Population Division Working Paper #59

Evaluating Components of International Migration:

Legal Migrants

Marc Perry

Barbara Vandervate

Lea Auman

Kathy Morris

DAPE Task Team #9 – Legal Migration Evaluation Team
Synopsis

On March 1, 2001, the U.S. Census Bureau issued the recommendation of the

Executive Steering Committee for A.C.E. Policy (ESCAP) that the Census 2000

Redistricting Data not be adjusted based on the Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation

(A.C.E.). By mid-October 2001, the Census Bureau had to recommend whether

Census 2000 data should be adjusted for future uses, such as the census long form

data products, post-censal population estimates, and demographic survey controls. In

order to inform that decision, the ESCAP requested that further research be conducted.

Between March and September 2001, the Demographic Analysis-Population Estimates

(DAPE) research project addressed the discrepancy between the demographic analysis

data and the A.C.E. adjusted estimates of the population. Specifically, the research

examined the historical levels of the components of population change to address the

possibility that the 1990 Demographic Analysis understated the national population and

assessed whether demographic analysis had not captured the full population growth

between 1990 and 2000. Assumptions regarding the components of international

migration (specifically, emigration, temporary migration, legal migration, and

unauthorized migration) contain the largest uncertainty in the demographic analysis

estimates. Therefore, evaluating the components of international migration was a

critical activity in the DAPE project.

This report focuses on the evaluation of the U.S. Census Bureau’s estimate of legal

immigration to the United States between 1980-1990 and 1990-2000. Specifically, the

review process validated the estimates of the numbers of people who obtained legal

permanent residency in the United States, either as a new arrival or by adjusting their

residency status. To produce the estimate of legal immigrants, the Census Bureau

reviewed data files from the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). 

Our evaluation resulted in legal immigration estimates of 5.373 million for 1980 to 1990, 

and 7.543 million for 1990 to 2000. For both time periods, legal immigrants included

more women than men, were likely to be non-Hispanic, and the largest numbers were

between the ages of 30 and 49.
1

Table of Contents

Table of Contents ..................................................... page 1

Chapter 1: Background ................................................. page 2

Table 1: Legal Immigration: 1901 to 1998 ............................. page 2

Chapter 2: Methods .................................................... page 6

Table 2: Applications for Adjustment of Status: 1994 to 1999 .............. page 9

Table 3: Backlog of Applications for Adjustment of Status: 1994 to 1999 .... page 10

Table 4: Shifts in Adjustee Backlog: 1995 to 1999 ..................... page 11

Table 5. People granted asylum: 1993 through 1997 ................... page 13

Chapter 3: Limitations ................................................. page 14

Table 6: INS and DOS statistics on new arrivals: 1995 through 1998 ....... page 16

Table 7. Asylee Applicant Statistics: 1990 to 1998 Summary ............. page 19

Chapter 4: Results .................................................... page 20

Table 8. Comparison of DA and DAPE 1980-90 and 1990-2000 .......... page 21

Chapter 5: References ................................................ page 27

Appendix Tables:

A.1. Legal Immig. by DA Race, Sex, and Age: 1980 to 1990 (DAPE) ....... page 34

A.2. Legal Immig. by DA Race, Sex, and Age: 1990 to 2000 (DAPE) ....... page 34

A.3. Legal Immig. by Age, Race, Sex, and Hisp. Origin: 1980 to 1990 (DAPE) page 35

A.4. Legal Immig. by Age, Race, Sex, and Hisp. Origin: 1990 to 2000 (DAPE) page 36

A.5. Legal Immig. by DA Race, Age, and Sex: 1990 to 2000 (orig.) ........ page 37

A.6. Legal Immig. by DA Race, Age, and Sex: 1980 to 1990 (orig.) ........ page 37
2

1. Background

Legal immigration is the process by which a non-citizen of the United States is granted

legal permanent residence in the United States by the federal government. A non-citizen with

legal permanent residence status may remain in the country, be employed, and travel outside

the United States without restriction. A legal permanent resident may also seek naturalization.

Attaining legal permanent residence in the United States is not the same as becoming a United

States citizen.

After dropping to relatively low levels during the period 1931 to 1970 (see Table 1), legal

immigration to the United States has increased significantly in recent decades, primarily as a

result of a change in immigration law in 1965. According to the U.S. Immigration and

Naturalization Service (INS), 7.6 million people attained legal permanent residence in the United

States in the fiscal year 1991 to 1998 period—an amount equaling the peak levels of

immigration early in the Twentieth Century.

Table 1. Legal immigration to the United States: 1901 to 1998 (source: 1998 INS Yearbook)

1901-10 8,795,386 

1911-20 5,735,811 

1921-30 4,107,209 

1931-40 528,431 

1941-50 1,035,039 

1951-60 2,515,479 

1961-70 3,321,677 

1971-80 4,493,314 

1981-90 7,338,062 

1991-98 7,605,068 

The high levels of legal immigration have once again made migration a significant

source of population growth for the United States in the 1990s, accounting for more than one

quarter of the country’s total population increase. Consequently, accurate Census Bureau
3

estimates of the total U.S. population are highly dependent upon accurate statistics on legal

immigration.

The project objective for DAPE Team 9 was to answer the question, “In the current

population estimates process, are the assumptions concerning the size and characteristics of

legal immigration realistic?” The following sections provide a detailed discussion of the data

sources, methodology, assumptions, and limitations of the current approach to estimating the

flow of legal immigration. The final section will examine the research hypothesis and provide

suggestions for enhancing the quality of the legal immigration component.

Major components of legal immigration

There are numerous ways to qualify for legal permanent residence in the United States,

and the 7.6 million immigrants who received legal permanent residence in the fiscal year 1991

to 1998 period represent a wide variety of immigrant situations. INS immigration data are

therefore partitioned into a number of different categories, based on the INS class of admission. 

These admissions vary in terms of application procedure and data source. Differences in data

sources and application procedures are important because they impact how well we are able to

estimate both the total number of legal immigrants and their demographic characteristics.

Consequently, throughout this document we will present our findings separately for four types of

legal immigrants: new arrivals, adjustees, refugees, and asylees. These four groups are

discussed briefly in the next section.

Two main administrative routes are open to aliens who wish to become legal permanent

residents of the United States, depending on their residence at time of application. New arrivals

are people living outside the United States at the time of application for legal permanent

residence. They must apply through the U.S. consular office in their country and are unable to
1

 Actual number is 3,521,051 Reference is 1998 yearbook, Table 4. Immigrants Admitted by Type and

Selected Class of Admission; Fiscal Years 1991-98.

2

 Actual number is 4,084,017. FYI: This includes 0.9 million special agricultural workers and 0.2 million

people residents since 1982, all legalized under IRCA. Reference: 98 yearbook, Table 4

4

enter the United States as legal permanent residents until receiving their visa. From fiscal years

1991 to 1998, 3.5 million people received legal permanent residency as new arrivals.1

Adjustees are people already living in the United States at the time of application for

legal permanent residence. These people are adjusting from a nonimmigrant status--such as

foreign student, temporary worker, refugee, or undocumented migrant--to legal immigrant

status. Because adjustees are already living in the United States when they apply for legal

permanent residence, they do not apply through the consular office in their previous country.

Instead they apply directly to the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) for permanent

resident visas. Roughly 4.1 million adjustees obtained legal permanent residence in the United

States between 1991 and 1998.2

 This adjustee number includes 0.9 million refugees and

asylees who adjusted status.

