Immigration to the District of Columbia
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 DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA IMMIGRATION STATISTICS |
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Total Population: |
580,000 (2006) |
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Foreign Born: |
90,000 (2005) |
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Illegal Immigrants: |
FAIR Estimate: 10,000 (2005) |
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USCIS/DHS Estimate: 7,000 (2006) |
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Pew Hispanic Center Estimate: 15,000-30,000 (2005) |
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Immigration to the District of Columbia (Washington DC)
The suburbs of Maryland and Virginia have experienced staggering population growth despite the population of the District of Columbia remaining steady over the past three years. This results in the metro area struggling, overcrowded schools, traffic gridlock, and a rising burden on taxpayers as communities struggle to meet the increased demand for public services. The Washington DC metro area's foreign-born population increased 70 percent during the 1990s. This growth accounts for 49 percent of the District of Columbia’s overall population increase.
The Cost of Illegal Immigration in Washington DC
The District of Columbia’s foreign-born population increased by almost 29 percent between the years 2000 and 2006. During that period, the District of Columbia gained almost 21,000 immigrants, bringing the total number of foreign-born residents in the state to over 94,000.
The District of Columbia’s naturalized population is 22,050, one of the lowest rates in the country. The national average naturalized population rate is 40.1 percent. This low rate of naturalization continues the trend from 1990, and indicates the high settlement rate of new immigrants and the growing number of illegal immigrants. Less than one-third, or 29.3 percent, of the District of Columbia’s 58,887 foreign-born residents had become naturalized U.S. citizens. The national average of naturalized foreign-born residents is 40.3 percent.
The cost of illegal immigrants in DC is considerable as they cut into taxpayer dollars in the form of incarceration costs, medical costs and educational costs. The cost of housing illegal immigrant inmates has declined annual from $3,261,785 in 1999 to $44,472 in 2004. This is an 86 percent decline in compensation. This steady decline can be attributed to Washington D.C.'s illegal alien inmate population decreasing by 60 percent from the 124 inmates in 1999 to 49 inmates in 2002. Medical costs for illegal immigrants in the District of Columbia were estimated at $166,928 for the year 2004. Taxpayers in the District of Columbia are burdened with educational expenditures for illegal immigration, costing them $47.1 million dollars annually. Of this annual cost, $19.6 million went to educating students who were themselves illegally in the country and $27.5 million went towards the education of their siblings born in the United States to illegal residents.
In 2006 we estimated that District of Columbia taxpayers are currently burdened with annual costs of about $53 million because of illegal aliens residing in the state. That estimate was based on only expenditures for education, emergency medical care and incarceration. We projected that those costs will rise unless we gain control over our borders and our worksites. If a new amnesty and increases in immigrants and guest workers were enacted, as proposed by business and ethnic advocacy groups, we project that the cost to the state’s taxpayers for those same programs would rise to $88 million per year in 2010 and to $150 million per year in 2020.
Washington DC Immigration Statistics:
- El Salvador, Jamaica, and China comprise the top three foreign-born populations in the District of Columbia.
- The District of Columbia received 3,274 refugees from the years 1996 to 2004.
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