Posted on 01/12/2004 7:33:52 PM PST by Happy2BMe
Mass Immigration Said 'Swamping' U.S. Cities The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), a Washington, D.C.-based group advocating tighter immigration restrictions, says 1.1 million immigrants will enter the U.S. this year alone. In its new report, FAIR says the immigrant population nearly doubled from 19.8 million in 1990 to 31.1 million a decade later. "America's immigration policies have launched us into a risky experiment never tried by a modern day country," said Dan Stein, FAIR's executive director, in reference to the new numbers. "This demographic change is unlike anything this country has ever experienced, and is unprecedented in modern times." FAIR says six large U.S. cities over 100,000 Hialeah and Miami, Fla., along with Glendale, Santa Ana, Daly City and El Monte, Calif. had foreign-born populations of more than 50 percent. The immigrant population constituted 41-50 percent of the total in four others: Los Angeles, East Los Angeles, and Garden Grove, Calif., along with Elizabeth, New Jersey. Mexico accounted for about 9.2 million immigrants, or 30 percent of the total foreign-born population in the U.S., according to the Census Bureau's 2000 report, making it the leading country of birth. Next were China and the Philippines, with 1.5 million and 1.4 million respectively. They are followed by India, Vietnam, Cuba, South Korea, Canada, El Salvador and Germany. In 2000, more than half the foreign born population lived in three states: California, New York and Texas, the Census Bureau found. The FAIR report said immigration was the greatest in the South, which saw its foreign born population grow by 90 percent, followed by 65 percent in the Midwest. FAIR says the foreign-born population in the U.S. will swell to 45 million by 2010 if current immigration levels continue, "making this decade's wave of immigration the largest in U.S. history," the report said, adding California's foreign-born population alone is expected to swell to 12 million by decade's end. Currently, the U.S. population is estimated at 291 million people, according to Census Bureau figures. Though not all immigration is unhealthy for the country, FAIR says many regions of the U.S. are already struggling economically to provide basic services for people. Adding more numbers will simply make it more difficult and expensive to offer them, and that could lead to other troubles, the group claimed. "What remains to be seen is if this country has the capacity to accommodate, and assimilate, an unending wave of mass immigration ¯ because failure to do so will result in a balkanized, fragmented, strife-torn and dysfunctional America," Stein said. New Immigrant Initiatives A number of surveys have shown a majority of Americans at odds with lawmakers who support high levels of immigration. Still, there are new immigrant-friendly initiatives being introduced and considered by Congress and the Bush administration. For the first time since before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, the administration has hinted it is considering a new work-related legalization program for millions of aliens currently residing in the U.S. A week ago in Miami, Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge told an audience the U.S. will have to "come to grips" with such an initiative, if for nothing else because of the sheer number of illegal aliens who here now or planning to come in the future. "The bottom line is, as a country we have to come to grips with the presence of 8 to 12 million illegals, afford them some kind of legal status some way, but also as a country decide what our immigration policy is and then enforce it," Ridge said. Legislatively, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 16-3 in October to approve the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act of 2003, which would provide college opportunities for U.S.-born children of illegal aliens residing in the country a vote hailed by immigrant and Latino support groups. "The future of thousands of Hispanic children depends on the passage of this bill," said a statement by the National Council of La Raza, the nation's largest Hispanic civil rights group. In clarifying Ridge's statement to reporters a few days later, President Bush said he has opposed, and continues to oppose, any "blanket amnesty" for illegal aliens. But, he echoed the Homeland Security chief's support for a work-related legalization plan. "We need to have an immigration policy that helps match any willing employer with any willing employee," Bush told reporters Dec. 15. "It makes sense that that policy go forward. And we're in the process of working that through now so I can make a recommendation to the Congress." Bush will travel to the Summit of the Americas in Monterrey, Mexico, next month, where he will likely discuss the issue with other regional leaders. Some lawmakers, however, call such work-related plans little more than an amnesty program, and are opposed them on those grounds. Instead, they are pushing for stricter overall enforcement of existing immigration laws as well as a different approach to creating the so-called "guest worker" programs. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., head of the House Immigration Reform Caucus, says border legislation he introduced earlier this year aims to plug "gaping holes in both Americas porous borders and its dysfunctional guest worker programs." Reform groups like FAIR maintain the first issue Washington should address is continued record-high immigration. "Mass immigration has nothing whatsoever to do with the economic and social well-being of the United States or the American people," Stein said. "Immigration is entirely about the interests of the immigrants themselves, special interest ethnic groups, and business interests that want unlimited numbers of low-wage workers." Jon E. Dougherty
Mass immigration, most of it coming from south of the border, is "swamping" the United States, with six large U.S. cities now consisting mostly of foreign-born inhabitants, a new report warns.
Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2004
Send them all back.
We are full up.