Among those adjusting status, there are two main groups of immigrants. Refugees are

people who cannot return to their country of nationality because of persecution or a wellfounded fear of persecution. Refugees must apply for refugee status from outside the United

States, and must reside in the U.S. for a minimum of one year before applying for legal

permanent residency. According to INS figures from the 1998 yearbook, 0.8 million refugees

received legal permanent residency between fiscal years 1991 and 1998. The Office of

Refugee Resettlement (ORR) within the department of Health and Human Services provides

data on refugee arrivals to this country.

Asylees are defined as people who (1) are unable or unwilling to return to their country

of nationality because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution, (2) applied for

asylum while living in the United States or upon arriving at a port of entry, and have been

granted asylum, or (3) applied for asylum during deportation and were granted asylum by the
5

Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR). The applicant’s legal status at time of

application is not taken into account when INS makes the decision about asylum. The Census

Bureau includes asylees in the legal immigration component only when they change status to

legal permanent residence. About 106,000 asylees converted to legal permanent residence

during fiscal years 1991 through 1998, according to the 1998 INS yearbook.

The asylee process is a complex one involving multiple steps. In this paper, we will use

the term ‘asylee applicant’ to refer to people applying for asylee status. Successful applicants

are known as ‘asylees.’ Asylees applying for legal permanent residence will be referred to as

‘pending asylee adjustees,’ while those who are granted this status are known as ‘asylee

adjustees.’ For DAPE purposes, it is important to realize that for both the asylee and refugee

components there are people in various stages of application for legal permanent residence. 

Data sources on legal immigration

The primary source of data on legal immigration is the Justice Department’s INS public

use immigrant file. Each year the INS provides the Census Bureau with a file containing

individual records of all legal immigrants admitted during the preceding fiscal year (October 1 to

September 30). Each record, stripped of the individual’s name, contains information for the

following variables:

· Month of admission

· Year of admission

· Class of admission

· Country of birth

· Sex

· Age

· Zip code of intended residence

· Nonimmigrant year and month of arrival (used for adjustees and asylees only)
3

 See Mulder et al. (2001) for an in-depth description of the methods briefly discussed in the text.

6

It is important to note that the INS microdata file does not contain information concerning the

race or Hispanic origin of immigrants; these characteristics must be imputed. 

Other sources used include:

· The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) within the Department of Health and Human

Services (DHHS). The ORR gathers data on the number of refugees by month of entry and

country of citizenship who are eligible to receive benefits from DHHS. 

· Provisional data from the INS on the number of pending applications for adjustment to legal

permanent residence, by fiscal year.

· Decennial census data on race and Hispanic origin of the foreign-born population, by

country of birth. 

In section 2 of the statement of findings we detail how each of these data sources is used—and

in some cases modified—in the creation of national population estimates. 

2. Methods

This section examines the methodology used by the Census Bureau to estimate the

number and characteristics of legal immigrants.3

 We see from the preceding section that the

Census Bureau relies on INS, ORR, and other federal agencies for basic information on the

number of legal immigrants. The data sets are created and maintained to serve the needs of

their particular agencies, and often do not provide the full demographic detail necessary for

creating national population estimates. The Census Bureau modifies these data sets to correct

for two main limitations. First, as was previously mentioned, INS and ORR data do not contain

information on race and Hispanic origin of immigrants. Because this information is necessary
7

for the Census Bureau to produce national population estimates containing race and Hispanic

origin detail, these characteristics must be imputed for immigrants. Secondly, the act of

becoming a legal permanent resident (important from an INS perspective) does not always

coincide with time of original arrival in the United States (important from a population accounting

perspective). This difference between legal and demographic perspectives is an important

issue in the context of DAPE, and we will explore it in more detail later on.

The Census Bureau takes the following steps to convert the INS microdata into

estimates of legal immigration.

* New arrivals are distinguished from adjustees by using the class of admission

variable.

* Refugee records are written to a separate file, because they are covered in a

separate file from the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). 

* Age and sex are imputed for all adjustees and for new arrivals when the values are

missing.

* Race and Hispanic origin are estimated for all immigrants by using race and

Hispanic information from the foreign born in the census with the same country of

birth.

* The adjustee backlog at INS is accounted for (starting in fiscal year 1995)

* The year of arrival is identified for "one-time" admission laws

* Once Census has created legal immigration estimates from the latest INS annual

file, legal immigration is projected forward for an additional 9 months to make it

consistent with the current population estimate date of July 1. INS immigration data

are available only through the end of the prior fiscal year (September 30).

When all steps are done, we have a matrix of legal immigration by year since the 1990 Census

with full demographic detail (single year of age, race, sex, and Hispanic origin). 

New Arrivals

We obtain data on new arrivals from the INS file. For new arrivals, it is assumed that the

month and year of admission, age, sex, country of birth, and location of intended residence are
8

accurate when the new immigrant enters the United States. Legal permanent residency is

granted when they pass through the port of entry.

Adjustees

Adjustee data are also obtained from the INS file. Adjustees, as previously mentioned,

are people already living in the United States at the time of their application for legal permanent

residency. Consequently, some of the data for adjustees at their time of entry into the United

States (such as age and residence) may not match their data when legal permanent residence

is obtained. 

Estimating the total numbers of expected adjustees in the United States at any given

time is difficult because many of these people, while already in the U.S., have not yet applied for

legal permanent residency or may never apply. The Census Bureau uses a proxy rule to

account for this lack of data. This proxy rule assumes that the number of people adjusting

status in a given year is equal to the number of future adjustees entering the country in that

same year. The Census Bureau excludes the following categories of adjustees when applying

the proxy rule: refugees and some Cuban and Haitian asylees; legal temporary residents, who

will not become legal permanent residents; unauthorized migrants, who will not become legal

permanent residents; and special "one-time" asylees who arrived prior to 1990. Refugees and

one-time asylees are not included in the proxy rule because their numbers may fluctuate greatly

from year to year, therefore violating the assumption of year-to-year stability. 

The assumption behind the proxy rule is robust, provided that the number of

nonimmigrants adjusting to immigrant status is constant from year to year. While this

assumption has historically been reasonable, starting in fiscal year 1995 it became increasingly

questionable. In that year, a change in immigration law allowed qualified nonimmigrants to

apply for legal permanent residency from within the United States. Previously they would have
9

had to leave the country to apply, and their applications would have been processed by the

Department of State. Now, however, their applications were being processed by the INS. One

consequence of this change in policy was a substantial increase in the mid 1990s in the

numbers of applications for adjustment of status to legal permanent residence, as shown by

Table 2. 

Table 2: Applications for Adjustment of Status 1994 to 2000

Fiscal 

year

Applications

(in thousands)

1994 317

1995 578

1996 647

1997 760

1998 527

1999 456

2000 562

Source: GAO-01-488 Table 3.

But while the numbers of applications for adjustment was increasing substantially from

1995 through 1997, the number of applications for adjustment actually completed by INS was

not. For various reasons, the numbers of applications completed declined for fiscal years 1997,

1998, and 1999. The result was a large increase in the backlog of pending applications for

adjustment of status, as shown by Table 3.
10

Table 3: Backlog of Pending Applications for Adjustment of Status 1994 to 1999

Fiscal

year

Applications

pending (in

thousands)

1994 121

1995 321

1996 435

1997 699

1998 809

1999 951

2000 1001

Source: GAO-01-488 Table 4.

