America's Immigration Problem : What's Wrong and What Must be Done

American Thinker ^ | 02/19/2011 | Ron Lipsman

[AuntB]

This one seems to have the right idea!

ALLEN WEST

http://www.allenwestforcongress.com/issues

Illegal Immigration:

The Constitution of the United States of America has these three mandates; ensure domestic tranquility, promote the general welfare, and provide for the common defense. All three of these directives relate to the issue of illegal immigration, as illegal immigration adversely affects our economy, jobs, national security, crime levels, education, and healthcare. Illegal immigration also allows human traffickers, drug runners, and Islamic terrorists to exploiting our porous border.

Quite simply, federal laws already on the books aimed at stopping the flow of illegal immigration must be enforced. Furthermore, states must be given the resources necessary to confront the problem, which includes strengthening the border patrol. When dealing with illegal immigration, the answer is simple; enforce Constitutional mandates, and you will protect Floridians and the American people.

[geologist]

Created by our own mistaken idea of welfare without working. HUGE ERROR.
There is no goal for the recipient, no pride in accomplishment or independence ... just the opposite. Causing moral decay and decadence. nothing to do for many except sit on the couch all day watching TV.

Shame on us for enslaving them to a false idea. We have programs, but no necessity for them to participate and learn from them.

[Jack Hammer]

It’s not necessary to indulge in a lot of blah blah; just find the illegal immigrants, send them back where they came from, and be sure they don’t come back here.

[jpsb]

Bump, nicely written on spot on.

[FreedomNotSafety]

You cannot have open borders and welfare. The writer's people came over and had a very stark choice. Provide for yourself and family or die. It is amazing the work ethos of people who know there will be no handouts. It is also amazing how desirous people, who earn their living through honest work, are to keep the fruit of their labors.

Get rid of welfare or get rid of immigration.

[kabar]

This article is pure, empty BS that is long on emotion and short on facts.

The U.S. adds one international migrant (net) every 36 seconds. Immigrants account for one in 8 U.S. residents, the highest level in more than 80 years. In 1970 it was one in 21; in 1980 it was one in 16; and in 1990 it was one in 13. In a decade, it will be one in 7, the highest level in our history. And by 2050, one in 5 residents of the U.S. will be foreign-born.

Currently, 1.6 million legal and illegal immigrants settle in the country each year; 350,000 immigrants leave each year, resulting in net immigration of 1.25 million. Since 1970, the U.S. population has increased from 203 million to 310 million, i.e., over 100 million. In the next 40 years, the population will increase by 130 million. Three-quarters of the increase in our population since 1970 and the projected increase will be the result of immigration. The U.S., the world’s third most populous nation, has the highest annual rate of population growth of any developed country in the world, i.e., 0.977% (2010 estimate), principally due to immigration.

The latest data show 22.1 million immigrants holding jobs in the U.S. with an estimated 8 million being illegal aliens. By increasing the supply of labor between 1980 and 2000, immigration reduced the average annual earnings of native-born men by an estimated $1,700 or roughly 4 percent. Among natives without a high school education, who roughly correspond to the poorest tenth of the workforce, the estimated impact was even larger, reducing their wages by 7.4 percent. The reduction in earnings occurs regardless of whether the immigrants are legal or illegal, permanent or temporary. It is the presence of additional workers that reduces wages, not their legal status.

The Bureau of Labor statistics for January 2011 show a national unemployment rate of 9 percent, including 15.7 percent for blacks and 11.9 percent for Hispanics. 22 million Americans are seeking full-time employment. Despite the economic downturn, the U.S. continues to bring in 125,000 new, legal foreign workers a month. This includes new permanent residents (Green Cards) and long-term temporary visas and others who are authorized to take a job. This makes no sense.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

"Immigrants once understood that they had embarked on a tough road, but that there was a pot of gold at the end -- if not for them, then for their children. Today's immigrants are taught to demand the gold immediately without earning it. But immigrants, illegal and legal, are not the main source of America's ills. Like most of our ailments, the immigration problem will be cured if we return the country to the principles upon which it was founded."

[jpsb]

I think you should reread the article. Personally I think it is time for a timeout on immigration. But I do agreed with just about everything the author says.

