When was it ever not a secret deal? When has immigration policy ever been a subject of public discourse?
We admit a million legal immigrants a year, year after year, which is fine with me. But how did they arrive at that number, and not, say, 2 million, or 200 thousand, or some other number? When were the citizens consulted?
Immigration policy should always serve the interests of the citizens. I have yet to hear any reasoned discussion on the part of any official, elected or otherwise, in which the reasoning behind their policy is explained to the public. If you have to get public comment before you can build a strip mall, shouldn’t you have to solicit public comment before admitting a million people? Or before legalizing 20 million illegals?
I’m generally pro-immigration, even sympathetic to illegals as people. Its the process that has me bugged, that no one in office thinks he has to answer to the citizen on this subject.
Another BIG thing needs to be that babies born here are not Americans if born to non-American mothers. Not only do the Central/South Americans abuse this but the Koreans and Africans also. Many nations fly women into safe houses until their due date, make taxpayers pay for the delivery, take a taxi “home” and then fly back with an American birth certificate. Change it now Congress!!
Also need to add that children in schools get IDed so that we know just how many we’re educating.
Never because they know so few favor the massive numbers they want to keep shoving in.
The legal number has grown, mainly due to chain migration. There are quotas or caps on various categories of immigration, which are set by Congress. There are at least six million qualified legal immigrants abroad who have completed their paperwork and are waiting to get in. This can take as long as 10 to 15 years.
Prior to 1965, the US was taking around 178,000 legal immigrants annually. In 1965, Congress replaced the national origins system with a preference system designed to unite immigrant families and attract skilled immigrants to the United States. With these changes and some subsequent ones, the result was that most of our legal immigrants now come from Asia and Latin America, and not Europe. Chain migration designed to unite families has also brought in aged parents, children, uncles, etc., many of whom are not contributing to our society and in fact, require more social services. Even with quotas in certain immigration categories, we are now legalizing the status of over one million people annually and millions more are waiting in lines overseas for their turn to come in. Chain migration has also changed the "mix" of immigrants, making it less diverse.
Mexico accounts for 31 percent of all immigrants, with 10.8 million immigrants living in United States, more than the number of immigrants from any other region of the world. Immigrants from Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean account for the majority of immigrants, with 54 percent of the foreign‑born coming from these areas. Of those who arrived 2000 to 2005, 58 percent are from Latin America. This lack of diversity has hindered assimilation and could well result in the Balkanization of the country by language and culture.
What is going on today is unprecedented in our nation's history. Here are some facts gleaned from Bureau of the Census data that provide an indication of what is really happening:
---The 35.2 million immigrants (legal and illegal) living in the country in March 2005 is the highest number ever recorded -- two and a half times the 13.5 million during the peak of the last great immigration wave in 1910.
---Between January 2000 and March 2005, 7.9 million new immigrants (legal and illegal) settled in the country, making it the highest five-year period of immigration in American history.
---Immigrants account for 12.1 percent of the total population, the highest percentage in eight decades. If current trends continue, within a decade it will surpass the high of 14.7 percent reached in 1910.
---Of adult immigrants, 31 percent have not completed high school, three-and-a-half times the rate for natives. Since 1990, immigration has increased the number of such workers by 25 percent, while increasing the supply of all other workers by 6 percent.
---The proportion of immigrant-headed households using at least one major welfare program is 29 percent, compared to 18 percent for native households.
---The poverty rate for immigrants and their U.S.-born children (under 18) is 18.4 percent, 57 percent higher than the 11.7 percent for natives and their children. Immigrants and their minor children account for almost one in four persons living in poverty.
---One-third of immigrants lack health insurance -- two-and-one-half times the rate for natives. Immigrants and their U.S.-born children account for almost three-fourths (nine million) of the increase in the uninsured population since 1989.
Taking in a million immigrants is not alright with me. It is having a major impact on our population growth. Since 1970, the population of the US has increased by 100 million; since 1990; by 53 million; and since 2000 by 20 million or the equivalent of our six largest cities. The Bureau of the Census projects that we will have 364 million by 2030 and over 400 million by 2050 with one-quarter of the population being Hispanic.
The annual arrival of 1.5 million legal and illegal immigrants, coupled with 750,000 annual births to immigrant women, is the determinate factor--or three-fourths-- of all U.S. population growth. These additional people will require infrastructure [roads, water, electricity, gasoline, etc.], and impact our schools, hospitals, social welfare systems, penal system, etc. Couple these increases with an aging US population faced with entitlement programs about to go belly-up in 10 years and you have some serious public policy issues that could threaten the future of this country.
Because in fact, it’s not about the good of the citizenry, it’s about creating voting blocks. The Democrats are doing themselves a huge favor, because they understand who the poor they are allowing to immigrate will, by and large, vote for. The Republicans are living in Bizarro world if they think they are creating a voting block, but that’s what they seem to think.
susie