These shifts in application processing are problematic in several ways. First, they cloud

the immigration data, making it difficult to know whether year to year changes in immigration

numbers are due to actual changes in immigration patterns or simply due to changes in

processing. Second, the existence of a large backlog has created a shadow, quasi-legal

immigrant population that does not fit easily into existing international migration categories.

We’ll return to this problem later on. 

 To correct for this backlog, the Census Bureau shifts adjustee cases from later years

backwards, so that the number of adjustees in a given fiscal year matches the number of

applications in that year (with certain exceptions and allowances). The class of admission

variable is used to make sure that none of the shifted adjustees exceeds existing numeric

quotas in those immigration categories where quotas exist. After the supply of adjustees from

these later years is exhausted, cases from existing files are replicated, under the assumption

that future adjustees will have characteristics similar to current successful adjustees. The result

of this attempt to account for the adjustee backlog has been an increase in the number of

estimated adjustees for all years since 1995, in some cases by a large amount (see Table 4).
11

Table 4: Shifts in Adjustee Backlog, 1995 to 1999

Fiscal

year

Adjustees added to census

estimate of legal immigration 

(in thousands) 

1995 143

1996 4

1997 240

1998 191

1999 120

Source: Unpublished population estimates program spreadsheet, vintage 2000 population

estimates.

Refugees

The Census Bureau produces an estimate of the number of refugees admitted to the

U.S. each year by using data from the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) of the Department

of Health and Human Services (DHHS). After the ORR data on refugees are compiled, we use

INS microdata to impute missing age and sex data for this population. Imputing race and

Hispanic origin characteristics for refugees is done similarly, but uses the 1990 census data on

foreign-born migrants who entered the United States in the preceding five years. 

The refugee component is unique in that refugees often arrive in the U.S. in sudden

“waves” as a result of sudden political upheaval in foreign countries. Consequently, there is no

assumption of a year-to-year stability in the flow of refugees from a particular country. Because

of the instability in refugee flows, the time series of when refugees adjust to legal permanent

residence would not be an accurate reflection of their original entry to the United States.

Refugees adjusting to legal permanent residence are thus included as refugees at their time of

arrival, based on time series of arrival data from ORR, and are not included in the proxy rule. 

For DAPE, our goal was to estimate the legal immigration component for the period

1990 to 2000. We limited our refugee component to include only those refugees who arrived in
12

the United States after April 1, 1990 and received legal permanent residence before April 1,

2000. While 1.04 million people entered the United States as refugees during the 1990s, only

0.8 million received legal permanent residence before April 1, 2000. Some of the remaining 0.2

million refugees who have not yet received legal permanent residence will undoubtedly adjust

their status in the future.

Asylees

The Census Bureau does not currently include asylees in the population estimates

universe until they apply for permanent residence status. Consequently, asylees’ legal

immigration information does not coincide with their initial entry into the United States. Data for

asylees who have adjusted their status are available in the INS microdata file, and are

processed in the same manner as the data for the rest of the adjustee population. They are

tallied and accounted for separately in the total adjustee population. 

Asylees changing status to legal permanent residence are constrained by statutory

limits. Through 1990, the limit was 5,000 asylees adjusting status per year. In 1990 the limit

was changed to 10,000 (effective in 1991), with 22,700 asylees adjusting status in 1991 under a

grandfather clause in the 1990 legislation. For fiscal years 1992 through 1998, asylee

adjustees have averaged slightly under 9,500 per year. Asylees adjusting status are also

subject to country limitations (as are the balance of the adjustees). This requires that they wait

until slots are available for their country of nationality.

There has been a large increase in the number of applications for asylum in recent

decades. In the 1970s applications averaged 3,100 per year. In the 1980s, applications

increased to an average of 55,000 per year, and in the 1990s further increased to an average of

123,000 per year. A relatively small and declining percentage of the applicants are granted

asylum: from 22.5 percent of those applying in the 1970s to 7.8 percent in the 1990s. Some
4

 In 1997 Congress passed and the President signed the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American

Relief Act (NACARA). Nicaraguans and Cubans, residing in the U.S. since Dec. 1, 1995, could apply for

legal permanent residence, and had until March 31, 2000 to do so. They had to meet the requirements of

the Immigration and Naturalization Act, except for those exempted by NACARA, which included being a

public charge, lack of labor certification, present without admission or parole, lack of valid immigrant visa,

and unlawful presence. This resulted in some of the pending asylee applications being closed.

13

applicants have become legal permanent residents through legislation benefiting specific

countries, such as El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Nicaragua, and countries of the former Soviet

Union. Applying for legal permanent residency through this legislation removes the applicants

from the regular asylum process.4

Once applicants are granted asylum, they must wait one year to apply for legal

permanent residence, and are subject to the same overall limit, and specific country limits, set

for all adjustees. About 71,000 people were granted asylum by INS in fiscal years 1993 through

1997. During that same time, about 44,000 asylees became legal permanent residents. People

can also appeal to Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR) for asylum. Between 1993

and 1997, an additional 21,000 people received asylee status through EIOR. These figures are

not included in any INS statistics on asylees. Thus, while a total of 92,000 people were granted

asylum between 1993 and 1997, only 44,000 were granted legal permanent residence, resulting

in a backlog of more than 48,000 registered asylees awaiting adjustment to legal permanent

residence (Table 5).

Table 5. People Granted Asylum by INS and EOIR in FY 1993-1997,

Compared to Asylees Granted Legal Permanent Residence One Year

Later

Asylees

People Granted Asylum Granted 

INS EOIR Total LPR Difference

(1) (2) (3)=(1)+(2) (4) (5)=(3)-(4)

1993 7464 2031 9495 5983 3512

1994 11764 2116 13880 7837 6043

1995 17493 3194 20687 10037 10650

1996 18556 5208 23764 10106 13658

1997 15896 8478* 24374 10000 14374
14

Total 71173 21027 92200 43963 48237

Source: INS Statistical Yearbooks, 1993-1997

*EOIR did not have the number of people granted asylum in 1997. 

People granted asylum was estimated using the people/case ratio for

FY1990-1996.

3. Limitations

One of the limitations of legal immigration data is that they are collected primarily for

legal purposes and not explicitly to measure population change. Consequently, most

immigration statistics reflect not only demographic processes but legal and political processes,

too. As the General Accounting Office (GAO) noted in a report on the quality of immigration

statistics, “INS statistical staff told us that annual trends in the number of new LPRs do not

convey a meaningful indication of any demographic concept.” (GAO/GGD-98-164, p.28.) 

The challenge for demographers, then, is to find meaning in immigration statistics that

are to some extent distorted by legal processes, policy and political changes, and logjams in the

processing of applications. This is not an easy task. Producing accurate estimates of each of

the components of legal immigration each year is hampered by limitations of some sort.

Perhaps the bigger limitation of legal immigration data is simply that it is increasingly

difficult to easily define what we mean by a “legal immigrant.” The Immigration and

Naturalization Act (INA) defines a legal immigrant as a non-citizen of the United States who is

granted legal permanent residence in the United States. This is a straightforward, easily

understood definition. However, its weakness is that it makes no distinction between people

who have applied for—but not yet received—legal permanent residence and unauthorized

people. The large backlog of adjustee applications is but one group of quasi-legal immigrants.

