Earlier this week, Brenda Walker at Limits to Growth posted this very interesting news about recent Census numbers involving African immigration to America.
Walker begins:
Africa-born people are currently in the news, in a bad way, given the spread of ebola to America in recent days.
It has numerous charts and tables like the map below, showing the location of national groups in the US. We now know about the 10,000 Liberians in north Texas because of the ebola flap, but there are many more of that nationality in Philadelphia.
Go to Limits to Growth to see Walker’s commentary with maps and more charts!
Which African countries are represented in your city?
Come to think of it, I’m kind of surprised that the Census Bureau is even reporting this information, isn’t it just downright politically incorrect to notice!
The Center for Immigration Studies has a new report out.
A press release accompanying its release begins with this:
WASHINGTON, DC (September 25, 2014) — A new report by the Center for Immigration Studies finds that nearly one in six adults in the U.S. is foreign-born. The report, based on newly released Census Bureau data, also found that the nation’s immigrant population (legal and illegal) grew by 1.4 million from July 2010 to July 2013. The immigrant population, referred to as the foreign-born by the Census Bureau, includes all those who were not U.S. citizens at birth, including illegal immigrants.
“The new data makes clear that while Latin America and the Caribbean are still a significant source of immigration, the growth is being driven in large part by immigration from Asia, the Middle East, and Africa,” observed the Center’s Director of Research and lead author of the report, Steven Camarota.
Here are just a few of the bullet points that interested me, please visit the report (here) for many more interesting statistics. When you visit the report don’t miss the last line of Table 1—-the increase in numbers from predominantly Muslim countries.
~The 41.3 million immigrant population (legal and illegal) in 2013 was double the number in 1990, nearly triple the number in 1980, and quadruple that in 1970, when it stood at 9.6 million.
~The sending regions with the largest increases from 2010 to 2013 were South Asia (up 373,000, 16 percent growth); East Asia (up 365,000, 5 percent growth); the Caribbean (up 223,000, 6 percent growth), the Middle East (up 208,000, 13 percent growth); and sub-Saharan Africa (up 177,000, 13 percent growth).
~States where the number of immigrants grew the most since 2010 were Texas (up 227,240); California (up 160,771); Florida (up 140,019); New York (up 85,699); New Jersey (up 81,192); Massachusetts (up 62,591); Washington (up 57,402); Pennsylvania (up 57,091); Illinois (up 47,609); Arizona (up 39,647); Maryland (up 38,555); Virginia (up 37,844); North Carolina (up 30,289); Michigan (up 29,039); and Georgia (up 28,020).
I was curious to see how closely that list of states (above) compares with the Top Refugee Resettlement states in FY 2014. Here they are:
Texas: 6,398
California: 5,666
New York: 3,733
Michigan: 3,677
Florida: 3,227
Ohio: 2,700
Arizona: 2,675
Georgia: 2,502
Pennsylvania: 2,497
Washington: 2,323
Not far behind are: Illinois, North Carolina, and Minnesota
The Center for Immigration Studies has had an on-going project of reporting which states have a high percentage of jobs going to immigrants while the native-born Americans working has declined.
Georgia Governor Deal asked for a reduction in the number of refugees going to the overloaded state. But, GA is still in the top ten receiving states. http://newsmanager.atlantaregional.com/anmviewer.asp?a=56685&z=21
The Gang of Eight immigration bill (S.744) passed by the Senate last June would have roughly doubled the number of new foreign workers allowed into the country, as well as legalized illegal immigrants, partly on the grounds that there is a labor shortage. Many business groups and politicians in Georgia supported the legislation. However, an analysis of government data shows that, since 2000, all of the net increase in the number of working-age (16 to 65) people holding a job in Georgia has gone to immigrants (legal and illegal). This is the case even though the native-born accounted for 54 percent of growth in the state’s total working-age population. Perhaps worst of all, the labor force participation rate of Georgia’s natives shows no improvement through the first part of this year despite the economic recovery.
Among the findings:
~The total number of working-age (16 to 65) immigrants (legal and illegal) holding a job in Georgia increased by 400,000 from the first quarter of 2000 to the first quarter of 2014, while the number of working-age natives with a job declined by 71,000 over the same time frame.
