Part 1: A viable civilization a must in order to survive

In this three part series, you may enjoy Maria Fotopoulos, Senior Writing Fellow at www.capsweb.org as she examines amnesty for 20 million illegal aliens now residing within the United States.  She addresses the key word ‘sustainability’ in “No home for amnesty in a sustainable America.”

"At the root of any modern nation-state lies the belief that because a given population shares, or can be made to share, certain identifiable characteristics—religion, language, shared history, and so on—it merits an independent existence," wrote historian James L. Gelvin.

“Some 500 years of history, tracing back to the Protestant Reformation, anchor the development of the concept of nation-state, which became the preeminent political organizing structure worldwide by the 19th century,” said Fotopoulos. “Sovereignty and recognizable borders are among the most prominent characteristics of the nation-state. For the United States, its borders have evolved through the last 200 years and the push of Manifest Destiny, ultimately taking our current 50-state form.”

“Borders are more than just lines on maps. With recognizable borders comes a system to maintain their integrity. In the nation’s collective memory, Ellis Island, site of passage for 12 million legal immigrants to the U.S. from the late 1890s through the early 1950s, is the symbol of a system that once ensured we knew who was coming into the country.

“In recent times, the focal point of a legal gateway for U.S. entry has eroded both in reality and in public consciousness. Although people have entered the country illegally since immigration laws were first passed, the numbers in recent years have soared. Millions are in this country illegally because they sneaked across borders or overstayed their visas.

“The influx of humanity coming to the country both legally and illegally has been addressed in various ways through the years. Under presidents Hoover, Truman and Eisenhower there were mass deportations of illegal aliens, including large numbers from Mexico who worked throughout the southwestern states in agriculture. By the end of the Eisenhower years, reports indicated that illegal immigration dropped by 95 percent.

“Then in 1965, Congress passed the Immigration and Nationality Act (the Hart-Celler Immigration Bill). Essentially, it replaced immigration law from the 1920s and recast the future of immigration for the country. With staunch support from a young Senator Ted Kennedy, the new law placed no limit on the number of family members that could come to the country by way of a “family reunification” clause for legal immigrants. The law also shifted the focus from Western European immigrants and opened up immigration to non-European nations, notably Asian and Latin American countries. Immigration doubled between 1965 and 1970, with another doubling between 1970 and 1990.

“Twenty years later, immigration—this time illegal—was again a topic. Again, with a big push from Senator Kennedy, the role of immigration in shaping the country was to change, this time with the passage of the Immigration and Reform Control Act (IRCA) of 1986, an amnesty for illegal aliens.

“Since IRCA, Congress has enacted an additional six amnesties, providing some 5.7 million people with the gift of U.S. citizenship:

“Ultimately, these legislative acts awarded amnesty to a much larger populace than the original estimates. Rather than cover some one million illegal aliens, IRCA, together with the Late Amnesty of 2000, gave the opportunity for naturalization to more than 3 million people who were illegally in the U.S.

MILLIONS OF ILLEGAL ALIENS NOW IN THE U.S.

“The number of people living in the country illegally now is at an epic level, between 10 and 30 million according to most government and academic estimates, although some studies place the figure much higher," said Fotopoulos.  "It is difficult to overstate the enormity of the problem, even at the conservative, consensus figure. For some perspective on size,more than 100 nations of the world have a population less than 12 million. Many politicians, thinking of short-term fixes, rather than the best interests of American citizens, have focused on amnesty, failing to note the historical record demonstrating that amnesties simply lead to more amnesties and to higher rates of illegal immigration.

“Traditionally, America has been one of the few countries that was a magnet for large-scale immigration. With increased global population pressure and greater mobility, the United States—the third most populous country in the world—is no longer alone in wrestling with immigration issues.

“Britain’s new austerity plan includes recognition that immigration is out of control, and the country will cap the number of immigrants from outside the EU. In Northern Ireland, after a recent crackdown on illegal immigrants, a representative of the border agency said, “We will not tolerate illegal working which threatens to damage our communities, and will act on intelligence to target those businesses which ignore the rules and remove those with no right to be in the UK.”

“In Australia, environmentalists, concerned with the deleterious impacts of population growth on the environment, are leading an effort to reduce immigration levels. The population of Australia, approximately the same size as our contiguous states, is 22 million compared to the U.S. population of 310 million.

“A CNN report noted severe penalties, including corporal punishment, for illegal immigration in Malaysia and Singapore. Italy criminalized illegal immigration last year in a law that “allows unarmed civilians to form patrol groups and help police fight crime on the street,” CNN observed.

“In comparison, the law passed this year in Arizona to try to combat the state’s epidemic of illegal immigration—an estimated 460,000 illegal aliens are calling Arizona home—seems mild. It allows law officers, in the course of enforcing other laws, to check a person’s immigration status if there is reasonable suspicion that the person is in the U.S. illegally. The law mirrors federal law that has been in force for decades.”

For more information please contact: www.capsweb.org
info@CAPSweb.org
Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS)
1129 State Street, 3-D
Santa Barbara, CA 93101