Total bullbleep. The proposed level for LEGAL immigration in the new Senate bill is 3 million a year. You can bet that those 3 million will bring in at least one other (spouse), and most likely children---and eventually they would probably bring in "mom and dad" on both sides. So any single initial immigrant would probably bring in AT LEAST 3 others--which gets the number up to 5 million a year quite easily.
But whaddaya expect from Cato. They are a subsidiary of the "big businees" wing of the Republican party.
The Bear-Stearns Reprt estimates the number at 20 million and noted the USG's and other's proclivity to underestimate the numbers.
"The Congressional Budget Office acknowledges “deriving estimates of the number of unauthorized, or illegal, immigrants is difficult because the government lacks administrative records of their arrival and departure, and because they tend to be undercounted in the census and other surveys of the population. Unauthorized immigrants generally fall into one of two categories: those who entered the United States illegally and without inspection and those who were admitted legally as visitors or temporary residents but overstayed their visa.”
According to Maxine Margolis, author of An Invisible Minority: Brazilians in New York City, the discrepancies started well over a decade ago. The 1990 census, for example, recorded only 9,200 Brazilians in New York City, while the local Brazilian consulate estimated 100,000 Brazilians at that time. The Brazilian foreign office placed the number at 230,000; Dr. Margolis also noted that comparisons of the Boston Archdiocese and Brazilian consulate records with U.S. census records show a startling 10 to 1 difference.
The latest census taken in 2000 significantly revised the number of illegal immigrants upward versus 1990 projections. The INS also increased their estimates. Upward revisions to such projections have been a consistent trend. Regardless of the politics of immigration, getting an accurate read on the size of the current wave is important. Tax collections, budget projections and school capacity planning are a few of the public sectors functions that rely on accurate head counts.
Eventually, the official statistics will catch up with the new reality that global migration is exploding. When population and labor force statistics are properly synchronized, we will see an impact on financial markets, economic statistics and social policy.