A Lifeline To Renewal: The Demographic Impact Of Immigration At State And Local Levels
We have long known that immigration has different impacts
in different states. Usually, however, this has been interpreted to mean
that places with high immigrant numbers are heavily impacted by
immigration, while areas with low numbers are not. However, immigrant
numbers should be taken in the context of native population growth to
better understand the impact of immigration. A state may have high
immigration, but if it has high native population growth, some impacts of
immigration are diminished. This fact may not change the attitudes and
opinions of persons unhappy about immigration in booming areas of the
south and west like North Carolina, Georgia, and Nevada. But the truth is
that their immigrant numbers do not translate into the same level of
impact as similar numbers in Michigan, Kansas, or New Jersey. In these
latter states, the foreign born are proving to be more valuable than ever.
Highlights from the report:
- There are states with large numbers of immigrants (California, New
York, Texas, Florida, Illinois, and New Jersey), and a somewhat
different set of states where immigration is a major factor in
population growth (Nebraska, Kansas, Ohio, and Pennsylvania).
- The demographic impact of high or low or even negative population
growth among the native born, and the effect of high or low immigration,
often is felt more acutely at the local level. For a county government
as opposed to a state government, loss of native population in some
local municipalities is less likely to be balanced out by gain in
others.
- Many counties that are losing native population, like Los Angeles
County, Cook County in Illinois, and Queens County in New York, are
parts of urban areas that are experiencing widespread departures of
natives.
- A loss of native population without replacement by immigrants could
put county governments in dire straits. Many governmental costs are
relatively fixed and could take years to reduce in light of declining
population.
Read the entire report at: http://www.ailf.org/ipc/policybrief/policybrief_2005_lifeline.htm
Copyright: The material above was originally produced by the Immigration Policy Center of the American Immigration Law Foundation. Reproduced with Permission.
About The Author
Rob Paral is a Research Fellow with the Immigration Policy Center and is also affiliated with the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law in Chicago. Data processing for this report was conducted by Michael Norkewicz.
The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinion of ILW.COM.
Copyright © 1999-2005 American Immigration LLC, ILW.COM
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