As if the Immigrant Population Was Not Rising Fast Enough



S2B-crowd-headerThe focus on President Obama’s usurpation of Congressional authority to regulate immigration has centered on the unconstitutionality of the action, on the counter productivity of rewarding illegal immigration, on the harm to state and local governments including school boards forced to extend resources to illegal residents, and the danger to public safety that will result from tying the hands of law enforcement against criminals and possible terrorists. What has been less discussed is the effect of the amnesty provisions on expanding immigration far beyond the levels that the U.S. public is willing to accept.

As a nation built on immigration, the United States has always kept the door open to some immigration. But as the nation has become more densely populated the flow of immigration became more highly restricted to limit its impact on existing communities and resources. The 1965 immigration legislation that ended country quotas was advertised as a measure to end a policy that discriminated in favor of European immigration but was not supposed to increase immigration. But that was false advertising. It opened the door to a rapidly rising flow of immigrants. What was a flow of fewer than 375,000 immigrant admissions per year at the beginnings of the 1970s is now averaging more than a million immigrant admissions per year. National opinion polls for many years have recorded that the public is opposed to any increase in immigration. (See http://www.fairus.org/facts/public-opinion.)

The president’s actions, however, clearly are an effort to set in motion a process by which those aliens who have come into the country in defiance of the law’s entry criteria will be allowed to stay permanently. That is the effect of the policy of “discretion’ in whom to deport, and it has been formalized in the distribution of work permits to illegal aliens brought here by their parents, and expanded in the most recent policy announcement of giving work permits to illegal aliens who have U.S. born children of legal resident family members.

The eventual increase in immigrant admissions – unless reversed by Congress or the courts – is likely to be in the millions of persons. These are millions of residents who Congress was asked to admit as legal residents and refused to accept.

Few Americans realize that immigration today accounts for about three-fourths of the nation’s population growth or that the immigrant share of population growth has been and will continue to rise unless a more restrictive immigration policy and increased enforcement are adopted. (See immigrationandpopulation.com.) If the public better understands the effect of immigration on population increase and the extra-legal actions of the administration in imposing ever higher immigration on the nation, it will be better able to protest those policy measures.

About Author

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Jack, who joined FAIR’s National Board of Advisors in 2017, is a retired U.S. diplomat with consular experience. He has testified before the U.S. Congress, U.S. Civil Rights Commission, and U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform and has authored studies of immigration issues. His national and international print, TV, and talk radio experience is extensive (including in Spanish).

7 Comments

  1. avatar

    The only issues that matter now are halting illegal immigration, substantially reducing legal immigration quotas, reforming the refugee resettlement scam, and putting American citizens first.

    If we don’t halt the Left-Big Business immigration schemes, America is doomed. All other issues pale in comparison- don’t get side-tracked!

  2. avatar

    it’s treason as our great constitution states that him leavingniour borders open. demands a death sentence at once amen .same as granting illegal amnesty ,and arming and abetting isis ,and rekleasingthiose dangerousc terrorists all demand a death sentence at once. amen .he must be tried at once. wec the people demand that our country be returned to the people.

    amen . not merxico . amen .
    amen .

  3. avatar

    “Few Americans realize…”. True that. Most could not tell you what our present population is or how many immigrants we take in a year, or how immigration is at historic highs. They can tell you who won Survivor.

    • avatar

      Actually, as I understand it, the USA allows 1million LEGAL Immigrants per year. The last census showed our population rose by 30 million over the previous ten years. That means to me, the illegal population rose by 20 million and that doesn’t count the one’s that didn’t take part in the census. I personally believe the 14th amendment was never intended for None citizens to come here and have free baby’s at the Tax payers expense, that became automatic citizens and collect welfare because they have no legal parents in the USA. It’s BS plain and simple.

      • avatar

        J Plants if you were to profile the Welfare, you will see that there are no illegals in there…….and that the majority are Americans………………………this is all a farce……look at the Somalies, Muslims being brought to Maine and how Florida is Cuban and still a free green card for thos BUT not wait….the Mexicans…….HAHA!! the hardest group or working people……!!!

        • avatar

          The Truth, what a name!
          From your ridiculous rants, I can only assume you mean TRUTH in the same way the the old Soviet rag PRAVDA meant truth.
          I took a hidden camera into the local food stamp office a couple of years ago. More than 90% of the customers were Hispanic.
          They had a table where several interpreters sat to help those who did not speak English, and most of the Hispanics seemed to have that problem.
          Take your “TRUTH” back to the land of unicorns where it belongs.