Thread: W.Va.lowest in foreign residents

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W.Va.lowest in foreign residents

Michael A. Jones
Daily Mail Staff


Monday April 24, 2006
West Virginia has the smallest legal immigrant population per capita in the country, according to a 2004 U.S. Census Bureau study.

The 14,645 immigrants account for only 0.8 percent of the state's population, which is slightly lower than Montana and Mississippi.

In 2004, 583 immigrants were admitted to West Virginia and 237 were naturalized. Those numbers are dwarfed by the nearly 1 million who came to the United States that year and over 500,000 who became legal citizens.

California accounted for about 25 percent for both of those national numbers.

Immigration reform has been hot national issue since Congress voted in December to stiffen penalties for illegal immigration and emphasizing border security.

There are an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants living in the country, although the U.S. Customs and Immigration Services estimated the population in West Virginia at fewer than 2,500 as of the year 2000.

Employment is usually a main factor in drawing immigrants to certain regions, said Bill Strassberger, spokesman for Customs and Immigration Services. Proximity to the nation's borders and airport location also appear to be overlying issues for settlement.

"Typically, there's really no one factor that draws immigrants to one area of the country," Strassberger said. "One thing they are concerned about is going to a place where they can get a job."

Still, the most critical issue, Strassberger said, is family ties to a region. He pointed to areas that already contain heavy immigrant populations and said activities and food choices can entice foreign-born people to move where there are already ethnic grocery stores and restaurants.

"The big attraction has always been for where they have family members and friends," he said. "Simple things like stores that have food they are used to. People are drawn to what they know. Word of mouth and sharing of experiences will bring more."

He said that could be part of the reason why immigration in West Virginia has remained stagnant over the past 15 years.

Since 1990, the number of immigrants admitted to the state in any given year has not dropped below 375 or been higher than 763.

The Census Bureau estimated the state had a foreign-born population of almost 16,000 in 1990 and spiked to more than 19,000 in 2000 before dropping to under 15,000 most recently.

The Kanawha Valley contains a more diverse population in comparison to the state average. As of 2000, Kanawha County had 2,864 immigrants out of a population of about 200,000 and Putnam County had 530 immigrants living in a population of 51,589.

Immigrants accounted for 3.2 percent of Charleston's population that year with about 1,700.

As of 2000, the majority of immigrants living in the state were, in order of population, from Germany, India, the United Kingdom, the Philippines, China, Canada and Mexico.

The most foreigners naturalized in West Virginia in 2004 were from India (36), China (19) and the Philippines (14).

Since 1990, no more than 318 immigrants have been naturalized in the state and the lowest total was just three in 1996, although Strassberger could not explain that figure.

He said colleges are especially heavy areas for temporary immigrants, many of whom come to the country on student visas and then leave upon graduation.

"It's always surprising when you go around the country and find pockets where you would least expect it," Strassberger said. "Usually it's a result of 10 or 20 years of settling."

Clark Egnor, executive director of Marshall University's International Program stated there are over 2,500 foreign-born students in West Virginia.

Immigrants on student visas at Marshall are typically of Asian descent, Egnor said, coming from Japan, China, Vietnam and Korea. The university has witnessed a considerable drop in the number of Iranian and Nigerian students since the 1970s.

"Asia has pretty much dominated the international student over the past 10 years and South America has seemed to follow them," he said.

Egnors believes the university has been particularly successful in attracting international students because of multilingual Internet sites and online applications.

"We're constantly making it easier for students to be oriented with the school," Egnor said. "The biggest challenge is overcoming the fact that people just don't know West Virginia."

Contact writer Michael Jones at 348-4850.

A major deterent would be having the sponsors of non immigrant visas financially responsible if the "visitors" do not leave.