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! State population: 3,836,000 (1998 CB est.) !
! Foreign-born population: 62,000 (1998 CPS) !
! Percent foreign born: 1.6% (1998) !
! Foreign-born stock: 131,000 (1997 CB est.) !
! Illegal alien population: 4,800 (1996 INS est.) !
! New legal immigrants: 17,021 (1991 to 1997) !
! 2025 pop. projection: 4,645,000 (1996 CB proj.) !
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CENSUS DATA ON THE FOREIGN BORN
The immigrant population of South Carolina has declined slightly in both
number and share. The 1990 population share was 1.4 percent (down from 1.5% in 1980). The
largest concentration of new immigrants was from Europe (37.2% of the total
foreign born). The two largest source countries of immigrants were Germany and the United
Kingdom. The third largest supplier of immigrants was the Philippines, which contributed to
Asians accounting for 31.2% of the state's foreign born residents.
1980 Census 1990 Census 1 Germany 6,216 Germany 6,224 2 U.K. 4,617 U.K. 5,130 3 Philip. 2,599 Philip. 3,429 4 Canada 2,255 Canada 3,218 5 Korea 1,560 India 2,307 6 France 1,469 Mexico 2,147 7 Japan 1,285 Korea 1,866 8 India 1,192 Japan 1,665 9 Greece 1,105 Vietnam 1,041 10 Sov.Un. 957 Greece 1,038 All Others 22,825 All Others 21,899 Total 46,080 Total 49,964
The foreign-born population was fairly evenly spread out throughout the state. No county or municipal area accounted for much more than about a 2.5% foreign-born share of its population, compared with a statewide average of 1.4%.
THE IMMIGRANT STOCK
There were about 131 thousand people in South Carolina in 1997 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
The Census Bureau's population estimate for South Carolina, based on 1988 CPS data. shows a
population increase of about 4,200 over a year earlier. The immigrant population increased by
the same amount, suggesting that all of the increase could be attributed to immigrant settlement.
Since the 1990 Census, the Census Bureau estimates that the state has gained about 119,000 as
a result of net domestic migration and about 16,000 as a result of net international migration.
1997 CURRENT POPULATION SURVEY (CPS) DATA
The share of South Carolina's foreign-born population population that is naturalized U.S.
citiezens is one of the highest in the country (79.4% compared to the national
average of 35.1%).
METROPOLITAN AREA DATA
Over two-fifths of the immigrant increase since 1990 was located in three metropolitan areas:
Greenville (+1760), Charleston (+1,735) and Columbia (+1,420). Charleston had a net outflow
from domestic out-migration (-34,000) greater than the influx of immigrants.
The Columbia metropolitan area was rated by ReliaStar Financial Corp. in 1998 as the No. 22 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 Columbia metropolitan area had a 2.3 percent foreign-born share in 1990 (compared to the national average of 7.9%) and 3.9 percent of its 51,000 population increase (1990-97) was due to net international immigration (compared to the national average of 30%). For further details, see Cities Index
POPULATION CHANGE 1900-2000
It helps to have a clear perspective of the past population change that the state has experienced
when considering the role of immigration in South Carolina's current and future population
change. Over the past 50 years, the population of the state has nearly doubled. Nearly as much
of recent population growth has come from net inter-state and international migration as from
natural population change, e.g., birth rates, to which immigrants also contribute.
POPULATION PROJECTION
The 1997 Census Bureau population projection has South Carolina's population growing by 27%
between 1995 and 2025 (to 4,645,000). That is the 20th fastest projected rate of growth in the
country.
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 South Carolins, the high projection could mean a population in 2050 of 5,800,000 to 6,000,000. If today's mass 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 DATA ON IMMIGRANT SETTLEMENT
Legal immigrant settlement in South Carolina since 1990 has averaged over 2,400 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.
Among the long-term resident amnesty applicants (excluding the amnestied agricultural workers), the number applying from South Carolina was 791.
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 25 nationalities (Hong Kong and Taiwan included with mainland Chinese, and the former
Soviet Union represented by Russia and Ukraine since FY'96) constitute about three-quarters (74%) of all immigrant settlement and adjustment in South Carolina during this seven-year period.
The state attracts illegal alien workers primarily because of its agricultural production. An
investigation of a supplier of agricultural contract workers found in November 1996 that
smuggled Guatemalan and Mexican workers had been working illegally in South Carolina
harvesting cucumbers.
