Currently, 1.6 million legal and illegal immigrants settle in the country each year; 350,000 immigrants leave each year, resulting in a net immigration of 1.25 million. Since 1970, the U.S. population has increased from 203 million to 310 million, i.e., over 100 million. In the next 40 years, the population will increase by 130 million to 440 million. Three-quarters of the increase in our population since 1970 and the projected increase will be the result of immigration. The U.S., the world’s third most populous nation, has the highest annual rate of population growth of any developed country in the world, i.e., 0.977 percent (2010 estimate), principally due to immigration.
What would be the perfect racial/nationality make up of the United States, in your mind?
My problem with legal immigration has nothing to do with racial composition. It has to do with numbers and the importation of poverty. We don't need 1.2 million legal immigrants a year, most of whom are poor and uneducated. 57% of immigrant headed households are on welfare. Milton Friedman said, “You cannot simultaneously have free immigration and a welfare state.” We have both.
We need to formulate a merit based immigration system that brings in the skills and talents to keep us competitive in the global economy. And reduce immigration levels based on need more closely approximating 300,000 a year, which it was during the period 1925-1965.
Historical Legal immigration
FYI: 87 percent of the 1.2 million legal immigrants entering annually are minorities as defined by the U.S. Government and almost all of the illegal aliens are minorities. By 2019 half of the children 18 and under in the U.S. will be classified as minorities and by 2039, half of the residents of this country will be minorities. Generally, immigrants and minorities vote predominantly for the Democrat Party. Hence, Democrats view immigration as a never-ending source of voters that will make them the permanent majority party.
Since the 1965 Immigration Act, our pro-population growth immigration policies have fueled major demographic changes in a very short period of time. In 1970, non-Hispanic whites comprised 89 percent of the population; today they are 66 percent; and by 2042, they will be 50 percent. By 2050 one in three residents of this country will be Hispanic. The Democrats, under the banner of multiculturalism and diversity, have forged a political coalition that depends on individuals coalescing around racial and ethnic identities rather than the issues. The continuing and increasing flow of minority immigrants, mostly poor and uneducated, provide a natural constituency for the Democrats, which see them as their principal source of political power.
There is no doubt that our legal immigration policies have changed the demographics of this country since 1965. It is not a matter of what I choose or want, it has already happened. The real question is where do we go from here.