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! State population: 2,862,000 (1998 CB est.) !
! Foreign-born population: 70,000 (1998 CPS) !
! Percent foreign born: 2.5% (1998) !
! Foreign-born stock: 214,000 (1997 CB est.) !
! Illegal alien population: 6,400 (1996 INS est.) !
! New legal immigrants: 18,411 (1991 to 1997) !
! 2025 pop. projection: 3,040,000 (1996 CB proj.) !
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1990 CENSUS DATA ON THE FOREIGN-BORN
Between 1980 and 1990 Iowa's overall population declined slightly as did its foreign-born
population (to 43,000 from 48,000). However, since 1990 the state has received an annual
average of over 2,600 new legal immigrants, according to INS data. In fiscal year 1996, the
number of new immigrants to Iowa was 3,037. The major source countries were Mexico (620),
Vietnam (447) and Yugoslavia (265).
In 1980 the top three countries of immigrants were Germany, Canada and the United Kingdom. In 1990 all three showed significant drops in size, and the new top three had become Germany, Mexico and Laos. The nationalities that showed the greatest rise were from Mexico , Laos, Korea , China Taiwan and the Philippines.
1980 Census 1990 Census 1 Germany 4,591 Germany 6,541 2 Mexico 3,764 Canada 2,930 3 Laos 2,974 U.K. 2,850 4 Canada 2,625 Mexico 2,725 5 Korea 2,260 Vietnam 2,173 6 Vietnam 2,175 Laos 2,041 7 U.K. 2,153 Korea 1,801 8 India 1,696 Sov.Un. 1,662 9 China 1,344 Neth. 1,654 10 Taiwan 1,175 Denmark 1,174 All Others 22,902 All Others 17,765 Total 47,659 Total 43,316
The Census Bureau calculates that since the 1990 Census the state's population has increased by nearly 19,000 because of immigration, while over the same period the state's population has decreased by about 13,000 due to greater departures of Iowans to other states than the arrival of residents of other states.
Iowa's foreign-born population had in 1997 about 31 percent of its members who had become U.S. citizens.
The municipal area with the greatest concentration of immigrants is Iowa City with 5.4% of its population in 1990 comprised of about 5,200 foreign born. The municipal area with the largest number of foreign born was Des Moines, with about 8,300 immigrants.
THE IMMIGRANT STOCK
There are about 214 thousand people in Iowa 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).
NET INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION
The Census Bureau estimates that Iowa's population increased by 4,390 over the last
year (ending in July 1997). Compared to that overall increase, net international migration
accounted for an estimated increase of 2,871. Thus immigration accounted for over 65 percent
of the state's population increase. That rate of population increase attributable to direct
immigrant settlement is the 13th highest in the country.
The Des Moines metropolitan area was rated by ReliaStar Financial Corp. in 1998 as the No. 4 city in the US (out of 100) "to Earn and Save Money." Our analysis of the ReliaStar ratings shows that the highest ranked cities have slower growing immigrant populations than the lowest ranked cities. The Des Moines metropolitan area had a 2.1 percent foreign-born share in 1990 (compared to the national average of 7.9%) and 9.1 percent of its 46,000 population increase (1990-97) was due to net international immigration (compared to the national average of 30%). For further details, see Cities Index
INS DATA ON IMMIGRANT SETTLEMENT
Legal immigrant settlement in Iowa since 1990 has averaged over 2,600 per
year. The data
for fiscal year (FY) 1991 were elevated 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 from Iowa was 702.
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.
INS DATA BY NATIONALITY: FY'91 - FY'97
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 Iowa during the seven-year
period. The 26 nationalities (Hong Kong and Taiwan included with mainland Chinese, and Russia
and Ukraine included with Soviet Union) represent over four-fifths (81%) of all immigrant
settlement and adjustment in Iowa during this period.