An indictment was handed down in Miami on April 23 against 16 members of a family-run
prostitution ring based in Mexico and operating in northern Florida and South Carolina. Young
Mexican females, some as young as 14-years-old, were lured into "sex slavery" by the promise of
job opportunities in the United States. After they were smuggled into the country, crossing at
Brownsville, Texas, they were forced to work as prostitutes, primarily as clients of Mexican farm
laborers working illegally in the United States.
Greenwood Packing (a pork processing plant in Greenwood, SC) turned in 1994 to a labor
contractor to supply workers. Employment Solutions supplied 350 Hispanic workers from the
Brownsville, Texas and Matamoros, Mexico area. When the INS got around to checking the new
workers' documents, they apprehended and removed almost 200 of the new population. People
who deal with Greenwood's new Hispanics say that many of the deported persons have returned
and found new jobs.
SOCIAL ISSUES
One of the result of this rapid population change is that public employees in places such as
Newberry are finding themselves in the unexpected position of studying Spanish to be able to
provide services, from marriage licenses to medical and welfare services, to the newcomers.
Although many of the arriving Hispanics may be legal residents or even U.S. citizens, others are
illegal aliens attracted by low-skilled jobs and the absence of an INS office. However, a change
may be taking place as a result of the opening of a new INS office in Charleston. According to
Jose Monge, an immigration attorney in Columbia, "It's going to get hot."
The influx of hundreds of Hispanics to Greenwood to work at Greenwood Packing in 1994
unleashed a scramble among service providers to cope with the new situation. There were some
early tensions with the city's minority black population over what was seen as job competition.
The police chief says that tensions have now subsided, but local residents dispute that. The local
school gained 23 Spanish-speaking children overnight. Health care providers couldn't
communicate with the new patients. The local Job Service office has required non-English
speakers to bring interpreters with them, but there were few bilingual persons in the area, and
they became over-burdened. The labor contractor who recruited the Hispanic workers in Texas,
provides them sub-standard housing for free. The meat processing employer is attacked by many
of the workers for taking advantage of non-English speaking employees. According to one
employee, "They only want people who will keep their mouths shut. If you defend yourself, they
don't want you."
STATE CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION VOTING RECORD
FAIR, 12/99
Unlike for most of the rest of the country, immigrant settlement in South Carolina has changed very little since
the adoption of the current immigration system in 1965.
FY LEGAL IMMIGRATION
91 3,836 by nationality
92 2,118 by nationality
93 2,195 by nationality
94 2,110 by nationality
95 2,165 by nationality
96 2,151 by nationality
97 2,446 by nationality
Total 17,021 by nationality (below)
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 South Carolina during the seven-year period. For example, data on German immigrants are for five years and
Japanese are included for only three of the seven years. Canada 902
China * 1,433
Colombia 330
Cuba 24
Dominican Rep. 62
El Salvador 58
Germany + 480
Guatemala 121
Guyana 53
Haiti 42
India 1,347
Iran 198
Ireland ++ 102
Jamaica 126
Japan +++ 83
Korea 354
Mexico 2,686
Nigeria +++ 69
Pakistan 170
Peru 106
Philippines 1,228
Poland 192
Soviet Union 430
United K. 1,012
Vietnam 979
Other 4,434
Total 17,021
* Includes Hong Kong and Taiwan when available
+ 5 yrs. of data available
++ 4 yrs. of data available
+++ 3 yrs. of data available
The INS estimates that the resident illegal alien population was about 4,800 as of October 1996.
This was 17% higher than the estimate of the number of illegal aliens in October 1992. *****************************************
* INS - Investigations - South Carolina: *
* Charleston (803) 727-4422 *
*****************************************
(Source: Daily Labor Report, November 18, 1996)
(Washington Times, April 25, 1998)
(Columbia's The State, April 26, 1998)
The Hispanic population in South Carolina is growing about six times faster that the state's
overall population. Most of this increase is from immigration. Part of the explanation for this
rapid change is the "population pipeline" between the communities in the sending country and
the receiving country, and in part it may be due to large families. Mike Scardaville, a professor
of Latin American studies at the University of South Carolina, estimates that the Hispanic growth
rate is still higher because minorities and illegal aliens are undercounted and there has been an
increase in the flow of newcomers. He estimates the Hispanic population to now be at least
150,000 compared to the 30,600 found in the 1990 Census.
(Source: The State (Columbia), April 18, 1998)
(Source: The State (Columbia), April 18 and 26, 1998)
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