North Carolina Immigration Court Fact Sheet

Currently, the states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama and Georgia are served by only one immigration court, located in Atlanta, Georgia.  The four states are all experiencing rapid growth in the population of legal and illegal immigrants, particularly in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.  In fact, according to data posted on the Executive Office for Immigration Review’s website, the Atlanta, Georgia immigration court received an increase of 18% in the number of cases it received between the years 2003 and 2004.  This increase came despite a static number in overall cases for the entire United States immigration court system during the same period of time.

Using data from The Foreign-Born Population: 2000, the Congressional Budget office shows North Carolina had a 273.7% increase in foreign-born population between 1990 and 2000.  Georgia’s increase was 233.4%.  These two states had the largest percentage increases in the country for that time period.  This trend of growth in foreign-born population is estimated to continue.

According to the Center for Immigration Studies’ Immigrants at Mid-Decade: A Snapshot of America’s Foreign-Born Population in 2005:

• North Carolina’s immigrant population (both legal and illegal) increased threefold between 1995 and 2005 (170,000 to 590,000).

• North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia accounted for only 575,000 immigrants in 1995, or roughly 2% of the 24 million immigrants in the United States.  These three states accounted for 1.5 million immigrants in 2005, or roughly 4% of the 35 million immigrants in the United States.

• Growth during the past five years has been even more rapid.  North Carolina’s immigrant population has increased by 58.1% between 2000 and 2005 (373,000 to 590,000).

North Carolina is also experiencing rapid growth of illegal immigrants.  According to the Pew Hispanic Center’s Estimates of the Size and Characteristics of the Undocumented Population:

·        North Carolina’s illegal alien population is 300,000.  This makes North Carolina home to the nation’s 8^th largest population of illegal aliens.

·        Of the ten states with the largest estimated populations of illegal aliens, North Carolina is the only one without an immigration court.

·        The study claims that illegal aliens are the principal reason for the rapid growth of foreign-born populations in non-traditional settlement areas such as North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and South Carolina.

The following states with lower estimated numbers of undocumented immigrants compared to North Carolina have at least one immigration court:

• Georgia, Colorado, Maryland, Massachusetts, Virginia, Washington, Colorado (all have undocumented immigrant populations estimated between 200,000-250,000)

• Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Tennessee (all have undocumented immigrant populations estimated between 100,000 and 150,000)

• Connecticut and Minnesota (both have undocumented immigrant populations estimated between 55,000 and 85,000)

• Hawaii and Louisiana (both have undocumented immigrant population estimated to be between 20,000 and 35,000)

The Executive Office for Immigration Review allocates resources for immigration courts based upon the backlog of pending cases for particular geographic areas, failing to take into account demographics that will undoubtedly affect regions in the future.  The creation of an immigration court located in North Carolina will alleviate the ever-growing Atlanta caseload, address the many needs of the growing legal immigrant populations in the two states, and help address the litany of problems the states are experiencing with illegal aliens.