Illegal Immigration Turning Calif. Into 'Apartheid State,' Expert Warns

CNSNews.com Staff Writer ^ | August 20, 2003 | By Steve Brown

[from this machine]

(CNSNews.com) - California may evolve into an "apartheid state" unless major changes are made in immigration policy, a panel of immigration experts warned Tuesday.

The problems are fueled primarily by illegal immigration to California, resulting in a growing segment of the population that pays a disproportionately low percentage in taxes; uses a similarly disproportionate amount of welfare services; and increasingly lives in virtually segregated communities while working in more affluent areas of the state, the panelists said.

California State University, Fresno professor Victor Davis Hanson, a member of the panel hosted by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) in Washington, D.C., described some central California cities that are composed entirely of recent Mexican immigrants and their families, many of whom live in "a shadow community" because of their illegal status.

"Where I live, there are towns such as Orange Cove, Mendota or Parlier, Calif., which are 100 percent composed of either people who are the first generation from Mexico and are illegal aliens, or second generation where third- and fourth-generation Mexican citizens have left," said Hanson, author of the recently published book Mexifornia: A State of Becoming.

"These are like test tube cases of what not to do," said Hanson. "You reject American integration and diversity, and you allow apartheid societies of people who basically serve more affluent people in a shadow community without legality."

Hanson predicted the issue of illegal immigration from Mexico will be raised either in the current California recall campaign or in the 2004 presidential election, saying he expects the debate will be "demagogued in a way that's going to be quite infamous before the actual elections come around."

Part of the reason the issue of illegal immigration is such a highly charged political issue is because relatively few Americans have first-hand experience with it, according to San Diego Union-Tribune columnist Joseph Perkins, who was also on the panel.

Another facet of the debate centers on the supply of cheap labor, which favors an "open-border" mindset in some business quarters.

"Most of these folks have not actually seen the consequences of that policy," said Perkins. "The fact is California, the nation's most populous state, has been transformed by immigration, particularly illegal immigration."

According to Perkins, who opposes open-border policies after having supported them as an editorial writer for the Wall Street Journal. "If my friends in New York who continue to advocate open borders were to have 100,000 Chinese immigrants heading into New York harbor year by year and suddenly becoming part of New York State's population... then they might feel differently."

Steve Camarota, director of research for the CIS, dismissed many of the economic theories used to support an open-border policy.

While some argue that Mexican immigration - legal or otherwise - is crucial to the economy, Camarota introduced statistical data showing that Mexican immigrants comprise nearly one-third of California's population but account for approximately 3 percent of the state's economic output.

According to Camarota, California's estimated population of more than 35.5 million people includes some 10 million Mexicans, 70 percent of who are in the state illegally and 65 percent of who have less than a high school education.

"The idea that Mexican immigration is vital to the U.S. economy is simply false," Camarota said.

Next, Camarota noted that Mexican immigrants pay significantly less in taxes compared with native Californians but use disproportionately more welfare benefits than those born in the state.

Camarota's data showed that the average taxes paid by Mexican immigrants in California amount to about $1,535 per year, while native-born Californians pay $5,600 in taxes.

While Mexican immigrants pay one-third the taxes of native Californians on average, they also consume roughly three times more welfare, Camarota said.

The CIS data showed that 41.5 percent of Mexican immigrants used "major welfare programs" like Medicaid and food stamps, while those same welfare programs were used by only 14.2 percent of native Californians.

"There's a very big difference between what Mexican immigrants are supposed to pay in taxes and what natives are supposed to pay," said Camarota. "This fact, coupled with their extremely high use of public services, means that there's a very high cost for cheap labor."

While the panelists illustrated the encroaching problems and their causes, few detailed solutions were offered.

"What should we do? I think most people support immigration, we want immigration, and it always enriches the culture. But we want it in California under legal auspices," said Hanson.

Hanson said it would require "legal, measured immigration." However, he emphasized that "something" must be done to protect the borders

[muawiyah]

All the problems those poor illegal migrants have with public services and housing in California would be resolved if they relocated back to their own homes countries.

Some might think that's too harsh, but at least they would be facing the problems in familiar territory not all cluttered up with unsympathetic foreigners, eh?!

[Huck]

California may evolve into an "apartheid state" unless major changes are made in immigration policy, a panel of immigration experts warned Tuesday.

The problems are fueled primarily by illegal immigration to California, resulting in a growing segment of the population that pays a disproportionately low percentage in taxes; uses a similarly disproportionate amount of welfare services; and increasingly lives in virtually segregated communities while working in more affluent areas of the state, the panelists said.

Except for the part about working, it sounds like every black neighborhood in America. Not exactly something new. However, the apartheid analogy is off base.

[appalachian_dweller]

>> Mexican immigrants comprise nearly one-third of California's population but account for approximately 3 percent of the state's economic output <<

>> Mexican immigrants ... consume roughly three times more welfare <<

No wonder they all want in, they get all the benefits without having to work.

[Allegra]

"What should we do? I think most people support immigration, we want immigration, and it always enriches the culture. But we want it in California under legal auspices," said Hanson.

Actually, polls repeatedly show that most Americans are in favor of greatly reduced immigration or a complete moratorium. We're overrun as it is, and our "culture" doesn't need any more "enriching" at this time, thank you.

[Zorrito]

Time for the "Great Round-Up" to begin.

