Births Down a Tick in SD; International Migration to SD Adds More People Than Domestic Migration

Under a headline shouting “Oh, Baby,…” KELO-TV says South Dakota’s 11,911 births in the year ending July 1, 2019, represented an increase over the previous year’s births. But then KELO’s own infographic says South Dakota saw a 0.27% decline in births over that period:

Let’s get it straight from the Census Bureau:

42 states and the District of Columbia had fewer births in 2019 than 2018. Eight states saw increases in births – Washington (612), Utah (293), Nevada (232), Arizona (175), Idaho (166), Montana (66), Vermont (44), and Colorado (30) [U.S. Census Bureau, “2019 U.S. Population Estimates Continue to Show the Nation’s Growth Is Slowing,” Release #CB19-198, 2019.12.30].

Since every Chamber of Commerce member and economic developer in South Dakota will tell you that growth is good, if we’re having fewer babies nationwide, the logical response is to welcome more immigrants. But we gave up logic and welcome as governing principles in 2016:

To further deter immigrants, the Trump Administration is proposing to charge people who want to become Americans more money:

Under the proposed rule, published Nov. 14 in the Federal Register, the U.S. would be one of just four countries in the world that charge asylum-seekers for entry. An 83 percent increase in the naturalization fee, a 55 percent increase in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) renewal fee, a 20 percent increase in employment authorization application fees, and an elimination of some fee waivers were also included in the proposal, which was panned by immigrant rights advocates as “outrageous” and “simply barbaric”  [Andrea Germanos, “‘Fundamentally Inequitable’: Democratic Lawmakers Decry Trump’s Proposal to Hike Immigration Fees,” Common Dreams, 2020.01.01].

Here in South Dakota, Lincoln County is booming along just fine without much international immigration. KELO Radio reports Lincoln County was the 19th-fastest-growing county in the United States from 2010 through 2018; according to the Census, during that period, Lincoln County experienced net international migration of only 57 people, a mere 0.6% of its total net migration. But Lincoln County’s total net migration of 9,098 was more than twice its natural increase of 4,743 and 38% more than its total births of 6,569.

From 2010 to 2018, 51 South Dakota counties saw net gains in international migration; statewide, net international migration added 16,801 people to our ranks. Over that same period, our net domestic migration was only 12,511, and that gain came thanks to just 15 counties: 51 South Dakota counties saw more domestic goers than comers. 54 South Dakota counties saw greater net international migration than net domestic migration.

Making babies is good fun, but with more Americans putting off pleasure, if we want to keep the country and South Dakota growing, we need to keep our doors open to all the people of the world who still dream of coming to America.