IPFS
CONNECTING THE DOTS
Frosty Wooldridge
More About: ImmigrationPart 2: Immigration Cannot Continue—The Current State of Immigration
Part 2: The current state of immigration
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.”
THE CURRENT STATE OF IMMIGRATION
“Since first rewarding illegal
aliens
with amnesty and a path to citizenship in the 1980s, the U.S. population has
continued to grow inexorably with no end in sight,” said Fotopoulos. “The U.S.
Bureau of the Census makes low, middle and high projections for future
population growth. On the high end, by 2100, U.S. population may be more than 1
billion. The decade starting in 1990 saw the biggest population increase of any
prior 10-year period in U.S. history.
“In California, which absorbs about 21 percent of the
country’s immigrants,
the
state’s continuing population explosion is attributable to
immigration and the higher-than-average fertility rates of new immigrants.
The
state has an estimated 3-5 million illegal
aliens
among its population of 39 million.
“Hundreds of thousands of illegal
aliens
settle in across the U.S. from every imaginable country from A to Z—Afghanistan
to Zimbabwe, with Albania, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Jamaica,
Mexico, Somalia, Sudan and others in between.
“Our neighbor to the immediate south, however, accounts for the largest
percentage at 56 percent. Estimates suggest that as many as half of all
Mexicans living in the U.S. are here illegally. Of all deportations, Mexico
represents 70 percent, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Deportations doubled from 1999 to 2008 to nearly 360,000, of which 97,000 were
criminal deportations.
“With a population of 13.6 million in 1900, Mexico’s population has now
ballooned to 111 million. A well-known litany of poverty, drug trafficking and
government corruption in Mexico, coupled with inadequate border and immigration
enforcement on the U.S. side, has led to the ongoing exodus of Mexicans from
their home, with the tacit support of the Mexican government.
“While people illegally crossing the Mexico- U.S. border by foot or vehicle is
a familiar image and the source of 60 percent of illegal
aliens,
the other 40 percent arrived legally and overstayed their visas.”
AMNESTY UNDER PRESIDENT OBAMA
“Scantly mentioned by either presidential candidate in the 2008 race, the issue
of illegal immigration was overshadowed by the severe recession when President
Obama took office,” said Fotopoulos. “But it was clear that the President
favored both an amnesty and an increase in the number of immigrants allowed
into the U.S.
“Among the five cornerstones promoted on the White House’s immigration webpage
were plans to “increase the number of legal immigrants to keep families
together and meet the demand for jobs that employers cannot fill” and “support
a system that allows undocumented immigrants who are in good standing to pay a
fine, learn English, and go to the back of the line for the opportunity to
become citizens.” With Obama in office, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid moved
quickly with a placeholder bill for amnesty legislation, S.9, the Stronger
Economy, Stronger Borders Act of 2009, calling for "reforming and
rationalizing avenues for legal immigration."
“In a major speech on immigration in summer 2010, Obama called for amnesty in
the guise of immigration reform, blaming the “pressure of partisanship and
election year politics” for derailing his plans for a “pathway for legal
status” for millions living in the U.S. illegally. Despite the rhetoric and
intense pressure from open-border advocates, it is unlikely that Congress will
take up immigration legislation before the November 2010 elections; there
simply is not enough support to get a bill passed.
“Hence, open-border groups began pushing Obama to implement a de facto amnesty
through executive action, a temporary halt to nearly all deportations as well
as the issuance of work permits to illegal
aliens.
Breaking news of this development led Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and seven
other senators to write Obama and ask for a "commitment that the
Administration has no plans to ... change the current position of a large group
of illegal
aliens
already in the United States."
WHAT CITIZENS SAY
“Poll after poll indicates that the majority of Americans view illegal
immigration differently than the Obama administration does,” said
Fotopoulos. “A USA Today/Gallup Poll
found that 80 percent of Americans are concerned that illegal immigrants burden
schools, hospitals and other government services, and 77 percent believe that
they drive down wages. A New York Times/
CBS
poll found that 82 percent think border enforcement is insufficient to keep
illegal
aliens
from coming to the U.S., and a Rasmussen Reports poll showed 79 percent did not
think the government was doing enough to secure the border.
“Several surveys have shown broad, national support for the
Arizona law. The Associated Press reported that its recent poll found “almost
twice as many people support the Arizona law as those who oppose it.” Like
other states—and border states in particular— Arizona has been under attack in
recent years by both an unchecked increasing illegal population and crime. From
2000 to 2008, the number of illegal
aliens
in Arizona skyrocketed by 70 percent, and 14 percent of the prison population
was illegal
aliens.
“In addition to widespread public disapproval of illegal immigration, there are
problematic implications to implementation of any amnesty legislation. A known
weak and nonperforming agency, the USCIS (United States Citizenship and
Immigration Services) would be responsible for processing millions of people
which will take time and millions of dollars. Past amnesties have been plagued
by fraud and abuse. One of the biggest problems would be accurately identifying
applicants— their actual names, history and background. Many applicants will
have a long history of scamming the immigration benefits system by using
alternative names, fraudulent or stolen Social Security numbers and ITINs
(Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers), or counterfeit birth
certificates. The Mexican government-issued matricula consular card is
notoriously unreliable.”
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
1 Comments in Response to Part 2: Immigration Cannot Continue—The Current State of Immigration
There is nothing unethical or immoral about immigrating to another country. If a foreign national finds an employer that wants to hire him or her, a landlord that wants to rent to him or her, a homeowner that wants to sell to him or her, etc... as far as I'm concerned they have just as much of a right to be here as anybody else does. If you think you have the right to use the filthy, bloody, weapon of politics to attack immigrants/business/citizens simply because they want to peacefully interact with each other without your little mark of the beast, YOU ARE SCUM. Don't take this personally, I was in the same boat with you at one point, then I thought and matured a little and eliminated this fascist philosophy from my mind.