Posted on 09/01/2007 8:36:35 AM PDT by processing please hold
If both legal and illegal immigration continues at its current pace, the U.S. population will grow by 1.25 million per year and reach a net total of 468 million by 2060, according to a report issued Thursday by a Washington think tank.
That increase of 167 million people over the next 53 years "is equal to the combined populations of Great Britain, France and Spain," said Steven Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), during a news conference at the National Press Club.
Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Camarota wrote in his report, "100 Million More: Projecting the Impact of Immigration on the U.S. Population, 2007 to 2060," that "about 1.6 million new legal and illegal immigrants settle in the country each year. About 350,000 immigrants go home, so net immigration is about 1.25 million."
Immigrants who will arrive in the future and their descendants "will account for 105 million, or 63 percent of the increase," a total that by itself "is equal to 13 New York Cities," he said.
"If the United States actually started enforcing its immigration laws and reduced illegal immigration, that would have a very significant impact on future population increases," Camarota said. However, net immigration "has been increasing to the United States for about five decades."
"While illegal immigration is certainly a very large number, the overwhelming majority of the population increase will come from legal immigration, which is very high," he said. "Last year, for example, the United States allowed 1.2 million people to settle in the country permanently on a legal basis."
"The central question these projections raise and the American people must answer is what costs and benefits come from having a much larger population and a more densely settled country," he added.
Roy Beck, executive director of Numbers USA, said during a panel discussion on the report that he found the study "thoroughly depressing" and "a devastating prognosis for the country" because of what its data predict about the future quality of life in America.
"Every time an American complains about traffic congestion, infrastructure overload, private schools, loss of natural habitat, the possibility to get out of town and have some spiritual recreation in nature, that is a result of federal policy" on immigration, he said.
However, Ben Wattenberg, senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute (AEI), responded that despite the findings in the report, he considers the U.S. to be "under-populated" as evidenced by all the "flyover country" he sees when traveling "from sea to shining sea."
The AEI scholar dismissed the phrase "'population explosion,' which we have been told is something to dread. That is putting into two words something that can be put in one, which is 'growth.' The question is whether or not that growth is harmful."
"In 1790, there were 4 million Americans in our first census. Today, there are 301 million in the country, a 75-fold increase," he said. "Now, what happened to that nation, which suffered from the most terrible population explosion? It became the most prosperous and influential nation in human history - so what's the problem?"
Wattenberg also said America "is a wonderful place to live, because wonderful people live here," but there is "always some kind of nativist, anti-immigrant feeling." All immigrant groups "start out being hated," but one or two generations later, "they end up being assimilated into U.S. society."
Today's "hate du jour" is toward Mexicans, even though the largest percentage of Medal of Honor winners are Mexican immigrants, he added.
"I hope you're not suggesting that anybody who's critical of current immigration levels is wearing a white sheet," Camarota replied.
Regarding history, "World War I came along in 1914, as well as restrictive legislation in the 1920s, and immigration was low for about 50 or 60 years," he continued. "If that's to be our guide, then we need to have low immigration for many years so we can assimilate the immigrants already here."
"Immigration is not the weather. It is not something outside our control," Camarota added. "What the American people have to decide is whether they want to live in the society these projections lead us to."
Considering the fact that they’re feeding us the lowball 12 mil number I would say that we’re probably halfway there already.
100 million people is a lot of people... Remember people die, get killed, etc... There are roughly 12-20 million illegals in the USA today. We have roughly over 300 million citizens... In 1968 we had under 200 million citizens- so we gained roughly 100 million people in 40 years, but thats with a starting point of 200 million.
I totally agree with that.
Kinda funny that they latched on to the 12 million number at least a year ago and it never goes up.
Another time another era. We are now having a full blown invasion from our southern border.
And it never will go up. Not for them. You’d think someone would point out to them that their numbers have remained the same for a year. They should at least go up by a couple of thousand. If for no other reason than for appearances sake.
Sounds good to me.
I stand apart from the standard anti-immigration crowd here. People are power. If we want to compete with India and China in this century we need to remain the #3 most populous country on the planet.
I repeat people are power.
Within 20 years we will be a Nation of 70% recent arrivals.
Our culture will be gone with the wind.
People power? All that's missing is a raised fist and changing your wording-'Power to the people.'
Hillary, I didn't know you signed up to FR.
Our culture will be gone with the wind.
Except in our own individual little family corners.
Immigration Could Add 100M to U.S. by 2060...
the US will cease to exist...the North American Union of Mexicans - with all other minorities such as former US citizens and the remains of the canadians will be merged into the new world of atzatlan!!!!
the most famous photo on the wall of every school...will be that of the founder.....jorge bush!!!
Watching the history channel this morning I caught an interesting comment. I’m not sure if I agree with it in it’s totality but there is some truth to it.
A commentator said that Texas was an example of successful illegal immigration from the USA. I won’t call that the whole truth but the result seems to be the same.
“However, Ben Wattenberg, senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute (AEI), responded that despite the findings in the report, he considers the U.S. to be “under-populated” as evidenced by all the “flyover country” he sees when traveling “from sea to shining sea.””
That has got to be about the dumbest quote ever attributed to a think-tank dweller.
He has done more to further their cause than any American president.
In the last 20 years the foreign-born population has increased from roughly 15M to 35M. Let's add in another 10M just for fun, meaning 30M foreign-born in the last 20 years.
If the rate continues, we'll therefore have another 30M in the next 20 years, bring the number of people in the country who entered in the previous 40 years to 60M. (Although, I'm not entirely sure you should call someone who's been here 40 years a "recent arrivel.")
One estimate is that US population in 2030 will be 360M.
If 60M of those entered in the previous 40 years, that would be 16.7% of the total US population.
BTW, Mexicans simply cannot swamp the US population in numbers. There just aren't enough Mexicans. Their population is only about 1/3 of ours, and for that matter somewhere around 10 to 20% of them are already here. If ALL Mexicans entered the US, our total Hispanic population would be somewhere in the vicinity of 35% of the total.
As far as I’m concerned 300 million is plenty. We just need to have enough American babies to sustain a stable population. Unfortunately our increasing socialization of society discourages large families for all but the poorest among us.
In my opinion we need to get back to earning enough for a family to live decent on a single income. It’s amazing how many women these days say that they wish they could return to the days of being a stay at home wife and mother.
Ain't life grand for a certain segment of our society.
“If we want to compete with India and China in this century we need to remain the #3 most populous country on the planet.”
Wake up man!!!
Do we really want to populate ourselves with illiterate peasants from third world countries? We have enough of our own unproductive illiterate high school dropouts.
If we really need more people, then we need a merit based immigration system, just like every other industrialized nation on the planet.
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