[kabar]

I read the article a number of times. It is just empty, meaningless rhetoric and platitudes without any substance. Here is what we need to do about immigration, legal and illegal, in this nation:

We need a pro-immigrant, low immigration policy with the following elements:

 A merit based immigration system that brings in the skills and talents to keep us competitive in the global economy;

 Reduced immigration levels based on need and more closely approximating 300,000 immigrants a year vice the current 1.2 million annually;

 Elimination of extended chain migration, i.e., family reunification, limiting it to the nuclear family;

 Enforcement of existing immigration laws to reduce the current illegal alien population and limit future illegal immigration, i.e., attrition thru enforcement. Enforcement would include: (1) ending the job magnet; (2) increasing coordination at the federal level by eliminating barriers to information sharing among agencies; (3) leveraging state and local enforcement resources; (4) fully implementing the US-VISIT Program to track and deport visa overstays; and (5) secure the border and make mandatory such programs as E-Verify and 287 [g] authority to assist employers and law enforcement in identifying illegal aliens;

 Elimination of birthright citizenship;

 Ensure that anyone who enters this nation illegally is not rewarded by being permitted to stay and work here; i.e., no amnesty;

 Streamline the processing and adjudication of immigration cases; and

 Promote pro-immigrant measures that help newcomers assimilate and embrace the values and principles of our Founders and the Constitution.

[moonshinner_09]

Why did they pass all the laws in 1986 to assure all the problems would never be a great as they are now. How many decades have we heard working on securing the border.

[kabar]

Then, as those two great adventures came to a close in the early twentieth century, we returned to more restrictive policies. We threw open the gates again after WWII and they have remained open ever since.

Our specific immigration schemes have also varied. Which countries we favored; what criteria we sought (relatives, specific work skills, educational level, age) -- these too have not remained constant. Nevertheless, I don't think that any of those critically affected the end result. Most of the people arriving at our borders were "yearning to breathe free."

The author doesn't have a clue. The 1965 Immigration Act: Anatomy of a Disaster changed the demographics of this country forever. Pushed by Teddy Kennedy and the Dems as a way to make America look more like the world rather than a European dominated culture and ethnicity, the act has helped sow the seeds of multiculturalism and diversity as our national ethos. We have lost our sense of national identity as a result and Balkanized this country along ethnic, racial, and linguistic lines.

By 2023 half of the children 18 and under will be minorities as defined by the USG and by 2042 half of the country will be minorities. Does any sane person believe that this will be beneficial to the future of this nation?

Bureau of the Census: An Older and More Diverse Nation by Midcentury

[fightinJAG]

The answer is simple. Unlike in France or Sweden or Cambodia, the citizens of our nation do not derive their national identity from a specific piece of land or a religion or an ethnic heritage, a race or even a language -- although it is possible to argue about the last one. To be an American is instead to subscribe to an idea, which comprises a philosophy of government, a means of organizing society and an economic system.

This article was pure joy to read, inspiring and moving as well.

Here's an interesting piece that reaches the same conclusion -- i.e., the power of the American idea and the ruin that will surely come from abandoning it -- but from the vantage of a person who is not an American, but a German economist:

Obama's Misguided Approach: American Has Become Too European

[kabar]

The Hispanic Challenge By Samuel P. Huntington

[HiJinx]

Ping!

[dalereed]

“Get rid of welfare or get rid of immigration.”

Eliminate both!

[mcosta79]

I like your immigration platform, Kabar.

Tell me, how did you arrive at 300,000 legals per year as an ideal intake?

Also, does that figure include all people brought in, or just heads of household?

[FreedomNotSafety]

I have no problem with anyone who wishes to come and work for a living and abide by our laws.

[kabar]

The Jordan commission in the 1990s recommended around 500,000. Based on my knowledge of the issue as a grassroots activist who lobbies on the Hill and in Richmond, the number of 300,000 seems about right demographically and for assimilation purposes. The number includes everyone, not just heads of household.

Under our current immigration policies of admitting 1.2 million legal immigrants a year--a number that will increase to 1.5 million for various reasons--we will add 130 million people to our population over the next 40 years. 75% will be the result of our current immigration numbers.

[rodguy911]

Liberalism during the entire 20th century has incrementally helped to destroy the country.

Each and every generation gets a little more used to ignoring social mores, laws, the constitution than the last. The result is the obama generation where the "dear leader" brainwashed all. Those who don't obey are accused of being racists, murderers or worse yet Capitalists.

We are witnessing the destruction of a once great society. Question is can it be saved?