While adjustee applicants may not yet have legal permanent residence (and some percentage
15

of them will no doubt be denied legal permanent residence when their applications are

eventually processed), many of them will eventually become legal permanent residents. In the

meantime, most of them have the ability to legally seek employment in the United States. By

not including these categories of people with the legal immigration component, we are including

them in the residual foreign born. Thus, by dividing immigration into the categories of legal

immigrant (those with LPR) and unauthorized (all others who entered the country but do not

have LPR), we lose a category of authorized people who do not have LPR.

Adjustees

The adjustee component of legal immigration has perhaps the most limitations of any of

the four components. It has neither the refugee component’s accurate system of administrative

records nor the new arrival component’s conceptual simplicity. Adjustees are people already

resident in the United States at the time of their application for legal permanent residence;

therefore data on adjustees at their time of entry into the United States do not necessarily match

data when legal permanent residency is obtained. At what point, then, does someone make the

transition from unauthorized to authorized? Adjustee data are also complicated by definitional

difficulties. At what point should an adjustee first be included in our estimates of the resident

United States population: when they apply for legal permanent residence, or when they actually

receive legal permanent residence?

The proxy rule we use to estimate the number of future adjustees entering the U.S. in

the current year also has its limitations. While the proxy rule may generally hold true when

levels of new arrivals and adjustees are constant, it is less applicable when annual levels of

immigration are not constant. When the number of new arrivals is increasing substantially each

year, the proxy rule will underestimate the number of future adjustees. When the number of new

arrivals is decreasing each year, the proxy rule will overestimate the number of future adjustees.
16

The increasing backlog of adjustee applicants has greatly complicated the ability to

make accurate estimates of the size and composition of the adjustee population. Currently we

know very little about the backlog population’s demographic composition. After the supply of

adjustees from these later years is exhausted, cases from existing files are replicated, under the

assumption that future adjustees will have characteristics similar to current successful

adjustees.

New Arrivals

Unlike the adjustee component, the new arrival component is relatively straightforward

and uncomplicated. To examine the completeness of the flow, we compared INS new arrival

data with numbers of visas issued by the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs

(BCA) for fiscal years 1993 through 1998 (see Table 6). Both the INS and BCA data exclude

data on refugees and asylees. The BCA totals are always higher, ranging from 1,167 higher in

FY1996 to 35,996 higher in FY 1997. Possible explanations for the discrepancies include

situations where the applicants receiving the visa never actually entered the U.S, applicants

changed their minds, their circumstances changed, the political situation in their country

changed, the home country government created bureaucratic or legal impediments, or the

applicants became ill or died.

Table. 6. New Arrivals as Reported by DOS/BCA and INS

DOS/BCA INS Diff.

(1) (2) (3)=(1)-(2)

1993 539,539 536,294 3,245

1994 503,544 490,429 13,115

1995 407,035 380,291 26,744

1996 423,440 421,405 2,035

1997 416,919 380,719 36,200

1998 375,684 357,037 18,647

Source: U. S. Department of State, Reports of the Visa Office for 1997 and 1998, and INS

Statistical Yearbook, 1998, Table 4.
17

Other explanations are that the applicant entered the U.S. in the year following that in

which the visa was granted, or that the applicant received the visa but INS lost the paperwork,

so that the applicant was not in the INS file as a new arrival. INS indicated that paperwork does

disappear on occasion, and that the other possible explanations were credible. In any event, the

discrepancies for these years are relatively small and appear to be explainable. This suggests

that the new arrival data we receive from INS are reasonably complete and contain relatively

few limitations.

Refugees

In general, the quality of refugee data is considered to be high, due to the existence of

accurate administrative records from the Office of Refugee Resettlement. The major source of

error for the refugee component is simply agreeing when to include refugees as legal

immigrants. For DAPE, our estimate of refugees for 1990 to 2000 was restricted to the 800,000

refugees who entered the United States during these years and also adjusted status to become

a legal permanent resident. ORR data indicate that slightly more than one million refugees

entered the country during the 1990s, indicating that roughly 200,000 non-adjusted refugees

(one million minus 800,000) are erroneously excluded from DAPE’s legal immigration

component and are thus included in the residual foreign born.

Another limitation is the process by which demographic characteristics are assigned to

refugees. We assume that the race and Hispanic origin of refugees from a particular country

matches the race and Hispanic origin of recent immigrants from that country. This assumption

is probably the most reasonable way of establishing race and Hispanic origin detail for refugees. 

However, it might not hold true in those circumstances where refugees are fleeing a particular

country specifically because they are ethnic minorities. This is certainly a possibility, because
18

refugee status is conferred on people who claim fear of persecution based in part on race, sex,

religion, nationality, or membership in a particular social group.

Asylees

The quality of existing statistics on asylees is hampered by several general limitations.

First, there is currently some degree of overlap and doublecounting between asylees and other

components of legal immigration, because asylees can have any legal status when they apply

for asylum. For instance, most of the people in temporary protected status are also seeking

asylum.

Second, because the processes of applying for asylum, applying for legal permanent

residence, and receiving legal permanent residence often take a number of years, there is a

large quasi-legal population of pending asylees. As with the quasi-legal refugee component,

these are not unauthorized people in the strict sense of the word. Asylee applicants, for

instance, are now authorized to work after six months. Once registered, they are able to obtain

a social security number and apply for other benefits through ORR. Asylee applicants are not

currently accounted for in any population estimates methods, which relegates them to the

residual foreign born.

We see from Table 7 that as of FY 1998, the overwhelming majority of asylee applicants

come from twelve countries, including nine countries in Central and South America, suggesting

that a large percentage of asylee applicants are Hispanic. Table 7 indicates also that only about

half (32,822 of 69,407) of cases granted asylum between 1990 and 1998 were for these 12

countries, even though they constitute an overwhelming majority of cases filed during the period

and cases pending at the end of the period.
19

Table 7. Asylee Applicant Statistics-- FY 1990-1998 Summary

Area

Cases pending

beginning

of FY 1990

Cases filed

in FY 1990-98

Cases

granted in FY

1990-98

Individuals

granted in FY

1990-98

Percent

of cases

granted

Cases pending

at end of FY

1998

 All Countries 71,993 865,921 69,407 96,663 7 360,247

 12 Countries 66,783 741,358 32,822 43,833 4 334,388

China 142 43,729 3,275 4,337 7 4,833

Costa Rica 8 574 0 0 0 29

Cuba 13,873 19,208 2,415 3,153 7 3,631

El Salvador 24,375 248,853 1,791 2,248 1 180,991

Guatemala 6,191 190,580 2,902 3,625 1 105,207

Haiti 399 40,343 4,362 5,154 11 14,876

Honduras 512 20,779 485 606 2 1,521

India 29 26,676 4,565 5,135 17 3,239

Mexico 60 51,751 132 209 0 1,359

Nicaragua 21,054 69,687 6,828 10,402 8 15,134

Panama 72 1,205 326 593 26 232

Soviet Union 68 27,973 5,741 8,371 20 3,336

Source: INS Statistical Yearbooks, 1990 through 1998.

Finally, a recent GAO report suggested that asylees are undercounted by a significant

degree. INS maintains statistics on asylees, while data on asylee appeals are maintained by

EOIR. Some people win asylum on appeal through EOIR, while in other cases “trailing

relatives” (some already in the US, others new arrivals) are not counted. In 1998 GAO

estimated that these additional categories would have increased the asylee count for 1996 from

18,000 to at least 29,000. By the end of the decade, this asylee undercount had become

sizable.