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Clintons Subtle, but Historic, Redefinition of U.S. Immigration Policy
January 10, 2001
Commentary by Ira Mehlman Federation for American Immigration Reform Spokesman
The Clinton Administration is now a part of history, and historians are just getting started assessing the Clinton legacy. There will be plenty to keep them busy. area of health care reform and personal integrity.
Among the records set during the Clinton years was the largest sustained wave of immigration in Americas history. Some 10 million new immigrants arrived in the U.S. during his presidency, and by the time he left offices there were nearly 30 million foreign born residents, accounting for more than 10 percent of the population.
But perhaps more significant than the sheer numbers of people who settled here during the Clinton years, was the dramatic redefinition of the purpose of immigration policy and the relationship between immigrants and their adopted country.
After losing control of both houses of Congress in the 1994 election to the Republicans, Clinton embarked on a program to reshape the electorate in a way that was more to his liking. In addition to using his considerable powers of persuasion to win back public support, he set about creating a new American public. The administration directed the Immigration and Naturalization Service to mint new citizens in time to vote in the 1996 elections. Under the direct control of Vice President Gore, the Citizenship USA program was tasked with naturalizing as many noncitizens as they could possibly find in time to participate in the next election.
The plan succeeded. Democrats have eliminated the Republicans majority in the Senate and have significantly eroded their advantage in the House. An analysis of voting patterns across the country shows that voting by new citizens has been the deciding factor in numerous elections, and in nearly every case, has broken to the Democrats advantage.
In much the same way as employers have used immigrants to change labor market conditions to their advantage, the Clinton Administration used them to create an electorate more to their liking.
In the past, immigration was seen as policy designed to serve the interests of the nation. As such, there was a general belief that it was the responsibility of the immigrants to go the extra mile to accommodate themselves to the social, cultural and linguistic norms of the country. As customers, that relationship is reversed. It is the nation that must bend over backwards to accommodate the customers, and provide whatever services and programs they need.
Under the customer model, if immigration creates overcrowded schools, or exceeds the capacity of public health care system, you dont reduce immigration. Instead you build as many schools and emergency rooms as the customers require. Under the customer model, it doesnt matter whether immigrants have marketable skills, or that more than one-third have less than a high school education. It becomes the nations obligation to deal with the needs of the immigrants.
Very often it is the subtle policy changes of a presidential administration that define its legacy. Clintons subtle manipulation of immigration policy could prove to be among the most long lasting imprints he leaves on America.
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I believe we will have an uphill battle in the future just to keep our Constitutional Republic alive. Why import more democrats?
... the new Bush bumper sticker for Bush 2004.
We are an immigrant nation, melded into one.
The US ideals must come first. We have much work that needs to be done. The US ideals must come first.
You hit the nail on the head. In the past, the US WAS a "melting pot," and by combining the strengths of the immigrant cultures with our own, we became stronger. Although many immigrants kept their own cultures and languages alive at home, they believed that it was important to become "Americans," and share a common culture and language with everyone else here.
That's no longer the case. Balkanization of America is going on, with "cultural diversity" being the ultimate goal... To divide us. Different cultures and languages make for a North American Europe... And they've been fighting with each off and on for over a thousands of years.
Mark
I would ask the American Indians---- who allowed their borders to be completely open, didn't limit immigration in any way, what it completely unrestricted immigration can do to a society.
We've got a giant welfare society now --- which is even worse, we're inviting in the would-be welfare classes of Mexico --- if they can't survive on their own skills here --- no problem --- the taxpayers will pay to make them very comfy here.
The situation is more insidious than the political leanings of the immigrants themselves.
The more you crowd people, the more likely they will think like Democrats and vote for Democrats.
Just take a look at the map of the 2000 elections: the more densely populated areas voted for Gore.
The more dense the population, the more artificially they live.
Certain ways of doing things become habitual.
It's bad enough that the urban population is growing from the migration of people from rural areas to cities for jobs, but to add even more people from immigration is putting the political sanity of the people at great risk.
If we always need more and more people in our country for the economy to be good, then at some point in the future, the economy and the country will fail. There's only so many people that can fit....
...before the ponzi scheme breaks.
Interesting, your one of the first to arrive on this thread doing your best to mock and minimize the threat of millions entering our country illegally.
You juvenile attempts to diminish this nationwide crisis are revealing and very transparent, and most of all, not funny.
Of course when there is no defense to the Bush plan, I can understand why some come on here and start making nervous little quips and jokes. Trust me, it isn't working as most can see this for what it is. Putting your beltway political party or candidate before the best interest of our country is not something that you should flaunt.
It's already breaking.
Those who continue to foist immigration upon you are seeking to profit from it, that they may be able to continue to scramble to the top of the human heap, where they can at least glimpse some sky and breathe fresh air, while the vast majority squirm for position in the tangled pile below.
Yeah, well, Mexicans don't meld so well because the homeland is just a road trip away. The ties to the Old Country remain.
How much loyalty will a person born of Mexican parents in the United States have toward our country when he holds dual citizenship and his first language is Spanish?
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