Posted on 09/02/2007 10:38:37 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
WASHINGTON - Immigrants and their children will account for more than half the country's population growth over the coming half-century, according to a study released Thursday.
The examination of new census figures by the Center for Immigration Studies found U.S. population levels, currently around 300 million, will shoot up to 468 million by 2060. California alone could be home to more than 60 million.
Immigrants - both legal and illegal - as well as their descendants are expected to make up about 105 million, or 63 percent, of the national increase.
"It's important to understand where we're headed in population size and why. The why is largely, but not exclusively, immigration," said Steven Camarota, author of the report.
The Center for Immigration Studies, a D.C.-based think tank, openly advocates immigration restrictions. While demographers across the ideological spectrum verified the group's numbers, opinions vary on what they mean for America's future.
William A.V. Clark, a geography professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, called 468 million "a really huge number, and it's being driven by immigration, there's no doubt about that."
Neither politicians nor city planners are preparing for or even discussing immigration's impact on population growth, he said.
Meanwhile, the impact in California, which is home to about 10 million foreign-born, will be particularly acute.
"If you think the 405 is bad now, it won't be moving unless they put a double-decker bus on it," Clark said.
"This is like the elephant in the bathtub," he said. "We're not building the infrastructure for the population we have now, much less this kind of growth."
But Jeff Passell, spokesman for the Pew Hispanic Center, which also is preparing population projections based on immigration, noted that without newcomers the U.S. could not have a growing labor force.
Dowell Myers, a professor of urban planning at USC, agreed.
Myers studies aging trends and called immigration part of the solution to the graying of America.
He noted that the ratio of senior citizens to working-age people will go up 30 percent in the next decade and spike another 30 percent after that.
"That is the central policy question America has to solve, and we have to solve it now," he said. Because foreigners who come to the U.S. tend to be young, he said, immigration can reduce the aging problem by about a quarter.
Myers also cast doubts on the study, noting that the analysis hinges on the assumption that fertility and immigration rates will both remain high.
Currently, the nation sustains an immigration rate of about 1.2 million annually, according to the study. Researchers based their projections partly on the past five decades, during which there has been a net immigration increase.
It's already happening....just heard a discussion about the viability of a plan to construct condos in Los Angeles that are 250 square feet...size of your average garage...
Yes...right now the prime prerequisite is that you are able to scale a fence...
The only ones who want this are the transnational corporations and the federal and state politicians they’ve corrupted. It is they who want to erase the American culture off the face of the earth.
In some places they don’t even have to do that.
The day is coming when people who live in single family homes will be seen as selfish and greedy for living so inefficiently.
Then, as has happened with cigarettes, high taxes will be placed upon single family homes in the hopes of dicouraging such a wasteful lifestyle.
We will be forced to live in cities that will be much more efficient in their use of resoucres.
And cities, by their crowding and sharing, breed liberal thinking.
That is why urban areas vote democrat--and they will, as I mentioned above, vote to discourage and tax single family homeowners.
Mark my words.
BTW, for some time now homeowners in parts of the USA can no longer use their fireplaces because of pollution from too many homes (really, too many people) in those areas.
As 3AngelaD said:
Does anyone remember voting to invite hordes of immigrants in?
I don't.
It seems the powers that be are foisting it on us.
Good point.
But I was thinking of 40+ years ago, when they changed the immigration laws to open the floodgates of people.
However, most of those who voted for Gore live in densely populated areas.
And they will want us to live like that also, because it's more energy and resource efficient.
And to experience the "wonder" of all those people, we need to live efficiently or we won't have any energy and resources left to share with them.
“As 3AngelaD said:
Does anyone remember voting to invite hordes of immigrants in?
I don’t.
It seems the powers that be are foisting it on us.”
There must be something about these places that makes them attractive places to live, no?
Count me out.
That's your prerogative. But keep in mind that a lot of other people share your preference -- which is why you are applying the term "overpopulated" to a country that isn't overpopulated in any sense of the word.
Sure.
People fleeing coasts overrun with immigrants.
We won't have to wait for a foreign country to conquer us.
By the time we have 1.5 billion citizens, we would no longer be a free country anyway.
A larger threat than numbers to me is this attempted conversion to a latin culture...for the life of me I can’t see the attraction...or why middle America would stand by and let that happen...I happen to adore Western/American culture....like Carlos Mencia said in a comedy bit on the subject: “Mexicans don’t have the ba**s to admit Mexico sucks... and that’s why they’re here”....they created their own third-world cesspool and now they want to come here and convert the US to the same....
thanks Ernest.
Immigration Could Add 100M to U.S. by 2060
NewsMax | ,August 31, 2007 | Randy Hall
Posted on 09/01/2007 11:36:35 AM EDT by processing please hold
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1889864/posts
I don’t mind a half billion Americans.
I do mind a half billion people inside the borders of the United States, many of whom know nothing about the national culture, traditions, and law of the place they are inhabiting.
Immigration isn’t the problem. Our inability or unwillingness to shape those immigrants into Americans is the problem. In fact, it is possible to assimilate those immigrants, even millions and millions of them. Make English the national language, or at least use that language as if it was the national language. Recreate what used to be called “civics class.” Promote patriotism. Cheer American heritage. Make sure that every immigrant has to pass a basic test about American history (and the same goes for high school students). Wear hats that say, “American pride.” Stand up every chance you get and say, “I’m proud of my country.”
We have enough room for a half billion people, too. By the way, that population will mean that the United States will continue to be a major force in the world, if nothing else but through sheer numbers.
My two cents.
And how pray tell, is REGULATED and CONTROLLED immigration more harmful than UNCONTROLLED, UNREGULATED immigration?
This oughtta be good.
Uncontrolled, unregulated immigration [illegal immigration] can be addressed more easily using physical barriers, ID systems, enforcing existing laws, etc. Moreover and most importantly, there is widespread public support for these actions. The only real road block is the political and corporate elites who have failed to act.
Regulated and controlled immigration [our current LEGAL immigration policies] will be more difficult to change due to several factors: (1)the public is generally in favor of the current immigration levels with some even wanting to increase it more; (2)the growing Hispanic political power fed by the fact that more than 60% of our legal immigrants come from Latin America and more than 80% of the illegals makes it difficult for politicans to change the current system; (3)one political party views immigration as a way of providing them with new constituents who can make them the permanent political majority; (4) political correctness in the guise of multiculturalism and diversity has stigmatized anyone who brings up the issue of Balkanization along cultural and linguistic lines if we continue to bring in the numbers and sources of current immigrants, legal and illegal; and (5)changing the status quo is always difficult, especially in the USG.
The fact is that we are taking in 1.2 million LEGAL immigrants a year compared to about 500,000 illegals. Under current LEGAL immigration policies, our population is going to increase from 301 million today to 468 million in 2060 — a 167 million (56 percent) increase. Immigrants plus their descendents will account for 105 million (63 percent) of the increase.
As far as I know, no one has bothered to put our current immigration policies up for a vote. The problem is that most Americans are not informed about the issue. They have no idea about the demographic impact that current legal immigration policies will have on the future of this country. That is why legal immigration is more dangerous and more of a threat to our national existence than illegal immigration.
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