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 Iowa, the high projection could
mean a population in 2050 of 3,500,000 to 3,700,000. 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
RESIDENT ILLEGAL ALIENS
In late July and August 1996 the INS and other agencies identified 209 illegal aliens working
in Iowa. Nearly all of the aliens were from Mexico (97%) or Central America. The
enforcement effort was conducted in 13 central states, and Iowa accounted for the fourth largest
number of the work site apprehensions after Texas, New Mexico and Minnesota.
Earlier, a press release issued by the INS from Charles City, Iowa on April 11, 1996, noted the
arrest and prosecution of 47 illegal aliens who had been employed at All States Quality Food, a
chicken processing plant.
One out of every four workers in Iowa and Nebraska meat packing plants are illegal aliens. Since
1992, 1,000 illegal aliens have been arrested, while working in Iowa and Nebraska meat packing
plants, according to Jerry Heinauer, district director of the INS.
At the IBP plant in Storm Lake, Iowa, 10% of the workers on one shift were arrested for lacking
proper work authorization. Forty-seven illegal aliens employed by the All States Quality Food, a
Charles City, Iowa chicken processing plant, were arrested and prosecuted, according to the INS
on April 11, 1996.
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) claimed that one meat packing plant employs 500 illegal aliens.
Criminal cases involving illegal aliens have been increasing by at least 10 percent per year.
In September, 91 illegal immigrants were stopped in six days in Nebraska; local jails were so
crammed the nearest place to detain them was 220 miles away. The INS has been so swamped it
has not been able to respond to some state police calls, resulting in vans of illegal immigrants
allowed to continue on toward their destinations. The INS estimates that up to 25 percent of the
meatpacking workforce in the 220 plants in Iowa and Nebraska are illegal workers. At least one
of them, IBP Inc. is now participating in an INS pilot program to verify workers' status.
According to White House Drug Policy Director Barry McCaffrey, "Colorado, Utah and
Wyoming, the Rocky Mountain heartland of America, are increasingly becoming populated with
Mexican drug trafficking organizations and violent gangs using this major transportation
crossroads as a trans-shipment center." But, according to anti-drug treatment workers, the drugs,
often methamphetamine, are not just passing through, they are increasingly being used by local
youth. According to Des Moines Judge Carol Egly, "There are things going on at the border
encouraging
immigration, both legal and illegal." She also noted an increase of Mexican nationals in the
courts on drug-pushing charges and of "whacked out and crazy" drug users. She suggested that
the upsurge may be related to the influx of Mexicans to the meatpacking plants and their
providing the infrastructure into which the drug pushers move.
Iowa's highways are being used to transport illegal aliens toward jobs in Chicago. This was
tragically demonstrated in early March 1998 when a van loaded with 16 illegal aliens slid off
Interstate 80 near Grinnell. Three persons died and two others were in critical condition.
SOCIAL ISSUES
The state of Iowa launched an aggressive campaign to attract Southeast Asian immigrants to
Iowa's meat packing plants, rather than trying to recruit Iowans. The state paid a subsidy of up to
50% of the South-east Asian immigrants wages in order to encourage employers to use South-
east Asian labor. Prior to 1981, Iowa workers fulfilled the labor needs of the meat packing
plants. During that time, the meat packers provided middle class wages for its workers and
continued to earn a profit. After 1981 and the influx of immigrants, the wages of meat packers in
Iowa was nearly cut in half.
The Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, DC thinktank listed five Iowa counties as
"immigration hot spots." They were Jefferson, Johnson, Muscatine, Story and Woodbury. The
Center claimed that if more up-to-date information were available, Buena Vista and Marshall
would be on the list. Storm Lake, where INS officers arrested nearly 10 percent of the workers
on one shift at the IBP pork processing plant in May, was cited as an example of how a large
company transforms a town by its employment practices and then leaves it to the community to
cope with the resulting problems of public education and other services for new immigrants.
Iowa United Methodist Church leaders urged congregations to offer sanctuary to illegal alien
Hispanics threatened with deportation by the INS. The church argues that the INS violates the
workers' human rights by staging surprise inspections of meatpacking plants. The church says
that many of the workers were drawn to Iowa by company promises of secure work and good
wages.
