Immigration Political Dynamics

Townhall.com ^ | June 13, 2007 | Bruce Bartlett

[gpapa]

The immigration bill may be dead for now, but the political forces behind it have not gone away. Those will continue to impact both major political parties for many years to come.

The basic force is that Hispanics are increasing as a share of the population. According to the latest data from the Census Bureau, there were 44.3 million Hispanics in the United States as of July 1, 2006, constituting 14.8 percent of the population. And they are the fastest growing ethnic group, accounting for about half the growth of population during the previous year—1.4 million out of a total increase of 2.9 million.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Just say NO to Amnesty!! Keep calling!! It’s NOT OVER!!

U.S. Senate switchboard: (202) 224-3121

U.S. House switchboard: (202) 225-3121

White House comments: (202) 456-1111

Find your House Rep.: http://www.house.gov/writerep

Find your US Senators: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

[wardaddy]

Why is it not racist for the vaunted 14% Hispanics to support illegals because they are fellow Hispanics?

damn even usually reliable mostly lily white Cubans ( at least pre-Mariel) support amnesty...most disturbing

yet it is racist for a southern peckerwood like me to oppose illegals amnesty because i am not ready for third world illegals to become a plurality or majority here in short order?

I like the demographies better like they are....the predominate culture here has a helluva better track record than these illegals culture does....

it is not the third world by accident

[Democrat_media]

You hit the nail on the head. Good post.

This Amnesty bill must be stopped. The U.S. as we know it will cease to exist if it is not.

From the Washington Times:Bill permits 193 million more aliens

The Senate immigration reform bill would allow for up to 193 million new legal immigrants -- a number greater than 60 percent of the current U.S. population -- in the next 20 years, according to a study released yesterday. "The magnitude of changes that are entailed in this bill -- and are largely unknown -- rival the impact of the creation of Social Security or the creation of the Medicare program," said Robert Rector, senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation who conducted the study. Although the legislation would permit 193 million new immigrants in the next two decades

193 million legal 3rd world immigrants and millions more illegals coming to the U.S. will turn the U.S. into a socialist Mexico or Socialist Venezuela. FYI Democrats and Bush :Socialism doesn't work.

[TheThinker]

“It is extremely unlikely that the number of Hispanics or their percentage of the population will decline any time in the near future. Even if the 12 million illegals among them are not granted amnesty, the likelihood of mass deportation is virtually nonexistent. Like or not, they are here to stay and all we are really negotiating is the terms.”

I simply think what he’s saying here is true. But I do think that a large minority of illegals do not want to be citizens. I know that everyone equates offering citizenship to amnesty but I think that’s a mistake. Just hypothetically, if we granted citizenship to those already here that identify themselves and set a firm deadline, the ones that won’t come out of the shadows we deport. They don’t want to pay taxes but we can force it on them. This would be made possible only by strong border enforcement. Otherwise, like always, they will come back. I think that the vast majority of the American people would go for that and it would be a proposal politicians on both sides could work with.

[Cacique]

This is not over yet. Bush refuses to give up this easily. It's his stubborn character. He will try to resurrect it and call it something else. We have to keep our guard up. We need to keep the pressure up.

STAGE TWO is to go after the people who hire illegals. Start giving them fines and arresting them. Just catch ten or 100 of them on the nightly news. The magnet will dry up and most of the 12 million will go home by themselves.

As an addendum, we should anonymously call the IRS, people working "off the books" means taxes ain't being paid. Make anonymous fliers and hang them around the neighborhood, name names. It's time to embarrass these bustards, whether they give to the GOP or Rats, we don't need them.

CALL! CALL! CALL! CALL! AND KEEP CALLING TILL THE LINES FRY!

WRITE! WRITE! WRITE! WRITE! TILL YOU RUN OUT OF INK IN YOUR PEN!

Bombard the Democrats as well, especially the ones that ran on an anti illegal immigration plank and the ones in marginal districts who could be vulnerable. keep pounding on them. This is a bipartisan issue not a Conservative or Liberal issue BUT AN AMERICAN issue.

STOP AMNESTY NOW!! WE CAN DO IT!!

The best way to stop Shamnesty

[Wonder Warthog]

"I simply think what he’s saying here is true. But I do think that a large minority of illegals do not want to be citizens. I know that everyone equates offering citizenship to amnesty but I think that’s a mistake. Just hypothetically, if we granted citizenship to those already here that identify themselves and set a firm deadline, the ones that won’t come out of the shadows we deport."

I adamantly disagree with the idea of giving them citizenship. The problem can be "solved" by legislating a new class of permanent residency that does NOT offer a "path to citizenship". Such a non-citizen "path to legalization" will get the illegals "out of the shadows" WITHOUT awarding them the highest honor the USA can grant to a non-citizen---i.e. citizenship. The act of illegally entering our country MUST have a severe penalty, not the reward of citizenship.

This new class of permanent residency should be treated as you propose---"come out of the shadows" by a fixed date and register, otherwise you WILL be deported.

[gubamyster]

ping

[WOSG]

““It is extremely unlikely that the number of Hispanics or their percentage of the population will decline any time in the near future.”

This misses the point. Of course Hispanics are growing in their proportionate population, since the majority of immigrants come from one country. but the issue is not about the past, but the future. amnesty would have 12 million legalized immigrants becoming citizens and inviting their families, through chain migration this could be 40 million or so new immigrants, majority from a single country. This is a concentrated and unbalanced immigration flow.

Without legalization, this process would slow or stop.

[TheThinker]

Then what we do to stop chain migration or slow it dramatically is only to allow newly legal citizens to send only for their spouses and children not their brothers, sisters, parents and so on.

[Wonder Warthog]

"Then what we do to stop chain migration or slow it dramatically is only to allow newly legal citizens to send only for their spouses and children not their brothers, sisters, parents and so on."

It ought to be that way even for those who go through the legal immigration process.