Immigrants in Indiana

This fact sheet compares the percentages of immigrants in the Northwest region of Indiana to the percentages in other areas of the state. Immigrants are defined as persons who come to the United States to become permanent residents. Immigrants who want to become U.S. citizens file naturalization petitions with the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. Specifically, GAO provides information on immigrants who live in Indiana and naturalization petitions filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana.

GAO found that: (1) from fiscal year (FY) 1983 through FY 1990, the percentage of immigrants in the Northwest region of Indiana increased by 11 percent, from 22 to 33 percent; (2) from FY 1983 through FY 1990, over 40 percent of the Eastern European immigrants who lived in Indiana resided in the Northwest region; (3) the Northwest region, Evansville, Fort Wayne, and Indianapolis accounted for 21 of the 92 counties in Indiana, but 66 percent of the immigrants who applied for residency in Indiana from FY 1983 through FY 1990 resided in those areas; (4) 55.8 percent of the Spanish-speaking immigrants entering Indiana in FY 1990 resided in the Northwest region, 11.2 percent resided in the Indianapolis region, 7.4 percent resided in the Fort Wayne region, and 1.3 percent resided in the Evansville region; and (5) Northwest Indiana residents filed 55.2 percent of the 406 naturalization petitions filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana between November 1990 and June 1991.