[Bill Davis FR]

consumers exceed producers...ain't life wonderful

[Migraine]

10 years ago, I began seeing the portents, and teaching them to my classes: "politics is give and take; we are now seeing the emergence of a "GIVE" party and a "TAKE" party. When the "takers" outnumber the "givers", society will begin to implode -- and it will start in California.

Meanwhile, the TAKE party demogogues their vote cow by securing more and more benefits, digging the grave of society as we know it. I think the TAKE party knows this, but demogoguery is all they have, and it's been working for them, so they go blithely on.

[b9]

>>> our "culture" doesn't need any more "enriching" at this time, thank you.<<<

That's for sure.
Patrol the borders, make illegal immigration ILLEGAL,
end all services to illegals, demand voter identification,
and insist on English only in the schools.

[Joe Hadenuf]

We're overrun as it is, and our "culture" doesn't need any more "enriching" at this time, thank you.

And your in Texas.

The people of America need to realize that this titanic invasion of illegals is being caused by the Federal government, not California. We have friends in Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Colorado. It's the same in all of these states, they too are being over run and choked off by illegal aliens.

THE ROOT OF THIS PROBLEM LIES WITH THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.

[sarcasm]

ping

[hoosierskypilot]

I know this sounds fatalistic, but I think it's too late. CA is somewhere between 33% to 40% hispanic. That doesn't even include other nationalities. Where I live, we're overflowing with Assyrians and Sikhs, as well. This represents a huge voting block that cannot be turned away. And, as we all know, politicians, republican and demonrat alike, function only in the best interests of their careers, not the future of the country.

[Joe Hadenuf]

As Cal go, so goes the nation......

[alloysteel]

California is apparently doomed to slide into Third-World status as a region populated by mutually hostile splinter groups. Now a fellow named Cruz Bustamante is supposed to be a front runner in the race to replace Gray Davis.

Why isn't Bustamante's relationship to a racial hate group (MEChA, invariably classified as left-wing, but really rather like a Mexican KKK) getting any press? The obvious aim of this organization is to establish either a province of Mexico (Aztlan) or an a separate nationalistic socialist republic in the US Southwest, stretching from Washington/Oregon to South Texas.

It is a race between being overrun by bearded men with burning eyes from the Middle East, or discovering yourself to be a minority among people who recognize only Spanish as the street language.

[usadave]

Time for the "Great Round-Up" to begin.

Operation Wetback II

[Joe Hadenuf]

The much larger question is why are our *own* government leaders, throughout America, winking and nodding, and even pandering to this epic *nationwide* invasion of people that are entering our country illegally?

[johnluke]

I'm the son of an immigrant, and my entire family was not in this country until just before World War I.  Yes, WWI, the Great War.  So what I'm about to write may seem both harsh and selfish, along the lines, "I've got mine, now you bugger off."

Well, not quite.  What I've observed during my lifetime, and in the education I received from my family and schools, and in my career, is a sickening arc of lowered expectations of immigrants.  What I see now is an acceptance of the unacceptable.  What I see are millions of illegals who either have no desire to assimilate or are unable to do so.  What I see are unamerican practices that include the insistance that all of our public business be conducted in the language of the immigrants, sometimes in addition to English; sometimes not.  What I see is a lazy acceptance of millions of illegals on the assumption that they will take jobs that Americans can't or won't.

Enough is enough.  It is time for us to take back our nation; welcoming those who would join us in the American synthesis that seemed to work so well in the last century.  A synthesis that saw people from all over the world, but mostly from Europe, celebrate their heritage but at the same time embrace a new heritage of liberty, a unique national heritage, new in history.  A heritage based not on religion, not on language, not on ethnicity, but on the ideas embodied in our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution.

Herewith some immodest proposals:

• First, reduce sharply the total number of immigrants.  About 15 per cent of the 1.3 million per year (legal and illegal) cited by the Center for Immigration Studies would be a good place to start on the high end
• All immigrant applicants to be rigorously screened for terror connections, regardless of nationality.  Extra screening for would-be immigrants from nations with known terror connections, such as Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lybia, etc.
• No adult immigrants from any nation unless they have at least the equivalent of a high school diploma.
• Stop bilingual education; all education in public schools to be solely in English (except, of course, teaching another language as a second language for English-speakers.)
• Stop all welfare and education benefits for illegal immigrants, including such stupidities as in-state tuition rates.
• Jail all illegal aliens caught and deport them forthwith.  No hearings.  No lawyers.
• Change US laws to have the US military protect our borders; modify the Posse Comitatus Act to enable select units of our military to enforce beefed-up immigration laws on our borders, including inland airports.  Protecting our borders would seem to be the first essential task for national defense.
• Change citizenship requirements under law so that children born to immigrants currently in the US who are not citizens are also not citizens.  If their parents become citizens, their children may also apply to become citizens after they have completed high school.
• Citizenship tests will be based on both English proficiency and knowledge of the US Constitution and history equivalent to a typical American high school graduate.  This is a low enough standard.

I feel much better now.  The chances of such draconian laws being passed?  Essentially nil.  Enjoy watching the flames from the next terrorist attack in America caused by a combination of legal and illegal immigrants who have not been fully screened.

[Missouri]

Immigration Ping.

[sasafras]

Stop Illegal Immigration - America's Numero Uno problem

[Missouri]

Stop Illegal Immigration - America's Numero Uno problem

Yes.

Reducing legal immigration-America's Numero 2'O problem.