Since 1970, the U.S. population has increased from 203 million to 306 million, i.e., over 100 million. In the next 40 years, the population will increase by 135 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., 0.975% (2009 estimate), principally due to immigration.
Immigration, legal and illegal, has had and will continue to have a major and far-reaching impact across a broad spectrum of existential challenges that confront this nation, e.g., national security, the economy/global competitiveness, jobs, health care, taxes, energy independence, education, entitlement reform, law enforcement, social welfare programs, physical infrastructure, the environment, civil liberties, and a continued sense of national identity/shared sense of endeavor. Immigration is the defining issue of our time with enormous implications for the future of this nation and the preservation of our patrimony. Yet, seldom will you hear immigration mentioned by our political and intellectual elites in connection with these challenges.
Jobs and Wages – The latest data show 22.1 million immigrants holding jobs in the U.S. with an estimated 7 million being illegal aliens. By increasing the supply of labor between 1980 and 2000, immigration reduced the average annual earnings of native-born men by an estimated $1,700 or roughly 4 percent. Among natives without a high school education, who roughly correspond to the poorest tenth of the workforce, the estimated impact was even larger, reducing their wages by 7.4 percent. The reduction in earnings occurs regardless of whether the immigrants are legal or illegal, permanent or temporary. It is the presence of additional workers that reduces wages, not their legal status. We are bringing in 125,000 LEGAL FOREIGN WORKERS A MONTH NOW.
Energy Independence – Our pro-population growth immigration policies will account for about three-quarters of the projected increase of 135 million in our population over the next 40 years. This is the equivalent of adding approximately the combined populations of the UK and Germany. How does population growth impact our energy needs? According to Population-Environment Balance (PEB), 93 percent of the U.S. increase in energy use since 1970 can be attributed to population growth. In 1970 the US consumed 14.7 million barrels of oil a day compared to approximately 22 million barrels today with about 70% of the total now being imported. The Democrats are preaching conservation and Green technology, but fail to mention increased demand due to immigration-fueled population growth. We will have to run just to stand still in terms of meeting our future energy needs. If we were to reduce our annual immigration to 300,000 from the current 1.2 million, by 2060 the population would be 80 million less than the projected 468 million. How much energy would that save?
Health Care – 34 percent of immigrants lack health insurance, compared to 13 percent of natives. Immigrants and their U.S.-born children account for 71 percent of the increase in the uninsured since 1989. Our Emergency Rooms have been turned into free health care clinics for immigrants, legal and illegal, affecting the quality and timeliness of services and increasing medical costs subsidized by the insured and the taxpayers.
Education – Immigration accounts for virtually all of the national increase in public school enrollment over the last two decades. In 2007, there were 10.8 million school-age children from immigrant families in the U.S. Although immigrants account for 13 percent of the population, they comprise 21 percent of the school age population.
Social Welfare Programs – The proportion of immigrant-headed households using at least one major welfare program is 33 percent, compared to 19 percent for native households. The poverty rate for immigrants and their U.S.-born children (under 18) is 17 percent, nearly 50 percent higher than the rate for natives and their children. Massive low-skill immigration works to counteract government anti-poverty efforts. While government works to reduce the number of poor persons, low-skill immigration pushes the poverty numbers up. In addition, low-skill immigration siphons off government anti-poverty funding and makes government efforts to shrink poverty less effective. Milton Friedman said, “You cannot simultaneously have free immigration and a welfare state.
The growth of government size and power is another very big issue .
The growth of big government is a product of immigration, which has driven population growth and added millions to the welfare rolls and to the Dem Party, the party of big government.
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 2023 half of the children 18 and under in the U.S. will be classified as minorities and by 2042, 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. 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.
If you think there is only one issue then you all need to have your head examined.
You do not even have a clue as to how mass immigration since 1965 has drastically changed this country. I suggest you read Robert Rector's, Importing Poverty: Immigration and Poverty in the United States: A Book of Charts To paraphrase Vicne Lombardi, immigration is not everything, it is the only thing. Big government is one of the products. With one in 8 in this country now foreign born and heading towards one in 5 by 2050, we are becoming more and more Balkanized along ethnic, linguistic, and racial lines. And the vast majority of these immigrants have a much different view of the role of government than the vision of our Founders.
Plus Palin is not for Amnesty for illegals.
Most of the thousands of government agencies like the EPA, FCC,FDA,FEC, NASA, dept of energy, dept of transportation, social security, welfare,dept of education, etc. were not created because of immigration but because of an ideology called marxism/liberalism/progressivism. The U.S. was made of immigrants and even up until the late 1800’s the government was small and limited even with the majority of Americans being immigrants . The government in the 1800's was not the monstrosity is now with thousands of agencies, thousands of laws etc. Every day many new laws get passed into law at the local , state, and federal level. Our private businesses and we the people are being chocked to death by government growth which includes more agencies all the time, new laws almost every day etc.
You clearly need help if think most of these agencies are being created because of immigration and that immigration is the only issue.