Immigrants grow Michigan's population, advocates say

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(The Center Square) - Detroit’s population grew for the second year in a row after years of steady decline, according to census data.

Advocacy groups attribute much of the growth to an increased acceptance of immigrant populations throughout Michigan. Efforts to bring more immigrants to the state was once defined by a former governor's proposal. 

In 2014, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder announced an ambitious proposal to request 50,000 EB-2 visas from the federal government to be allocated over the course of five years. The visas were specifically designed for immigrants to live in Detroit.

“We want the world to know that Detroit is open for business,” Snyder said in his announcement. “Legal immigration helped to build this city and is just as critical to its comeback.”

The EB-2 visa is an employment-based immigration category for foreign individuals who hold advanced degrees or display “exceptional ability.” Recipients of the visa can obtain a green card if an employer is willing to sponsor them for permanent residency.

Snyder’s proposal would have marked a significant overhaul in the typical process for obtaining an EB-2 visa because it allowed immigrants to bypass the typical job offer and labor certification requirement as long as applicants were willing to live and work in Detroit.

The Immigration and Nationality Act limits annual EB-2 visas to 28.6% of the worldwide employment limit. In fiscal year 2025, employment-based visas were capped at 150,000, which means that EB-2 visas were limited to 42,900.

Snyder’s request for 50,000 EB-2 visas far exceeds the annual limit placed on the visas each year by law, making his request difficult to accomplish.

Additionally, the plan to make EB-2 visas available only for those living and working in Detroit would face serious criticism.

Daniel Costa, a researcher at the think tank Economic Policy Institute, said he was skeptical over whether Snyder could get approval from Congress for the ambitious request.

“If Detroit were to get this many visas for itself,” Costa said, “other cities and states would want their own before legislators would vote for it. That could get messy; we would need a new city- or state-based green card allocation system.”

In response to criticism, Snyder pointed to how the program would be helpful for international students at universities across Michigan.

“More than 82 percent of Michigan’s international students who use their student visa to work in the U.S. after graduation earned advanced degrees,” a press release from Snyder’s office reads.

Since 2014, Michigan universities have begun to participate in the Global Entrepreneur in Residence program, which allows immigrant entrepreneurs to be sponsored for employment by universities in the state while growing their business ventures.

The GEIR program works through the H-1B visa since universities are not subject to the congressionally mandated cap of 85,000 visas. 

Snyder’s proposal was never implemented but immigration advocates believe the push for broader immigrant populations was helpful in bringing people back to Detroit.

Global Detroit, a nonprofit organization, connects immigrants with visa programs and opportunities throughout Michigan to keep them living and working in the state. The nonprofit said it helps to connect immigrants to the culture and community within Detroit and throughout Michigan to keep steady populations.

“No U.S. major metropolitan area that has lost population since the 1960s has stabilized or reversed course without immigration,” the nonprofit’s website reads. “In Michigan, immigration accounts for all population growth in the last 30 years.”

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that Michigan's population growth in 2024 was largely driven by international migration, as The Center Square previously reported.