Summary of General Limitations of Current Legal Immigration Data

1. Immigration data sets do not provide full demographic detail for legal immigrants, and thus

these characteristics must be imputed. The imputation process itself rests on various
20

assumptions about size and composition of legal immigration, and changes in immigration

trends may weaken the reasonability of these assumptions. 

2. Changes in immigration laws can impact the volume and processing of immigration

applications, which impact the ability to process applications. Processing difficulties can then

impact the interpretation of data trends. 

3. Asylees are accounted for only when they become legal permanent residents. To the extent

that we utilize a residual method to calculate the number of residual foreign born, asylee

applicants are being erroneously included as residual foreign born.

4. Legislative changes in immigration law can significantly impact year to year trends in the

size and composition of various international migration components. This also makes it

more difficult to assume the stability of patterns over time. 

5. The lack of an adequate tracking system prevents us from doing analysis on the impact of

the delays on the applicant populations. We cannot account for demographic events (births,

deaths) for these populations, and records do not contain unique identifications for

individuals. There is also no way of telling when people have filed multiple applications

under different INS programs for legal status in the U.S.

6. Changes in numbers of adjustees are in part an artifact of problems in processing (a result

of the backlog).

4. Results

DAPE Team 9 estimates that for the period 1980 to 1990 legal immigration to the United

States was 5.3 million (see Appendix table A.1). We see from table A.1 that slightly more

females than males immigrated in the 1980s and roughly 0.7 million of the 5.3 million

immigrants–roughly 13 percent–were Black. People of all ages immigrated to the United States
21

during this time. Roughly 0.9 million were aged 0 to 17, and another 0.9 million were age 50 or

above.

Table A.3 expands the race categories and includes a Hispanic component. We see that

Hispanic immigration totaled 1.6 million for the 1980s, with slightly more males than females.

Immigration among Asians and Pacific Islanders was sizable in the 1980s, accounting for nearly

2.2 million immigrants. Immigration for the Native American and Alaska Native category was

quite small, at just under 10,000.

The previous estimate of legal immigration for the period had been 5.8 million. Looking

at Table 8, we see that the revised number boosted the number of Black immigrants from 0.6

million to 0.7 million. The number of Nonblack immigrants decreased from 5.2 million to 4.7

million. These estimates exclude 2.0 million immigrants who legalized under the IRCA

provisions–a program discussed in full detail in the Team 5 Working Paper.

For the period 1990 to 2000, DAPE Team 9 estimates the legal immigration component

to be 7.5 million. The female component is slightly larger than the male component. Black

immigration was estimated to be just under 0.9 million, with just over 0.7 million of these Black

immigrants estimated to be non Hispanic. Asian Pacific Islanders again were a sizable

immigration component, accounting for 2.4 million immigrants

We see from Table 8 that the 1990 to 2000 DAPE estimate is about the same as the

previous estimate for ages 30 and above, but is lower for ages 0-17 and 18-29. For ages 0 to

17, for instance, the DAPE estimate was nearly 0.4 million lower than the original estimate.
22

Table 8: Comparison of DA and DAPE for 1980-1990 and 1990-2000 (numbers in thousands)

1980 to 1990 1990 to 2000

Original DAPE Difference

(DAPE-Orig)

Original DAPE Difference

(DAPE-Orig)

Total 5,847 5,373 -474 7,243 7,543 -735

AGE

0 to 17 1,067 904 -163 1,524 1,157 -367

18 to 29 1,567 1,411 -156 2,207 1,774 -432

30 to 49 2,299 2,157 -142 3,074 3,003 -71

50+ 915 902 -13 1,473 1,549 75

 50 to 64 550 658 933 275

 65+ 352 308 613 305

SEX

Male 2,926 2,658 -268 3,835 3,478 154

Female 2,921 2,715 -206 4,443 4,066 104

Race/Hispanic

Black 613 701 69 1,019 863 -156

Nonblack 4,481 4,672 -543 7,260 6,681 -579

Hispanic (any

race)

n/a 1,626 n/a n/a 2,455 n/a

NH-White n/a 2,715 n/a n/a 1,958 n/a

NH-Black n/a 524 n/a n/a 713 n/a

NH-API n/a 2,158 n/a n/a 2,354 n/a

NH-AIAN n/a 10 n/a n/a 20 n/a
23

4.1 Assumed flow of new arrivals

The Census Bureau estimate of the number of new arrivals entering the country as legal

permanent residents appears to be reasonable. State Department data closely match INS data

for this component (see Table 6). We do not see any need for improvement of this component.

4.2 Assumed characteristics of new arrivals

The Census Bureau estimate of the characteristics of new arrivals also appears to be

reasonable. Race and Hispanic origin characteristics are imputed for new arrivals based on

their country of origin, and this also appears to be a reasonable method. We see no need for

improvement of this component.

4.3 Assumed flow of adjustees 

The assumed flow of adjustees may be understated due to the existence of a large and

growing backlog of pending applications for adjustment of status. This backlog has increased

greatly in recent years, and at the end of FY 2000 was nearly nine times larger than at the end

of FY 1994. The INS estimates that legal immigration during the period 1995 to 1998 would

have been 450,000 to 550,000 higher if the increase in pending applications had not occurred.

Since 1998 the backlog has continued to increase: from 800,000 at the end of FY 1998 to

slightly more than 1.0 million at the end of FY 2000 (see Table 3). As a result, we suspect that

legal immigration for the period 1995 to 2000 could have been underestimated by between

850,000 and 950,000 people. While Census Bureau estimates corrected for some of the

adjustment backlog (approximately 700,000), our DAPE work leads us to believe that the

Census Bureau underestimated adjustees by 250,000. Based on observed trends in asylee

applicant data, we suspect that a high percentage of these missed people in the adjustee

backlog are Hispanic.
24

4.4 Assumed characteristics of adjustees

The assumed characteristics of adjustees may be underestimating the Hispanic

component of the adjustee population. We do not know for certain, but evidence suggests that a

high percentage of the backlog adjustees missed by the Census Bureau are Hispanic, because

one of the main groups impacted by the 1995 change in immigration law was unauthorized

migrants. This would suggest a sizable Hispanic population in the adjustee backlog, but we

currently know very little about the composition of the backlog population. One possibility would

be for the Census Bureau to formally request an INS tabulation of the demographic

characteristics of the adjustee backlog population each year. This would give us some

knowledge of the people who will be adjusting to legal permanent resident status at some point

in the future. Our DAPE work suggests that the assumed characteristics of adjustees are

probably underestimating the percent of adjustees who are Hispanic.

4.5 Assumed flow of refugees

Our DAPE estimate of 800,000 refugees only includes those who arrived after 1990 and

adjusted their status to legal permanent resident. This figure does not include the roughly

200,000 refugees who arrived after 1990 but have not adjusted to legal permanent resident. 

In general, the Census Bureau estimates of the refugee component have traditionally been very

good, because they utilize the ORR file containing all refugees, not just those who adjusted

status.

4.6 Assumed characteristics of refugees

The imputations of race and Hispanic origin characteristics for refugees are necessary,

and the assumptions guiding the imputation process appear to be reasonable. While there may

be instances in which the refugees from a country are of a race or ethnic group very atypical of
5

 U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. 2000. Monthly Statistical Report, September 2000 FY Year

End Report. Asylum Section. Also INS Statistical Yearbook, 1998, Table 29.

25

the country’s overall race and ethnic composition, our DAPE work leads us to believe that the

estimated characteristics of the refugee flow are generally reasonable.