Based on the research of Dr. Donald Huddle, a Rice University economist, FAIR estimates the
net cost of Iowa's foreign-born population to be over $143 million in 1995 due to the public
services they consumed and their displacement of American workers throughout the state.
FOREIGN STUDENTS
OTHER - Regional Organization
STATE CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION VOTING RECORD
FAIR, 12/99.
Immigrant settlement in Iowa has risen since
the adoption of the current immigration system in 1965. The average settlement recently is more than two-and-a-half times higher than it was in the late 1960s.
FY LEGAL IMMIGRATION
91 3,331 by nationality
92 2,228 by nationality
93 2,626 by nationality
94 2,163 by nationality
95 2,260 by nationality
96 3,037 by nationality
97 2,766 by nationality
Total 18,411 by nationality below
The INS data below are furnished for nationals of the countries with the largest number of
immigrants admitted or adjusted to legal residence each year since 1990. The absence of data
means that the total number of admissions to the United States by nationals of that country were
not enough to merit detailed reporting in that year.Canada 578
China * 1,445
Colombia 71
Ecuador + 26
El Salvador 122
Germany + 236
Guatemala 143
Guyana 34
Haiti 30
Honduras +++ 45
India 820
Iran 134
Ireland ++ 61
Japan +++ 49
Korea 815
Mexico 3,595
Nigeria 42
Pakistan 108
Peru 50
Philippines 569
Poland 121
Soviet Union ** 693
United K. 350
Vietnam 3,776
Yugoslavia +++ 832
Other 3,589
Total 18,411
When considering the role of immigration in the Iowa's current and future population change,
it is helpful to have a clear perspective of the past population change that the state has
experienced. Over the past 50 years, the population of has increased steadily, although
slowly. In recent years the state has had a net out-migration of residents to other states that has
been more than offset by a net rise in immigrant settlement and natural change (births less deaths
-- to which immigrants also contribute).
The 1997 Census Bureau population projection has Iowa's population growing by 7%
between 1995 and 2025 (to 3,040,000). That is lower than the median rate of growth in the
nation.
The INS estimates that as of April 1996 there were about 27,000 legal resident aliens in Iowa --
legal immigrants who had not yet become U.S. citizens -- of whom
15,000 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:
#369
210 WALNUT STREET
DES MOINES, IA 50309
The INS estimates the resident illegal alien population in Iowa at about 6,400 as of October
1996. That estimate represents an increase of about 1,400 since October 1992. ****************************************
* INS - Investigations - Iowa: *
* Cedar Rapids (319) 364-3280 *
****************************************
(Source: INS News Release, September 5, 1996)
((Source: Des Moines Register, March 12, 1996)
(Dayton Daily News, October 22, 1997)
Los Angeles Times, Dec. 10, 1997
USA Today, March 4, 1998
Sioux City, Iowa like many other towns in the Midwest, is experiencing a surge in immigrant
gang related crimes. Immigrant gangs have become such a problem that the mayor of Sioux
City, Bob Scott, has asked the federal government and large corporations to do their part to help
control the city's illegal immigration problem.
( ( Sioux City Journal, April 6, 1996)
( (Roy Beck, The Case Against Immigration, 1996)
(Source: Center for Immigration Studies and The Des Moines Register,
August 8, 1996)
( (Source: Des Moines Register, December 13, 1996 )
The 1997/98 annual report of the Institute of International Education shows a 5.1% increase in
foreign students attending U.S. colleges and universities (481,280) over a year earlier. Iowa's
State Univ. campus at Ames accounted for 2,452 foreign students, the 25th largest number in the
country.
The Midwest Coalition to Reform Immigration (MCRI) includes activists in Iowa. To contact
MCRI, write 2859 Central St. #154, Evanston IL 60201 or call (847) 733-1875. To access their
web site, click below:
You can now access the voting record of your representatives in Congress regarding immigration
issues with our scorecard page or go to
numbersusa.com for their
legislative scorecards. Just hit the back button to return to the FAIR Iowa Page.
