Posted on 04/26/2005 6:18:56 PM PDT by Founding Father
Immigration Effects on California
· Labor market unable to absorb huge flow. A recently released report by the prestigious Rand Think Tank found that the California job market cannot continue to absorb the huge number of low-skill, under-educated immigrants. The report found that the number of low-skill jobs, 2. 5 million, is almost unchanged from 1970 and that the growing number of immigrants are putting increased demands on public services, especially schools.
· Agricultural Labor. According to a UC publication (1998) 91. 5% of the farm and field labor in California is comprised of Hispanics. Most of the Hispanic workers are from Mexican origin and about 42% without residential status.
· New market opportunities and shifts. The wide variety of ethnicities, especially the growth of the Hispanic population, in the state also permits the development of new cropping systems that provide for their different culinary interests, keeping a captive market.
· Agricultural abundance (valued at $13 billion annually) threatened. A new study by the American Farmland Trust found that with California's population projected to nearly double by 2040 and the population of the state's agricultural heartland, the Central Valley projected to triple to 12 million, over 1 million acres – one in every seven – will be urbanized. Cornell University expert on agricultural ecology David Pimentel, finds that population growth is a major contributor to the 122,000 acres (3%) of cropland lost from production each year. If this trend continues, in less than 20 years about one-half of California's farmland will no longer be available for production.
· Higher than average immigrant fertility a growing contributor to population growth. While births to U. S. born women have remained close to the 1970 level of 324,375 for more than a decade, rising to just 334,008 in 1992, the total number of annual births in California has jumped from 362,652 to 600,838 – an increase largely attributable to immigrant women whose share of total births has quadrupled from 11% in 1970 to 44% in 1992.
· Human growth is squeezing out other life forms (negative environmental impact). In California one of every three vertebrate species and one in ten native plant species are in serious danger of extinction. Habitat the size of San Francisco is converted from natural vegetation or agricultural land to residential or commercial use every six months. 72% of California's native freshwater fish are listed as threatened or endangered, and are likely candidates for listing, or are already extinct. A study of storm water run-off flowing into Santa Monica Bay found that over 65,000 pounds of lead, 18,000 pounds of copper and a staggering 2,110,000 pounds of oil and grease are washed into the bay each year.
The state lists 34 species of animals and 46 species of plants as having been extirpated since the 1880s and the combined state and federal lists of rare, threatened or endangered plant and animal species in the state numbers 330, although state and federal officials admit that there are far more candidate species identified.
In the 1780’s with a population numbering in the hundreds of thousands, California had an estimated 5 million acres of wetlands. Now, after justtwo centuries of explosive population growth, there are over 32 million people and only about 454,000 acres of wetlands – a 90% loss.
Although California's "ecological footprint" spans the globe, key local resources such as water are insufficient for continued growth. Because of trade and pollution, the resources and environmental impacts of California's high-consumption lifestyles do not come from (or remain) strictly within the state's borders, i. e. the land area necessary to support California's population and absorb its wastes is much greater than the area of the state (its ecological footprint).
The average decline in the state's water table is an astounding 0. 5 to 3. 5 feet per year. Projected shortfalls of water needed by 2020 are estimated at 4. 2 million acre-feet in good rainfall years and nearly twice that in drought years. The state's top water officials admit that even if all practical conservation measures are carried out, rising demand in the coming decades will exceed supply by the amount of water needed to irrigate a million acres of crops or sustain a city of 800,000 people.
· California, immigrant welfare magnet. By 1990, California's welfare benefit package was second only to Alaska in its generosity. Between 1980 and 1990 the fraction of new immigrants not on welfare who chose to live in California actually dropped. However, the fraction of new immigrants on welfare who chose to reside in California sharply increased from 36. 9% to 45. 4 %.
· Educational system overwhelmed. The CA Department of Finance projects the student population to balloon from just over 5 million in 1992-93 to nearly 7 million in a decade, with two-thirds of the growth coming from immigration. The state would have to build a classroom every hour, and a 650-student school every day just to meet the increased enrollments.
California also ranks first in the number of students who speak little or no English, 1. 4 million or one of every four students. Nine of the top 15 school districts with the highest number of limited English proficiency students are in California: Santa Ana (69%), Glendale (52%), Los Angeles (46%), Garden Grove (43%), Fresno (32%), San Francisco (29%), San Diego (26%), Montebello (26%). More than two-thirds of students entering Cal State campuses in the Los Angeles area lack high school level math and English skills. At some high schools not a single graduate going on to Cal State schools passed the basic skill tests.
