We need to stop the aggressive culture of Islam from invading the US.
Visit The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) to write your congresspeople about the issues.
Posted on 12/03/2003 4:03:05 PM PST by yonif
WASHINGTON - The Arab population in the United States has nearly doubled in the past two decades, according to the Census Bureau's first report on the group.
Experts cited liberalized U.S. immigration laws and unrest in the Middle East that led many people to come to America.
The bureau counted nearly 1.2 million Arabs in the United States in 2000, compared with 860,000 in 1990 and 610,000 in 1980. About 60 percent trace their ancestry to three countries: Lebanon, Syria and Egypt.
While earlier Arab immigrants came from countries with large Christian populations, newer arrivals come from heavily Muslim countries such as Iraq and Yemen.
"Immigrants from the Arab world come for the same reason all immigrants come - economic opportunity, opportunities to have an education, to develop a professional career," said Helen Samhan, executive director of the Arab American Institute Foundation, a research group.
Samhan said the lifting of U.S. immigration quotas in the 1960s opened the door to people from Arab countries and many took advantage during the 1980s and 1990s, with a large number coming from nations such as Lebanon and Iraq where there were wars.
Almost half of the Arabs in the United States live in five states - California (190,890), New York (120,370), Michigan (115,284), New Jersey (71,770) and Florida (77,461).
"It would be better to come to America than Europe or Canada," said Zak Trad, 33, of Anaheim, Calif., who came from Lebanon three years ago. "It's the largest Arab community not in an Arab country. I didn't think I would be a stranger here."
New York City, the first stop for millions of immigrants for more than a century, had the largest Arab population among U.S. cities, 69,985. The Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Mich., where many Arabs first settled to work in the automobile industry, was next at 29,181.
Sterling Heights, Mich., was the city with the largest percentage of Arab-Americans, 3.7 percent, followed by Jersey City, N.J., with 2.8 percent. Dearborn's population is about 30 percent Arab but it was not ranked because the Census Bureau only counted cities with at least 100,000 residents; Dearborn has about 98,000.
The Census Bureau asked those who received the long version of their decennial questionnaire to list their ancestry. The form was sent to about one-sixth of all households.
Arab-Americans say their population is larger than that reported by the Census Bureau, but many are reluctant to fill out government forms because they came from countries with oppressive regimes.
The census report stops at 2000 so there is no data to measure the impact of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. But tighter immigration procedures imposed after then have reduced the flow of Arabs to the United States.
The Arab American Institute Foundation said that just over 15,000 visas were issued to immigrants from Arab countries in 2002, compared with more than 21,000 in 2001.
"The fact that immigration procedures and visa applications have been so tightly screened is going to slow down the volume of new immigrants," Samhan said. "The scrutiny that will be placed on immigrants from Arab and Muslim countries is going to be even greater than other places."
The backlash that occurred against Arab Americans following Sept. 11 served to draw them closer and get more involved in politics. The concentration of Arab-Americans in a few key election states, particularly Michigan, also has boosted their political influence.
In October, seven of the eight Democratic presidential candidates attended the Arab American Institute's national leadership conference in Dearborn, as did the heads of the Democratic and Republican parties.
"These days, anything that moves votes one way or another by the thousands can have an impact of seismic proportions," said pollster John Zogby, himself an Arab-American.
ON THE NET
Arab American Institute census information: http://www.aaiusa.org/census.htm
Census Bureau: http://www.census.gov
Just as the Irish brought theirs and the germans theirs and the chineese theirs and the spanish/mexicans theirs. All thrown together and stirred in the great melting pot.
Time to remind people that it wasn't american muslims on those planes and unlike the palestinians they weren't out in the streets celebrating.
Over the course of over two centuries this country has absorbed bits and pieces from every culture in the world and kept the good stuff and threw out the bad to make something uniquely american.
Being a conservative is no excuse to be a bigotted, racist, idiot, lets leave that for the democratic underground. This thread has become an embaresment.
I wont
Can't say that I disagree with most.
Having a mass imigration of what I consider "born terrorists", does not give me warm fuzzies.
There is, I believe, a fundamental change that needs to occur in our society....maybe not a change, maybe just a matter of getting some core values back.
You come to this country - you adapt. Our society does not have to "adapt" to your needs. Don't like it? - go back to where you the hell you came from.
This culture affords you every right and oppourtunity to practice the religion of your choice. That is, after all, one of the reasons this country got started. Practice your religion free of oppression - as long as it does not advent the overthrow of my religion or this government. If it does, woe unto you - not enough lawyers in the world to save your sorry ass. Trust me.
The Liberal / Democratic party line has done enough damage, and I think Joe and Jane Citizen are starting to wake up to that fact.....
A Federal Judge Liberal party hack outlaws a statue of the 10 Commandments. That is the second time, recently, this has happened.
The average "Sheeple" is awakening to the crap agenda of the left extremists. Slowly, but it is happening.
Christianity vs Islam / Muslim.........
The next world war.
LVM
I am armed to the teeth!
``` The next world war.
LVM
Why don't we just get it on NOW!
LVM
No duh!
We Christians would do well to keep this data in mind, as we consider trying to legislate our own version of morality or we may some day find that an Islam or Buddhist majority in government, may use our actions today, as precedent for passing laws that impose their own version of morality. Although I personally oppose abortion, this is one of the primary reasons why I believe that we should use witnessing, rather than legislation, to achieve our ends. Otherwise, we may some day find that we have government funded abortion on demand, but can't eat beef.
The changing demographics of our nation means that in order to protect our future rights and the rights of our children, we must protect the rights of those with whom we disagree, today. We don't need to give them precedent.
Something we can and should have controlled when it was possible years ago.
It is now controlling us.
If we allow the leftists to get to our goal line, they will score, and they have.
Isolationism on issues does not work any more than it does in foreign policy. We should have literally attacked our leaders on this issue long long ago when we had the strength to win, but not enough people gave a damn.
Now we will reap what we sowed.
It has long been a strategy of the commies to overwhelm conservative Christian values in this country, by out-breeding us or by overwhelming immigration policy. Both are working.
His intention was to keep the peace here on the streets of the US between infidel and Muslim. It worked very, very well. We can be proud that we have shown these people true American forbearance. But I hope the Muslims fortunate enough to live here instead of their flyblown homelands are also smart enough to realize that one more outrage is apt to bring down a terrible wrath upon them, no matter what gentle George Bush says.
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