16.2.8 Immigration Status

Table 20: Immigration Status Scoring

Characteristics	Score
U.S. Citizen, Foreign Born (combines Naturalized Citizen and Noncitizen)	+1
U.S. Citizen, Naturalized Citizen, Noncitizen	+1
Detailed Immigration Status with Disaggregation of Noncitizen Statuses – Refer to High-Risk Populations (Section 5.6.2)	N/A

In this version of DDG, immigration status is added as a new variable because immigration status in the summarized health care data may increase the re-identification risk of individuals due to increased granularity of the aggregated data. This additional information has the potential to make it easier to narrow down and identify individuals, especially if the dataset is combined with other publicly available sources. Immigration status often intersects with other demographic factors such as age, gender, ethnicity, and location. When combined, these factors can create a more distinct profile for certain individuals.

The U.S. Census Bureau collects citizenship data via the American Community Survey (ACS) and categorizes the population as either “U.S. citizen” or “foreign born”. The “foreign born” population is then categorized further as “natural citizen” or “noncitizen”. The noncitizen status is disaggregated into the following statuses:

• Lawful Permanent Resident

• Nonimmigrant

  • Temporary Workers

  • Students

  • Exchange Visitors

  • Refugees and Asylees

• Undocumented Immigrant

Based on reporting by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, population estimates for different characteristics of immigration status are as below. However, the population estimates for undocumented immigrants are based on population statistics reported by the Center for Migration Studies.

Table 21: Population Estimates Related to Immigration Status

Immigration Status	Population Estimate
U.S. Citizen	~28.8 million
Foreign Born	~10.5 million
Naturalized Citizens	~5.7 million
Noncitizens Lawful Permanent Residents Nonimmigrants Temporary Workers Students Exchange Visitors Refugees/Asylees Undocumented Immigrants	~4.7 million ~2.2 million ~560,000 ~300,000 ~210,000 ~50,000 <10,000 2,251,756

Immigration Status scores are prepared based on the U.S. Census Bureau population data collected on U.S. citizen and foreign-born populations (Table 21 rows for Naturalized Citizens and Noncitizens). Disaggregated immigration status population sizes are prepared based on the Department of Homeland Security Population Estimates for lawful permanent residents (Table 21 row for Lawful Permanent Residents) and nonimmigrants (Table 21 rows for Nonimmigrants, Temporary Workers, Students, and Exchange Visitors), including Refugees/Asylees. The scores are then harmonized with the risk scores assigned to the latest population size thresholds, Table 2. Immigration statuses for disaggregated statuses, and smaller corresponding population sizes are added to the high-risk populations due to the sensitive nature of these populations and an increased risk for identification.