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Iowa sees Hispanic growth

Job opportunities fuel 26 percent increase

By DANA BOONE and JOSE DE JESUS
REGISTER STAFF WRITERS
August 12, 2005
Iowa's Hispanic population has topped 100,000 after an increase of more than 26 percent since 2000, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates released Thursday.

The search for jobs is the driving force behind the boom, immigrants and advocates said.

Salvador Alvarez moved to Des Moines from Mexico two years ago, choosing Iowa over California.

"Job opportunities in Des Moines are better," said Alvarez, a barber. "They pay you better here than in California, and probably than other states as well."

The growth is unmistakable in Polk County, said J uan Carlos Cadenillas of Cl’nica MŽdica Latina, an east Des Moines clinic that caters to immigrants.

"It's kind of difficult to not see it," he said.

Iowa's Hispanic population grew by nearly 21,646, or 26.2 percent, to reach an estimated 104,119 between 2000 and 2004, according to the data.

The state's Asian population grew by 4,812, or 12.8 percent, to reach an estimated 42,378, while blacks increased by 4,229 to about 65,000, and whites increased by 14,927 to about 2.8 million, the data show.

In 1970, about 20,000 Hispanics lived in Iowa.

"I expect the Latino population to continue growing," said Beth Henning , coordinator of the state data center, part of the State Library of Iowa.

Polk County has seen stunning Hispanic growth. Since 1980, estimates show the Hispanic population has increased 372 percent - from 4,576 to 21,601.

Since 2000, Iowa's overall population increase of 28,069 was largely due to Latino growth, state officials said. The state's total 2004 population is estimated at 2,954,451.

The population growth poses opportunities and challenges for Iowa's cities, schools, businesses and communities, officials and immigrants said.

"I think it shows a demographic reality which represents in many ways that Latinos are the future of Iowa," said Max Cardenas , training director of the University of Northern Iowa Center for Immigrant Leadership and Integration.

Challenges include demands for housing and access to mortgages and other banking products for immigrants, he said.

Sandra Charvat Burke , an Iowa State University sociologist, said most of the population growth occurred in larger cities where immigrants have traditionally settled. The changes appear dramatic, but Iowa remains overwhelmingly white, she said. Hispanic is an ethnic category that can include both whites and blacks. Among the Census Bureau's racial categories, Iowa is 95 percent white.

"There are many areas of the state with very few minorities," Charvat Burke said.

Cadenillas said he and other advocates believe the census estimates are too low and don't take into account undocumented immigrants and the high mobility rate of workers who flock to the state for jobs in meatpacking plants and factories.

"They don't have Social Security numbers or any kind of documents to prove they are in the country," he said. "The immigration status could affect the numbers. I think it would be higher."

Hispanics are the nation's largest minority group, making up about 14 percent of the U.S. population, but just 4 percent of Iowans are classified as Hispanic.

Christina Fernandez-Morrow, executive director of the Hispanic Educational Resource in Des Moines, said jobs are fueling the population growth.

She estimates that fewer families are qualifying for state aid, which could mean a larger number of Hispanics are paying the full price for services, such as child care.

"To us, that signifies that they are getting good-paying jobs here," she said.

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