4.7 Assumed flow of asylees

Traditionally only asylee adjustees are included in legal immigration figures; asylee

applicants and registered asylees are not currently part of the accounting process. Our DAPE

work suggests that the Census Bureau consider including asylee applicants as part of the legal

immigration component; otherwise in a residual method they are included in the residual foreign

born, despite the fact that asylee applicants are already living in the U.S. and after 180 days are

generally allowed to seek employment. The process of receiving asylum and then, eventually,

receiving legal permanent residence is often a long one. Because of the current limits placed on

the number of people granted asylum (10,000 per year), applicants may be in the U.S. for years

before they can be given asylee status. Once they have asylee status, they must wait a

minimum of one year before applying for legal permanent residence. While INS is approving

roughly 10,000 cases each year and is adjudicating a total of 40,000 to 60,000 cases per year,

it had a backlog of roughly 328,000 asylee applications as of September 2000. Each case

translates to approximately 1.4 people.5

 This suggests that if we included (1) asylee applicants

and registered asylees in the same manner in which we include adjustee applicants, and (2)

asylees granted by EOIR as well as INS, we would add approximately 500,000 people to the

legal immigration estimate, which would reduce estimates of the residual foreign born by the

same amount.
26

4.8 Assumed characteristics of asylees

We know from tables published in the annual INS Yearbooks that the asylee applicant

population is demographically different from the other legal immigration components. If we were

to include asylee applicants as part of the legal immigration component, their characteristics

would alter the characteristics of the overall legal immigration component. Our DAPE work leads

us to believe that asylee applicants are more likely to be Hispanic and to be younger than the

overall legal immigrant population.

4.9 Overall estimate of legal immigration

If our definition of legal immigration refers only to those people who have obtained legal

permanent residence in the United States, our estimates of the components of legal immigration

are reasonable. Thus, the total estimate for legal immigration is also reasonable.

If, however, we want our accounting process to include non-citizens who have

expressed the desire for legal permanent residence but are in the application process, then our

overall estimate of legal immigration is too low. Our DAPE research suggests that our legal

immigration figure of 7.5 million for 1990 to 2000 omits the following estimates:

· a 250,000 underestimate of the adjustee component

· a 200,000 underestimate for the refugee component

· a 500,000 underestimate for the asylee component

The overall potential underestimate, then, is 950,000. If we were to add this to our figure of 7.5

million, our estimate of total legal immigration between 1990 and 2000 would increase to 8.45

million. It should be noted, however, that the 950,000 estimate does not affect the total DA
27

estimate, because if we understate legal immigration we are also overstating the residual

foreign born by the same amount.

Some researchers consider people who have begun the application process to be legal

immigrants; others consider such people to be illegal immigrants until their paperwork has been

processed. The Census Bureau needs to decide how to treat these people, because this pool

of people who are neither immigrants nor temporary migrants has increased greatly in recent

years. It should be noted that virtually all of these categories of quasi-legal immigrants who

currently are not included in our estimates are allowed to work while in the United States.

5. References

Demographic Analysis–Population Estimates (DAPE) Research Project Reports

Related to Evaluating Components of International Migration (in order of

Working Paper Series Number)

Deardorff, K. and L. Blumerman. 2001. Evaluating Components of International

Migration: Estimates of the Foreign-Born Population by Migrant Status: 2000.

(Population Division Working Paper #58) (December 2001) U.S. Census

Bureau.

Perry, M., B. Van der Vate, L. Auman, and K. Morris. 2001. Evaluating Components of

International Migration: Legal Migrants. (Population Division Working Paper

#59) (December 2001) U.S. Census Bureau.

Cassidy, R. and L. Pearson. 2001. Evaluating Components of International Migration:

Temporary (Legal) Migrants. (Population Division Working Paper #60)

(December 2001) U.S. Census Bureau.

Costanzo, J., C. Davis, C. Irazi, D. Goodkind, R. Ramirez. 2001. Evaluating

Components of International Migration: The Residual Foreign Born.

(Population Division Working Paper #61) (December 2001) U.S. Census

Bureau.

Mulder, T., B. Guzmán, and A. Brittingham. 2001. Evaluating Components of

International Migration: Foreign-Born Emigrants. (Population Division Working

Paper #62) (December 2001) U.S. Census Bureau.
28

Gibbs, J., G. Harper, M. Rubin, H. Shin. 2001. Evaluating Components of International

Migration: Native Emigrants. (Population Division Working Paper #63)

(December 2001) U.S. Census Bureau.

Christenson, M. 2001. Evaluating Components of International Migration: Migration

Between Puerto Rico and the United States. (Population Division Working

Paper #64) (December 2001) U.S. Census Bureau.

Cresce, A., R. Ramirez, and G. Spencer. 2001. Evaluating Components of

International Migration: Quality of Foreign-Born and Hispanic Population Data.

(Population Division Working Paper #65) (December 2001) U.S. Census

Bureau.

Malone, N. 2001. Evaluating Components of International Migration: Consistency of

2000 Nativity Data. (Population Division Working Paper #66) (December 2001)

U.S. Census Bureau.

Other materials:

Beck, Susan. 1992 “Cast Away,” The American Lawyer (October 1992), p. 54-59.

Beyer, Gregg A. 1992. “Affirmative Asylum in the United States,” Georgetown

Immigration Law Journal (Vol. 6, No. 2, June 1992), p. 253-284.

Beyer, Gregg A. 1992. “Establishing the United States Asylum Officer Corps: A First

Report,” International Journal of Refugee Law (Vol. 4, No. 4, July 1992), 39 p.

Beyer, Gregg A. 1994. “Reforming Affirmative Asylum Processing in the United States:

Challenges and Opportunity,” The American University Journal of International Law and

Policy (Vol. 9, No. 4, June 1994), p. 43-78.

Conover, Ted. 1993. “The United States of Asylum,” New York Times Magazine

(September 20, 1993), p. 56.

Cooper, Bo. 1997. “Procedures for Expedited Removal and Asylum Screening under

the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996,” Connecticut

Law Review (Vol. 29, No. 4, Summer 1997), p. 1501-1524.

Martin, David A. 1995. Making Asylum Policy: The 1994 Reforms,” Washington Law

Review (Vol. 70, No. 3, July 1995), p. 725-755.
29

Mulder, Tammany et al (2001) U.S. Census Bureau Measurement of Net International

Migration to the United States: 1990 to 2000. Estimates and Projections Working Paper

No 51. Issued April 2001.

U.S. General Accounting Office. GAO has done reports on a variety of immigration

issues. Their website is: http://www.gao.gov/

GAO-01-488 Immigration Benefits: Several Factors Impede Timeliness of

Application Processing GAO-98-64 Quality of Immigration Statistics

U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. Website: www.ins.gov

There is a great deal of material regarding asylum under /Immigration Services

and Benefits/ Asylum and also under /Statistical Reports. Additional material

regarding asylum can also be found by doing searches on words relating to

asylum.

U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, Information Resource Center. INS web

address is: http://www.ins.gov/graphics/services/asylum/ric/

The Center has information about conditions in the countries of origin for asylees

and refugees. See also The Human Rights Documentation Exchange for

information about the Center’s publications not on its web site. Their website is: 

 www.hrde.org

Center for Immigration Studies. Their web site is: http://www.cis.org/cis/

Gordon, Linda W. 1993. Draft Material for the IMMACT90 Report for FY 1992: 

Information on the Alien Population in the United States. U. S. Immigration and

Naturalization Service, Washington, D. C.