~The fact that all the long-term net gain in employment among the working-age went to immigrants is striking because natives accounted for 54 percent of the increase in the total size of the state’s working-age population.
Georgia is in the top ten refugee resettlement states for the 11 months of fiscal year 2014 (which ends on Sept. 30th).
And, keep in mind, Georgia Governor Nathan Deal asked the US State Department to slow the flow to his state.
Compared to illegal immigration the numbers are small, but remember refugees have employment services (federal resettlement contractors) assisting them in finding work. Check out your state byclicking here.
Texas: 6,398
California: 5,666
New York: 3,733
Michigan: 3,677
Florida: 3,227
Ohio: 2,700
Arizona: 2,675
Georgia: 2,502
Pennsylvania: 2,497
Washington: 2,323
Not far behind are: Illinois, North Carolina, and Minnesota
In our earlier post this morning, we reported that the US State Department is going to begin bringing in Syrians (at the UN’s direction) on par with what we have done for Iraqis. That reminded me that I wanted to pull together the Iraqi resettlement data.
We are on our way, as this fiscal year ends in a few weeks, to 115,000 Iraqis admitted to the US since 9/11. Approximately 62% are Muslims (71,300). How do we know?
Recently a reader sent me some numbers for Iraqi refugees from a data base kept by the US State Department that only select people have access to. It was the data base of religions refugees bring to America. Our reader said that of 111,854 Iraqis admitted since 2003, 42,137 are Christians. (38%). I don’t have access to the religion data, but I did want to check the total numbers for myself.
I don’t come up with 111,854 (I get 111,731, but it’s close and we could easily reach 115,000 by the end of the fiscal year). This information below comes from data tables at the end of Annual Reports to Congress, here.
Iraqi refugees who were ultimately convicted on terrorism charges were arrested in KY and caused a dip in the numbers for 2011.
From 1983-2002: we resettled 41,549 Iraqis
From fiscal year 2003 to August 31, 2014:
2003: 294
2004: 65
2005: 186
2006: 189
2007: 1,605
2008: 13,775 (this was a George Bush year)
2009: 18,709
2010: 18,016
2011: 9,388 (Assume this dip is because of the Iraqi terrorists arrested in KY which resulted in a federal freak-out and a re-do on the security screening of Iraqis).
2012: 12,233
2013: 19,500
2014 (11 months of the fiscal year): 17,771
Bottom line is that we are approaching 115,000 Iraqis admitted to the US in the last 12 years (the State Dept. and contractors will make a big push this month to hit their targets and so I am guessing they will reach 115,000).
~The overall US unemployment rate that year was 7.6%, the Iraqi unemployment rate was 22.6% (but up from 40% or so in some previous years).
~Of those not looking for work, 33.6% had poor health or disabilities.
~The average hourly wage for Iraqis who were working was $9.79 per hour.
~ORR says that the goal is self-sufficiency in 3 months, but only 21% got their first job in 6 months and welfare continued.
~60% were on Medicaid or Refugee Medical Assistance.
~82% were receiving food stamps.
~58% were receiving some sort of cash assistance.
~36% were getting SSI (Supplemental Security Income).
The report tries to put a happy face on it, but the numbers are abysmal!
Sure looks like we are importing poverty and you can expect the Syrians to be in the same situation when they begin arriving at rates comparable to the Iraqis—from 10,000-20,000 a year!
Update: About the photo. The photo we placed in this post this morning disappeared. This is not the first time, that has happened with the official photo of this pair. Let’s see what happens with this one.
From July 31 to August 31 we admitted 952 Somalis to your towns and cities for a total of 8,278 this year. That moves Somalis up from the 4th highest group of refugees to the third. Ahead of Somalia are Iraq (17,771) and Burma (13,166).
Check out all nationalities for the last 11 months (Fiscal year 2014) byclicking here.
While you are visiting the Refugee Processing Center, be sure to see how many refugees your state received so far this year.
The Center for Immigration Studies has a 
Just this morning I was working on