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We have just had the two highest decades of legal immigration in our history with over 26 million legal permanent immigrants entering during the period 1990 to 2010. In 1970 one in 21 in the U.S. was foreign-born; today, it is one in 8, the highest in over 90 years; and within a decade it will be one in 7, the highest in our history. In 1970 we had 9.7 million foreign-born and by 2010 that number had quadrupled to 40 million. We bring in 1.1 million legal permanent immigrants a year—more than the rest of the world combined. 44 percent of the adult legal immigrant heads of household and 78 percent of the illegal aliens (51 percent have no high school diploma) have a high school diploma or less. We are importing hundreds of thousands of unskilled and uneducated workers annually who will compete for jobs with the 40 percent of native-born adults who have a high school diploma or less. The results have been devastating.

In the fourth quarter of 2013, the standard unemployment rate (referred to as U-3) for native-born adults (age 18-65) who have not completed high school was 16.6 percent, while for those with only a high school education it was 8.5 percent. The broader U-6 measure of unemployment — which includes those who want to work, but have not looked recently, and those forced to work part-time — was 28.7 percent for native-born adults who have not completed high school and 16.5 percent for those with only a high school education. Minorities have fared even worse.

The U-6 rate for native-born African-Americans without a high school diploma was 40.4 percent and 27.5 percent for those with only a high school diploma. For native-born Hispanic-Americans the U-6 rate for those without a high school diploma was 30.8 percent and 20.9 percent for those with a high school diploma. In a letter from three members of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, they state that an amnesty will “likely disproportionately harm lower-skilled African-Americans by making it more difficult for them to obtain employment and depressing their wages when they do obtain employment.”

In the fourth quarter of 2013, there were only two working-age natives holding a job for every one that was not employed. This represents a huge deterioration. As recently as 2000, there were three working-age adults holding a job for every one not working. 24.8 percent of all children of the native-born working poor live in households headed by a high school dropout.

There are currently 61.1 million American men in their prime working years, age 25–54. An amazing one in 8 such men are not in the labor force at all, meaning they are neither working nor looking for work. This is an all-time high dating back to when records were first kept in 1955. An additional 2.9 million men are in the labor force but not employed (i.e., they are looking for jobs). That means a total of 10.2 million men aged 25-54 – or one out of every 6 men in his prime working years – are not holding jobs in the U.S. economy today. During the decade ending 2010, the largest in our history with 13.9 million legal permanent immigrants entering the country, we had a net loss of 400,000 jobs during that same period. There is no correlation between our job needs and immigration.

Data from 2011 show that an astonishing 57 percent of immigrant households with children accessed at least one major welfare program — particularly the non-cash programs such as food stamps and Medicaid. In 2010, 23 percent of immigrants and their U.S.-born children (under 18) lived in poverty, compared to 13.5 percent of natives and their children. Immigrants and their children accounted for one-fourth of all persons in poverty. 29 percent of immigrants and their U.S.-born children (under 18) lacked health insurance, compared to 13.8 percent of natives and their children. New immigrants and their U.S.-born children account for two-thirds of the increase in the uninsured since 2000. There are 10.4 million students from immigrant households in public schools, accounting for one in 5 public school students. Of these students, 78 percent speak a language other than English at home. Overall, one in 4 public school students now speaks a language other than English at home. Milton Friedman said, “You cannot simultaneously have free immigration and a welfare state.” We have both.