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.
Good luck with the SoCal MM project - it's going to be rough with all those idiots running around. I pity the dope-smoking fool who gets in your business.
I viewed it last night. Not on CNN. Lucky to not pay for that crap. Expect results!
This granny won't put up with any crap, that's for sure!
Sounds bleak.Just the impact on social services is staggering,and the worst is yet to come.Where are the illegals going to find work if there's none in agriculture?And they still stream across the border.
So, according to this SPLC rep, the 47% of all Latino voters who voted in favor of Arizona's Prop 200 are racist.
Thanks for the links, I have visited none of them before this.
Attention Sierra Club Members, pay no attention to this article. Remain in your faux world, there is nothing to see here!
"Who will Congress blame after the catastrophe is upon us?"GW could be impeached.Heard something about that possibility brought up on the news today.That is if any terrorist device or bio/chem weapon used here was traced back to Mexico.Bush would probably be impeached.Maybe WE could fire the whole bunch of em.
Hmmm....that would be a great start!
Sadly, you are very correct in your assessment of this.
"65,000lbs of lead,18,000lbs of copper."As far as lead is concerned,illegal dispoal(dumping) and leaching from old dump sites accounts for a lot.Eventually it gets into the groundwater.But 65,000lbs is still outrageous.That number could be in error.
I'm a solid economic conservative, but I still don't see the case for unrestricted immigration given that they're likely to consume more in taxpayer-funded services than they produce.
The problem requires drastic measures but those need not include video footage of mass roundups, detention camps and crying ninos being prodded across the border with bayonets.
Former members Sabertooth and FITZ plus several current members have contributed many ideas toward disincentives to remain here. Among those:
Removal of driving priveleges. The REAL ID Act will force the states still granting illegals licenses to stop. Driver's Licenses are the de facto symbol of U.S. citizenship though never acknowledged as such.
Removal of welfare benefits. Arizona's Proposition 200 succeeded where California's attempt to halt their gravy train a decade ago was killed by a liberal judge and a spineless governor. 200 proved that near-flawless legal writing plus public support can not be defeated.
Removal of employment opportunities. The rules for employers are written as if they are liable for more penalties than not if they do NOT readily employ illegal aliens. These rules must be changed so prospective employers can have access to a database that ties Social Security verification to the IRS's Non-verifiable database. Tie those to Homeland Security's known offenders and miracles would commence.
Enabling law enforcement. The CLEAR Act, stuck on the shelf two years now, would enable all law enforcement personnel to apprehend and arrest illegals for being here illegally. There goes Special Order 40!
And my personal contribution: Disband the Department of Education! That is a state function that worked until the Federal government interfered at our expense. Not only would that lop off a limb of the bloated bureaucracy, it would remove or severely set back the Supreme Court's edict that all persons breathing on our soil receive K-12 education on our dime.
I also want Supreme Court judges to be answerable to some sort of multi-partisan oversight committee and all Federal judges opened up to impeachment proceedings and subsequent removals. What was designed to be the weakest part of the triad has overwhelmed the other two by the judiciary's ability to rule itself practically invulnerable.
Much more can be done than I've listed here. We few members should be making our Representatives lives as miserable as possible before the window the Minuteman Project opened up slams closed again under the weight of special interest's money. Call, fax and use oldmail (it's novelty and trackability lends it more juice than easily erased electronic messaging).
That would be a great start.I agree.
BUMP
What is wrong with Christian charities? I thought you were for private interests/communities performing functions rather than have the government mind these problems via a bureacratic entity and it's accompanying taxation to pay for it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.