Immigration101

Until Recently discussions on Immigration were limited to History Class.

The last 30 years have seen Federal Immigration Legislation changes.

Mass Immigration continues to this day and has many realizing the effects of Immigration on their lives.

Introduction

Legal Immigration has averaged 1,000,000 a year in the 1990’s

(all time record)

Statistics for 2000

Just under 850,000 due to INS processing delays.

Legal Immigration

Most legal immigration is classified into 6 categories.

1. Immediate Relatives2. Family-Based3. Employment-Based4. Refugees5. Those seeking Asylum6. Lottery Admissions

Immigration Categories

Size of Illegal Alien Population

Census Bureau estimates: 8.7 million illegal aliens reside in the United States

Entering Illegally: Borders Staying Illegally: example—entering as

tourists and stay past the date of temporary Visa’s

Illegal Immigration

Population Growth

According to the US Census Bureau, Immigration is directly responsible for over 60 percent of population growth.

Sustainable Development: The New American Dream March , 1996 reports that ¾ of all Americans feel that overpopulation is a serious threat to their children in the next 25 years

Social Problems

Urban Sprawl

An estimated 1,174 acres are developed every week due to immigrant population growth.

Additional public infrastructure costs come to 1.37 BILLION per year.

Per Capita Costs of Population Growth to Local Communities, Carrying Capacity Network

Localized Social Problems

An estimated 1,880,000 American workers are displaced from their jobs every year by immigration.

The cost for providing welfare and assistance to these Americans is over 15 Billion a year.

The Net Costs of Immigration, Donald Huddle, Rice University, 1996.

Can’t Find A Job?

According to The Bureau of Labor Statistics wage depression is attributable to job competition from Immigrants.

Too much immigration keeps wages low. →Wage increases in low-immigration cities have been 48% higher than in high immigration cities.Linked Migration Systems: Immigration and Internal Labor Flows in the United States, Economic Geography

Can’t support yourself with the only job you can find?

Ohio University economist Lowell Gallaway was cited in USA Today

“Poor English skills among foreign-born residents cost more than $175 billion a year in lost productivity, wages, tax revenues and unemployment compensation.”

Inefficiency

43% of immigrants under 65 have no health insurance; the cost of their healthcare is passed on to the public:

The Annual bill to taxpayers for Immigrant Medicaid is $14 billion and for Medicare 6.1 billion.

Federation for American Immigration Reform

Health Care

One fourth of the Federal Prison population is foreign-born.

The INS must deport over 30,000 criminal aliens every year.

INS Statistics Division

Crime

Undocumented aliens fear deportation which makes them less likely to cooperate with local authorities when crimes are committed in their communities.

Legal immigration should be encouraged to insure that immigrants do not have criminal backgrounds.

Legal immigrants are more likely to get documented jobs and pay taxes; they are also eligible for public services.

Help population control. No more deaths crossing the border.

Other things to consider

A topic that has been visited often by political pundits lately has been Immigration Reform.

It seems as though everyone has the solution to the problems with Immigration, but the general consensus is

1. Reduce Chain Migration2. Improve Interior Enforcement3. Restructure the INS

Immigration Reform

www.usdoj.gov/ins/Statistical information from INS www.migration.ucdavis.eduProvides a monthly world-wide migration news www.tscpress.comOffers an in depth study on immigration, population, national unity and balance of individual rights and civic responsibilities

Additional Resources