to 1997) !
! 2025 pop. projection: 5,224,000 (1996 CB proj.) !
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CENSUS DATA ON THE FOREIGN BORN
Between the 1980 and 1990 Censuses, the population of Alabama grew by 3.7%. The
state's foreign-born population grew by three-times that rate (11.6%) during that same period
(from 39,002 to 43,533).
Over a third (37%) of the state's foreign-born population in 1990 had arrived since 1980. This population was dispersed throughout the state. The largest number in a municipal area was in Birmingham (9,400). There were fewer immigrants in the Huntsville (8,000) and Mobile (7,000) metropolitan areas.
Between 1980 and 1990, the foreign-born population from the following countries more than doubled: Taiwan, Mexico, Laos, India and China. The largest foreign-born populations remained from Germany, United Kingdom and Canada.
1980 Census 1990 Census 1 Germany 6,443 Germany 5,685 2 U.K. 2,873 U.K. 3,348 3 Canada 2,292 Canada 2,477 4 Korea 1,436 India 2,450 5 Japan 1,200 Korea 2,221 6 Vietnam 1,107 Vietnam 1,812 7 India 1,010 Japan 1,685 8 Iran 990 Taiwan 1,471 9 France 895 Philip. 1,179 10 Philip. 823 China 1,130 All Others 19,933 All Others 20,075 Total 39,002 Total 43,533
THE IMMIGRANT STOCK
There are about 125,000 people in Alabama who may be considered "immgrant stock."
The immigrant stock is a term that refers to first generation immigrants, the "1.5 generation"
(children of immigrants who are born abroad), and the second generation (the native-born Americans whose parents immigrated).
1998 CURRENT POPULATION SURVEY (CPS) DATA
Since 1997 the Census Bureau estimates that Alabama's population has increased by 33,000 to
4,352,000. Meanwhile, 1998 CPS data analyzed by the Center for Immigration Studies indicates
a jump of about 40,000 in the immigrant population. The result is an increase in the foreign-born
share to 2.2 percent of the state's population.
Since the 1990 Census, the Census Bureau estimates that the state's population has increased by a net amount of 12,600 immigrants and nine time that number (113,600) arriving from other states.
1997 CURRENT POPULATION SURVEY (CPS) DATA
Three municipal areas
account for most of the state's new immigrants: Birmingham (Jefferson County - 1,900), Mobile
- 1,700, and Huntsville (Madison County - 1,600). Jefferson and Mobile counties both had a net
exodus of population from domestic migration that exceeded the influx of new immigrants.
The naturalization rate as U.S. citizens among Alabama's immigrant population, at just over one- third, was very close to the national average rate.
NET INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION
The Census Bureau estimates that Alabama's population increased by 31,967 over the last
year (ending in July 1997). Compared to that overall increase, net international migration
accounted for an estimated increase of 1,240. Thus immigration accounted for about four
percent of the state's population increase (that is one the second smallest shares of overall
population growth due to immigration in the country).
INS DATA ON IMMIGRANT SETTLEMENT
Legal immigrant settlement in Alabama since 1990 has averaged over 2,000 per year. The data
for fiscal year (FY) 1991 were artificially raised by the inclusion of some of the former illegal
aliens who were amnestied in 1986.
Just among the long-term resident amnesty applicants (excluding the amnestied agricultural workers), the number of applicants Alabama was 555.
The data for FY'95 and FY'97 were artificially low because
the INS was not able to issue green cards to all the applicants for adjustment of status who
were already in the United States. In those two years, new immigration could have registered
as much as 30 percent higher, if the INS had issued more visas.
POPULATION PROJECTION
The Census Bureau population projection noted above is the "middle" projection, and it assumes
immigration at a net annual increase of 820,000. There are other projections based on different
assumptions. In the Census Bureau's "high" immigration projection, assuming annual net
immigration of 1,370,000, the population in 2025 is more than six percent higher than in the
middle projection, and it is over 11 percent higher by 2050. For Alabama, the high projection
could mean a population in 2050 of 6,600,000 to 6,800,000. If immigration were
significantly scaled back, the population increase attributable to immigration and the
population spill-over effects from other states could be significantly reduced over time. See Immigration and Population Growth
INS ESTIMATE OF ALIENS ELIGIBLE FOR CITIZENSHIP
Local Office -- INS BIRMINGHAM
ILLEGAL RESIDENT ALIENS
The INS conducted a work site inspection in May at the Plantation Patterns manufacturing firm
in Wadley in eastern Alabama and apprehended 100 illegal alien workers.