Gordon, Linda W. 1993. Immigration Issues, No. 2. Political Asylum Statistics, 1991-

92: A Time of Transition. U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Kramer, Roger G. 1999. Developments in International Migration to the United States:

1999. Immigration Policy and Research Working Paper 34. U.S. Department of Labor,

Bureau of International Labor Affairs, 1999.

U. S. Commission on Immigration Reform (now dissolved). Their web site is: 

http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/uscir/

“The bipartisan U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform was authorized by

Section 141 of the Immigration Act of 1990. The Commission expired on

December 31, 1997. The mandate of the Commission was to review and

evaluate the implementation and impact of U.S. immigration policy and to
30

transmit to the Congress reports of its findings and recommendations.“ (From

Mandate on website) 

U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration. They have

“primary responsibility for formulating policies on population, refugees, and migration,

and for administering U.S. refugee assistance and admissions programs.”

Web site subsequent to Jan. 20, 2001: http://www.state.gov/g/prm/

Web site prior to Jan. 20, 2001: http://www.state.gov/www/global/prm/

U.S. General Accounting Office. GAO has done reports on a variety of immigration

issues. Their website is: http://www.gao.gov/

U.S. General Accounting Office. 1998. Quality of Immigration Statistics (GAO98-64). Washington, D.C., 1998. 

U.S. General Accounting Office. 2001. Immigration Benefits; Several Factors

Impede Timeliness of Application Processing; Report to Congressional

Requesters (GAO-01-488). Washington, D.C., 2001. 

U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. Last modified . A Symposium and

Celebration: The Fifth Anniversary of the 1995 Asylum Reforms. From INS website at: 

http://149.101.23.2:80/graphics/services/asylum/symposia.htm Website contains

links to the following:

Beyer, Gregg A. Last modified 08/14/2001/ Striking a Balance: The 1995

Asylum Reforms; "A Walk Down Another Street." (Full text version). From the

INS website at: http://149.101.23.2:80/graphics/services/asylum/Beyer.pdf

Langlois, Joseph. Last Modifed 08/14/2001. The Success of Asylum Reform

and the Evolving and Expanding Role of INS Asylum Officers. From INS website

at: http://149.101.23.2:80/graphics/services/asylum/langlois.htm

Martin, David A. Not dated. Asylum Reform: A Global Perspective. From the

INS website at: http://www.ins.gov/graphics/services/asylum/Martin.pdf

Five Years After Asylum Reform: The INS Regains Control; Practitioners Say

Reform Still Needed. 2000. Refugee Reports, U.S. Committee for Refugees,

February 2000. From U.S. Committee for Refugees website at: 

http://www.refugees.org/world/articles/reform_rr00_2.htm

U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. 2000. Asylum Reform: 5 Years

Later. News release issued February 1, 2000. From the INS website at: 

http://www.ins.gov/graphics/publicaffairs/newsrels/asylum.htm
31

U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. Not dated. Asylum Reform: 5

Years Later. From the INS website at: 

http://149.101.23.2:80/graphics/services/asylum\asylum_brochure.pdf

U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. Last modified 08/13/2001. This

Month in Immigration History: January 1995. From the INS website at: 

http://149.101.23.2:80/graphics/aboutins/history/jan95.htm

U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. 1999. History of the United States

INS Asylum Officer Corps and Sources of Authority for Asylum Adjudication. 

From the INS website at: 

http://www.ins.gov/graphics/services/asylum/history.pdf

Weissbrodt, David. 1998. Immigration Law and Procedure in a Nutshell. West Group,

St. Paul, MN.

U.S. Department of Justice, Immigration and Naturalization Service. Not dated. 1980

Statistical Yearbook of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Table 11.

U.S. Department of Justice, Immigration and Naturalization Service. Not dated. 1981

Statistical Yearbook of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Table 11.

U.S. Department of Justice, Immigration and Naturalization Service. Not dated. 1982

Statistical Yearbook of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Table REF 4.2.

U.S. Department of Justice, Immigration and Naturalization Service. Not dated. 1983

Statistical Yearbook of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Table REF 3.3. 

U.S. Department of Justice, Immigration and Naturalization Service. Not dated. 1984

Statistical Yearbook of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Table REF 3.3.

U.S. Department of Justice, Immigration and Naturalization Service. 1986. 1985

Statistical Yearbook of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. U.S. Government

Printing Office: Washington, D.C. Table REF 3.3.

U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. 1988. Statistical Yearbook of the

Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1987. U.S. Government Printing Office:

Washington, D.C. Table 32.

U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. 1989. Statistical Yearbook of the

Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1988. U.S. Government Printing Office:

Washington, D.C. Table 32.
32

U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. 1990. Statistical Yearbook of the

Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1989. U.S. Government Printing Office:

Washington, D.C. Table 33.

U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. 1991. Statistical Yearbook of the

Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1990 (M-367). U.S. Government Printing Office:

Washington, D.C. Table 31.

U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. 1992. Statistical Yearbook of the

Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1991 (M-367). U.S. Government Printing Office:

Washington, D.C. Pp. 77-78.

U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. 1993. Statistical Yearbook of the

Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1992 (M-367). U.S. Government Printing Office:

Washington, D.C. Pp. 76-78, Table 30.

U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. 1994. Statistical Yearbook of the

Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1993 (M-367). U.S. Government Printing Office:

Washington, D.C. Table 30.

U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. 1996. Statistical Yearbook of the

Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1994 (M-367). U.S. Government Printing Office:

Washington, D.C. Table 30.

U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. 1997. Statistical Yearbook of the

Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1995 (M-367). U.S. Government Printing Office:

Washington, D.C. Table 29.

U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. 1998. Statistical Yearbook of the

Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1996 (M-367). U.S. Government Printing Office:

Washington, D.C. Table 29. Also available on INS website at: 

http://www.ins.gov/graphics/aboutins/statistics/statyrbook96/introdu.pdf

U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. 1999. Statistical Yearbook of the

Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1997 (M-367). U.S. Government Printing Office:

Washington, D.C. Table 29. Also available on INS website at: 

http://www.ins.gov/graphics/aboutins/statistics/1997YB.pdf

U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. 2000. Statistical Yearbook of the

Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1998 (M-367). U.S. Government Printing Office:

Washington, D.C. Table 29. Also available on INS website at: 

http://www.ins.gov/graphics/aboutins/statistics/1998yb.pdf

U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. 2000. Monthly Statistical Report, 

September 2000 FY Year End Report. Issued October 31, 2000. From INS website at:

http://www.ins.gov/graphics/aboutins/statistics/msrsep00/index.htm
33

U.S. Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review. 2001. Statistical

Yearbook; 2000. From EOIR website at: 

http://www.usdoj.gov/eoir/statpub/SYB2000Final.pdf

U.S. Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review. 2001. Chart 4. 

Asylum Statistics, Fiscal Year 1997. From EOIR website at: 

http://usdoj.gov/eoir/FY97AsyStats.pdf

U.S. Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review. 2001. Chart 4. 

Asylum Statistics, Fiscal Year 1998. From EOIR website at: 

http://usdoj.gov/eoir/FY98AsyStats.pdf

U.S. Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review. 2001. Chart 4. 

Asylum Statistics, Fiscal Year 1999. From EOIR website at: 

http://usdoj.gov/eoir/FY99AsyStats.pdf

U.S. Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review. 2001. Chart 4. 

