Immigrants and Refugees

Here in King County and across the United States, there is an increase in the number of immigrant and refugees coming to this country and applying for citizenship or permanent residence. Service systems must adapt their policies and practices to meet the needs of this growing population. However, an understanding of immigrant and refugee experiences is necessary in order to effectively empower these communities to thrive in a country with laws, norms, language, and a way of life vastly different from that to which they are accustomed.

Read more about immigration policy in the US 
Read more about the concerns of immigrants

Population Data

National Trends

• Legal immigration increased 5.2% from 1,052,415 in 2007 to 1,107,126 in 2008.^[1]
• Illegal immigration may be as high as 1,500,000 per year with a net of at least 700,000 more undocumented immigrants arriving each year to join the 12,000,000 to 20,000,000 that are already here.^[2]
• The leading regions of birth for persons becoming LPRs in 2008 were Asia (33%) and North America (44%).
• In 2008, 17% of all persons becoming LPRs were born in Mexico.
• The total number of refugees admitted to the United States increased 25% from 48,218 in 2007 to 60,108 in 2008.
• In 2008, the leading countries of origin for refugees were Bosnia-Herzegovina (30%), Iraq (23%), and Cuba (8.9%)
• The total number of persons granted asylum in the United States increased from 25,124 in 2007 to 22,930 in 2008. The leading countries of origin for persons granted asylum in 2008 were China (24%), Columbia (7.1%), and Haiti (5.4%).
• The number of persons naturalizing in the United States increased 58 percent from 660,477 in 2007 to 1,046,539 in 2008.
• In 2008, 44% of persons naturalized were born in North America compared with 31% from Asian countries and 11% from European countries

Local Trends:

Persons obtaining legal permanent residence in the metropolitan cities of Seattle, Bellevue and Tacoma has remained around 17,000 from 2006 to 2008. In 2005 the Seattle, Bellevue, and Tacoma area experienced its highest number of LPRs granted,18,941.

Download Data | Source: US Dept of Homeland Security, Immigration

In terms of naturalization in the metropolitan areas of Seattle, Bellevue and Tacoma, there was a major dip from over 11,000 in 2000 to just fewer than 7,000 in 2001. Since 2001, however, the number of immigrants becoming naturalized has steadily increased. In 2008, 12,534 people were naturalized in the metro areas of Seattle, Bellevue, and Tacoma..

Download Data | Source: US Dept of Homeland Security, Immigration

• Washington State has the 10th highest number of refugee arrivals in the United States with 2,254 in 2008.^[3]
• In 2005, a Washington, D.C.-based research organization, the Pew Hispanic Center, estimated 200,000 to 250,000 Washington state residents are undocumented.^[4]

According to the 2008 American Community Survey:^[5]

• There are more than 367,464 foreign-born people living in King County of which 49.2% are Asian countries, 17.2% from Europe, 7.9% from Africa, 23.3% from the Americas and 2.3% from Oceania.

Download Data | Sources: 2000 Census, U.S. Census Bureau, 2008 American Community Survey, 1-year estimates.

• 10.7% of the population speaks English less than "very well."
• 76.9% of people speak only English
• 5.8% of the households are linguistically isolated, which is up from 4.6% in 2000.
• Some of the more common languages in King County include Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, Russian, Tagalog, and various African languages.^[6]

Download Data | Source: 2008 American Community Survey, 1-year Estimates

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Updated June 2010