The owner of Atlantic Finishing Inc. in Henagar, Ala has been charged in a major federal
investigation in Albuquerque, N.M. with recruiting illegal aliens in Mexico to work in his
Henagar plant and a second plant in Trenton, Georgia. According to federal immigration
officials this indictments are the first time that a Southwestern border smuggling ring was linked
to a U.S.-based company.
STATE CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION VOTING RECORD
FAIR, 11/99.
Immigrant settlement in Alabama -- as in states that are heavily impacted by immigration -- has been characterized by a steady rise since
the adoption of the current immigration system in 1965.
FY LEGAL IMMIGRATION
91 2,706 by nationality
92 2,109 by nationality
93 2,298 by nationality
94 1,837 by nationality
95 1,900 by nationality
96 1,782 by nationality
97 1,613 by nationality
Total 14,245 by nationality (below)
INS DATA BY NATIONALITY: FY'91-FY'97
The INS data below are the totals for the countries with the largest number of immigrants
admitted or adjusted to legal residence since 1990. The nationalities may change each year, so
the totals in some cases will not reflect all the immigrants of that nationality who have become
legal immigrants in Alabama during the seven-year period. For example, data on German admissions include only five of the
seven years and for Japan the admission data are available for only three years. The 27 nationalities (Hong Kong
and Taiwan included with mainland Chinese, and the former Soviet Union represented by Russia
and Ukraine since FY'96) represent over 73 percent of all immigrant settlement and
adjustment in Alabama during this seven-year period.Bangladesh + 37
Canada 404
China * 1,462
Colombia 132
Cuba 21
Dominican Rep. 22
Ecuador ++ 35
El Salvador 59
Germany ++ 443
Guyana 36
India 1,568
Iran 384
Ireland +++ 47
Honduras + 45
Jamaica 136
Japan + 72
Korea 543
Mexico 1,522
Nigeria + 163
Pakistan 220
Peru 108
Philippines 586
Poland 76
Soviet Union 398
United K. 563
Vietnam 1,274
Other 3,814
Total 14,245
* Includes Hong Kong and Taiwan when available
+ 3 yrs. of data available
++ 5 yrs. of data available
+++ 4 yrs. of data available
It helps to have a clear perspective of the past population change that the state has experienced
when considering the role of immigration in Alabama's current and future population change.
Over the past 50 years, the population of the state has increased by well over one million people.
Almost as much of recent population growth has come from inter-state migration and net
international migration as from birth rates, to which immigrants also contribute. 
The 1996 Census Bureau population projection has Alabama's population growing by 23%
between 1995 and 2025 (to 5,224,000). That is the 25th fastest projected rate of growth in the
country. The rate of increase in the foreign-born population between 1980 and 1990 was even
higher than the projected rate, and it is clear that the projection contemplates continued
high-level immigrant settlement in the state.
The INS estimates that as of April 1996 there were about 23,000 legal resident aliens in Alabama
-- legal immigrants who had not yet become U.S. citizens -- of whom 12,900 had met the
residency requirement to apply for citizenship. Included in this number could be aliens who had
already applied for naturalization and were in the processing waiting list. The INS offices that
handle naturalization cases and fingerprinting are located at:
SUITE 200
3523 BUFORD HIGHWAY
ATLANTA, GA 30329
Tel. (404) 331-0793 - FAX (404) 730-9333
TERMINAL A
5900 AIRPORT HWY, TERMINAL A-17
BIRMINGHAM, AL 35232
The INS estimates that the resident illegal population in Alabama is 4,000 as of October 1996.
This number is about one-quarter higher than the INS estimate for October 1992. ****************************************
* INS - Investigations - Alabama: *
* Birmingham (205) 591-0920 *
****************************************
(Migration News, June, 1997)
(Washington Times, December 26, 1997)
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