Asylum Statistics, Fiscal Year 2000. From EOIR website at: 

http://usdoj.gov/eoir/FY00AsyStats.pdf

U.S. Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review. Undated. Asylum

Statistics For Period 10/01/89 – 09/30/90. Base City: All Offices Included. Unpublished

table. Similar unpublished tables for fiscal year periods through 10/01/95 through

09/30/96.

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. 1992. Handbook on

Procedures and Criteria for Determining Refugee Status, (Geneva, 1992). Website: 

http://www.unhcr.ch/refworld/legal/handbook/handeng/hbtoc.htm

U. S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs. 2000. Report of the Visa Office,

1998 (DOS Pub. 10799). 

U. S Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs. 1998. Report of the Visa Office,

1997 (DOS Pub. 10577).
34

Appendix A: Tables

Table A.1. Legal Immigration by DA Race, Sex, and Age: 1980 to 1990 (DAPE)Age All Races Black Nonblack

Total Male Female Total Male Female Total Male F

All ages 5,373,224 2,657,971 2,715,253 701,280 355,986 345,293 4,671,944 2,301,985 0-17 903,693 457,890 445,803 132,700 66,064 66,636 770,993 391,826 18-29 1,410,862 697,005 713,857 195,862 94,171 101,691 1,215,000 602,834 30-49 2,156,554 1,103,842 1,052,712 288,816 157,577 131,239 1,867,738 946,265 50+ 902,115 399,234 502,881 83,901 38,174 45,727 818,214 361,060  50-64 550,409 249,395 301,014 60,204 29,166 31,038 490,205 220,229  65+ 351,706 149,839 201,867 23,697 9,008 14,689 328,009 140,831 Table A.2. Legal Immigration by DA Race, Sex, and Age 1990 to 2000 (DAPE)Age All Races Black Nonblack

Total Male Female Total Male Female Total Male F

All ages 7,500,701 3,446,090 4,054,611 859,460 407,772 451,688 6,641,241 3,038,318 0-17 1,155,294 581,277 574,017 145,678 73,327 72,351 1,009,616 507,950 18-29 1,752,497 843,664 908,833 233,979 111,957 122,022 1,518,518 731,707 30-49 3,046,416 1,360,168 1,686,248 349,779 171,774 178,005 2,696,637 1,188,394 50+ 1,546,494 660,981 885,513 130,025 50,714 79,311 1,416,469 610,267  50-64 932,995 401,376 531,619 85,435 35,867 49,568 847,560 365,509  65+ 613,499 259,605 353,894 44,590 14,847 29,743 568,909 244,758 
35

Table A.3 Legal Immigration 1980 to 1990 by Age, Race, Sex, and Hispanic Origin (DAPE version)Age All Races Non-Hispanic White Non-Hispanic Blac

Total Male Female Total Male Female Total Male F

All ages 5,373,224 2,657,971 2,715,253 1,055,564 532,661 522,903 523,586 265,795 0-17 903,693 457,890 445,803 143,096 74,242 68,854 97,717 48,375 18-29 1,410,862 697,005 713,857 256,156 118,953 137,203 141,666 67,110 30-49 2,156,554 1,103,842 1,052,712 480,542 256,965 223,577 221,416 122,039 50+ 902,115 399,234 502,881 175,771 82,500 93,270 62,786 28,271  50-64 550,409 249,395 301,014 114,091 55,777 58,314 44,531 21,385  65+ 351,706 149,839 201,867 61,680 26,724 34,957 18,255 6,885 Age Non-Hispanic API Non-Hispanic AIAN Hispanic

Total Male Female Total Male Female Total Male F

All ages 2,158,287 1,020,528 1,137,758 9,871 5,070 4,800 1,625,916 833,917 0-17 392,727 198,484 194,244 1,758 865 893 268,395 135,925 18-29 526,326 252,533 273,793 2,637 1,315 1,322 485,077 257,094 30-49 809,305 382,990 426,315 3,975 2,130 1,845 641,316 339,718 50+ 429,929 186,522 243,406 1,501 760 741 232,129 101,181  50-64 242,175 105,129 137,047 1,076 535 541 148,536 66,570  65+ 187,754 81,394 106,360 425 225 199 83,592 34,611 
36

Table A.4 Legal Immigration 1990 to 2000 by Age, Race, Sex, and Hispanic Origin (DAPE)Age All Races Non-Hispanic White Non-Hispani

Total Male Female Total Male Female Total Male 

All ages 7,500,701 3,446,090 4,054,611 1,958,129 938,377 1,019,752 713,337 338,30-17 1,155,294 581,277 574,017 288,277 146,970 141,308 119,922 60,218-29 1,752,497 843,664 908,833 371,239 174,623 196,616 192,701 91,630-49 3,046,416 1,360,168 1,686,248 861,563 418,103 443,460 292,496 144,650+ 1,546,494 660,981 885,513 437,049 198,681 238,368 108,218 41,8 50-64 932,995 401,376 531,619 258,721 121,900 136,822 71,327 29,9 65+ 613,499 259,605 353,894 178,328 76,781 101,547 36,891 11,8Age Non-Hispanic API Non-Hispanic AIAN Hispan

Total Male Female Total Male Female Total Male 

All ages 2,353,955 1,043,887 1,310,067 20,161 8,879 11,282 2,455,120 1,116,50-17 325,866 158,884 166,981 3,866 1,981 1,885 417,362 213,118-29 487,343 222,429 264,913 4,193 1,912 2,281 697,021 353,030-49 951,657 398,332 553,325 7,759 3,270 4,489 932,941 395,850+ 589,089 264,242 324,847 4,343 1,716 2,627 407,795 154,5 50-64 350,790 157,934 192,857 2,743 1,091 1,651 249,414 90,5 65+ 238,298 106,308 131,991 1,600 624 976 158,381 64,0
37

Table A.5 Legal Immigration 1990 to 2000 by DA Race, Age, and SexAGE ALL RACES BLACK NONBLACK

Total Male Female Total Male Female Total Male F

All ages 7,242,986 3,292,467 3,950,519 929,539 439,711 489,828 6,313,447 2,852,756 

0-17 1,913,185 969,801 943,384 262,860 131,322 131,539 1,650,325 838,479 18-29 2,226,037 986,782 1,239,255 293,258 139,333 153,925 1,932,779 847,449 30-49 2,137,292 943,526 1,193,766 276,758 133,578 143,179 1,860,535 809,948 50+ 966,472 392,358 574,114 96,663 35,478 61,186 869,808 356,880 

 50-64 658,320 260,857 397,462 67,141 24,870 42,270 591,179 235,987 

 65+ 308,152 131,501 176,651 29,523 10,608 18,915 278,629 120,893 

Table A.6 Legal Immigration by DA Race, Age, and Sex: 1980 to 1990AGE ALL RACES BLACK NONBLACK

Total Male Female Total Male Female Total Male F

All Ages 5,094,512 2,486,004 2,608,508 613,157 304,261 308,896 4,481,355 2,181,743 0-17 884,544 445,733 438,811 114,305 56,854 57,451 770,239 388,880 18-29 1,345,137 653,276 691,862 178,886 86,287 92,600 1,166,251 566,989 30-49 2,035,958 1,031,232 1,004,726 247,093 130,005 117,088 1,788,865 901,227 50+ 828,874 355,764 473,110 72,874 31,116 41,758 756,000 324,648  50-64 504,837 218,468 286,370 50,631 22,696 27,935 454,207 195,772  65+ 324,037 137,296 186,741 22,243 8,421 13,823 301,794 128,876