WV RANKS LOWEST IMMIGRANT RATE IN USA

(12/24/2005)
West Virginia has the lowest percentage of immigrants of any state, according to the U.S. Census.

Not only that, but West Virginia lost almost half of its immigrant population between 1995 and 2005, according to the Census Bureau.

Only one other state, Montana, showed a greater decrease.

The problem may be the economy, the state having few jobs.

There is an explosion of immigration to the United States. One in eight people in the United States was born somewhere else.

In West Virginia it is less than one-half of 1 percent.

A poll suggests that West Virginians believe immigrants are taking away their jobs.

despite the low number of foreign-born people living here.

Sixty percent believe that "immigrants take jobs away from Americans," while 34 percent say "immigrants do jobs that Americans don't want," according to a December, 2005 poll of 600 West Virginia adults by SurveyUSA.

Nationally, 42 percent of Americans believe that immigrants take jobs away from Americans.