Does this still sound like a great plan? Not so much.
Of course it is a terrible plan. We are not only facilitating the entry of more legal immigrants into the country, but we are setting a precedent that could apply globally. Why must only Central America benefit from being able to send their children out of such conditions. Africa and the Middle East could qualify for such a program along with any other place on the globe where the "children" are threatened. The numbers could be in the hundreds of millions.
The author misses the real costs of this Mariel-boatlift type tidal wave of "children." Most are teenagers and two-thirds are accompanied by family members. The real costs from this invasion come from the medical, educational, and incarceration costs that are mostly absorbed at the state and local level. Immigrants, legal and illegal, use welfare programs to a greater extent than the native born.
And if we have an amnesty, these additional "children" will add to the estimated $6.3 trillion it will cost the American taxpayer assuming their are only 12 million illegal aliens.
The author lays out why these "children" are not an immediate electoral threat. True enough, but LEGAL IMMIGRATION IS. We bring in 1.1 million legal immigrants a year, two thirds of whom will eventually vote Democrat. 87% of legal immigrants are minorities as defined by the USG, We have just had the two largest decades of LEGAL IMMIGRATION in our history with more than 27 million entering during that period. In 1970 one in 21 was foreign born; today it is one in 8, the highest in 90 years; and within a decade it will be one in 7 the highest in our history. By 2019 half of the children 18 and under will be minorities and by 2043 we will be a majority minority country.
Projections and graph courtesy Population Environment Balance, Sources: U.S. Census Bureau; Statistical Yearbook4 Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services-- Average 195,000 per year from 1921-1970
This has electoral consequences. Immigrants and minorities vote Dem two to one. In 1970 there were 9.7 million foreign born in this country; today there are 45 million. In 1970 we had a national population of 203 million; today it is 320 million. Every cohort that turns 18 annually is more and more Democrat. The demographics of the US in 2050 will look like that of CA today. Immigration's Impact on Republican Political Prospects, 1980 to 2012
The one statement in the article that was the most outrageous and uninformed was: Assuming citizenship is attained, how such a person chooses to vote is a matter of personal preference, influenced by individual life experiences.
I have no idea on what planet the author lives, but how anyone can make that statement is unbelievable. Does he really believe that the Democrats would be supporting these huge immigration levels, legal and illegal, if they weren't future Dem voters? Demography is destiny. We are being colonized by the Third World.
The real big hype is illegal immigration. While the public is being distracted by the shiny bauble, over a million LEGAL IMMIGRANTS are streaming into the country annually changing the composition of the electorate. They will vote legally. And they are mostly poor and uneducated. They are destroying our social welfare net and our schools.
In 2010, 23 percent of immigrants and their U.S.-born children (under 18) lived in poverty, compared to 13.5 percent of natives and their children. Immigrants and their children accounted for one-fourth of all persons in poverty. The children of immigrants account for one-third of all children in poverty.
There are 10.4 million students from immigrant households in public schools, accounting for one in five public school students. Of these students, 78 percent speak a language other than English at home. Overall, one in four public school students now speaks a language other than English at home.
In 2010, 29 percent of immigrants and their U.S.-born children (under 18) lacked health insurance, compared to 13.8 percent of natives and their children. New immigrants and their U.S.-born children account for two-thirds of the increase in the uninsured since 2000.