Did anyone here watch CBS Evening News last night? I did and I definitely sense a trend. (Although I searched online for the story, I could not find it.)
In their "Inside Story" feature, they showed illegal Mexican immigrants waiting on corners for work in Atlanta, Georgia. Then they interviewed a white guy who opposes illegal immigration, then a guy from the Southern Poverty Law Center who sent out the alarm that opponents are racist. Said the SPLC guy, "This is the biggest influx of dark-skinned persons into the South since slave days."
So what I want you all to know is that the left, the leftmedia and hispanic groups are framing this issue as one of a resurgence of white bigotry. We know the truth is the opposite; THEY are the ones making it a race issue.
Do not underestimate the rolling tide of political correctness. This will be the new "civil rights" issue of our time and it will be nasty. The issue will become more and more distorted. The President is using the language of liberals, calling us 'vigilantes' and 'nativists.' Students have been indoctrinated about the oppression of "people of color" for decades now.
Our beliefs in our nation's sovereignty and the rule of law are quaint notions to a great many people in this country.
Travis, it won't be long before we will be told to oprima our finger elsewhere if we want ingles. Eh, vato?
I see literally hundreds of these wonderful Lewis & Clark like people standing on the corners where I live. They are a blight and the poblem is getting much much worse.
I still can't believe I spent a week in Florida volunteering to elect GWB when he simply refuses to listen to those of us who worked so hard to get him where he is.
Who will congress blame? Don't know. But what will congress do? Pass more laws against American Citizens, tell LEO's they can violate even MORE aspects of the Constitution, pass more anti-self defense "gun control laws," give away even more of my tax money to useless slugs like TSA "agents." They will do anything and everything they can to stir more s**t to give the appearance of "doing something." What will they accomplish?
NOT SQUAT.
I know. It's hard to talk to his back, isn't it?
Thats what the pocketbook republicans can't seem to grasp - in another five years they'll be getting shook down by a hispanic Jesse Jackson.
Maybe they figgur they will have retired to the Kona Coast with their ill-gotten gains by the time the spam hits the fan.
What kills me is that these people could just as easily be terrorists and if we get hit again we will have to go through all this nonsense all over again.
Aloha. Do you have an extra room over there? I'm ready to git.
[[What keeps puzzling me is, if in fact, terrorists walk into this country through unguarded portions of the border and while in disguise get a ride to the bus stop, who will Congress blame after the catastrophe is upon us?]]
Here's how it wil go down. If a terrorist or terrorists sneak into to this country through our porous borders and another 911 tradegy occurs, immediately after the devestation, grieving and the cleanup, impeachment proceedings will almost certainly be called for against President Bush. He would most likely not serve out his second term in office as the American public would no longer trust the Republican party with our national security (not that they would trust the democrats either), but their would be a movement underway to now give the Democrats a shot at protecting us since the Republicans have failed miserablly. Most of us know that the Democrats cannot be trusted with national security but they would almost certainly be returned to power in 2008 with Hillary now steering the ship. For the life of me, I cannot understand why the Republicans are so willing to gamble with the issue of illegal immigrations because the stakes are so high. At stake is the legacy of GW Bush, the return of power to the Democrats, the possibility of a nightmare nuclear attack scenario killing thousands, economic collapse and hundreds of other undetermined consequences. The Republicans are playing a dangerous and IMHO a losing game.
I'm not sure, your Freep name has me wondering?? LOL
bump^ Good info, thanks NRT! You've had some good posts lately.
regards
I still can't believe I stayed up almost all night in 1999, watching the TV and praying that Al Gore would lose. What a disappointment Bush has been to real conservatives!
It definitely proves that the MSM is feeling the pressure and is trying it's best to distort public perception.
ExhaustedMomma: That billboard's true - it's damn(ing) true. Stone Cold Dobbs said so (that and several other sources had it yesterday).
I guess it is okay for a Jarhead to call you Jarhead.
Semper Fi!
I don't believe it's BP either, antceecee. It's what they're getting handed. Heavy handed. We have only to look at the "interior enforcement" supposed outrage in California awhile back that we know it isn't the "BP"! It appears they performed their jobs too well for their "superiors." BTW, where the hell is Asa now? He can't be up to any good.
I could have written this report 12 years ago. I've been angry about immigration for years. Our legal immigration also has to be reformed.
You've forgotten just how liberal CA is -- there's a college place for every one.
I turned it off. It was nothing but a big commercial in favor of illegal immigration.
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