The most ignored aspect of immigration is the fact that the United States cannot environmentally sustain the additional 200 Million Legal and Illegal immigrants that could establish citizenship, should the Senates 2006 Amnesty Bill pass in 2007. This near doubling of US population would occur in the next 50-75 years and would tear the social fabric of US society to pieces. If you do nothing else please view the video presentation, by Roy Beck (Numbers USA) under the "Related Video Links."
Population Control must be considered from both a national and international perspective. One inescapable fact, regarding US population control, is that legal and illegal immigration have become the most troublesome factors.
http://www.numbersusa.com/about/webcards_expanded.htm
300 million Current U.S. population (2006)
203 million U.S. population in 1970
420 million Census projection for 2050
571 million Census projection for 2100
328 million U.S. pop. (2050) if reduce to zero-net immigration
50% % of sprawl due to population growth
3.3 million Annual U.S. population growth
850,000 New illegal aliens each year
1 million New legal immigrants each year
900,000 Births to foreign-born each year
86% % of pop. growth due to immigration
Sources: Census Bureau, INS, USDA, CPS
http://www.numbersusa.com/about/webcards_expanded.htm
The following information, from "Negative Population Growth", encapsulates the problem of global population growth:
Why Population Matters
* The current world population is over 6 billion and increases at a rate of 76,570,430 people every year.
* Since 1950, U.S. population has nearly doubled - growing from 151 million to over 296 million today. If present trends continue, our population will exceed 400 million by the year 2050.
* More people means more pollution, more sprawl, less green space, and even more demands on the earth's already overburdened resources.
NPG is the leader in the movement for a sound population policy and advocates a smaller and truly sustainable population through voluntary incentives for smaller families and reduced immigration levels.
It does not take a genius to recognize that we cannot continue this trend without dire consequences: (1) Wars over essential resources such as oil, water and food; (2) Declining quality of life for all but the elite. It also doesn't take a genius to understand that current US policy, which emphasizes abstinence over contraception, is insane. But then what else would you expect from the Bush, Clinton, Bush or Reagan administrations?
During the first half of 2001 we began to see rolling energy blackouts in California and there were nationwide warnings about projected increases in the price of all forms of energy over the next 12 months. The newly appointed Bush administration responded with a list of “environmentally unfriendly” remedies which included: 1) Drilling for oil in the animal refuges of Alaska and off the coast of Florida; 2) Placing “dirty” coal fired energy plants back on line and 3) building new Nuclear Power Plants. But the most interesting aspect of the media coverage was what was conspicuously not being discussed. And that would be immigration as it relates to U.S. population growth.
According to U.S. Census projections the U.S. population could more than double from 275 million to 571 million in the next 100 years. And most of that increase will be due to an unprecedented rate of immigration that has not been seen since the 1930’s. Consider the following facts gleaned from the article in the magazine “E: The Environmental Magazine” (November 2000) “Can America Sustain a Population of 500 Million by 2100?”:
* The President’s Council on Sustainable Development (1996) recommended stabilizing the U.S. population in order to avoid perilous effect on economic objectives and environmental quality.
* The U.S. is the fastest-growing country in the industrial world, with an annual population increase of 3 million people per year (1.2 percent annual growth).
* The U.S. population has grown as follows:
Year | U.S. Population |
1700 | 1,000,000 |
1800 | 5,000,000 |
1900 | 76,000,000 |
2000 | 280,000,000 |
2100 | 571,000,000 [Projected] |
* The combination of Legal Immigration (1 million per year) and Illegal Immigration (300,000 to 400,000 per year) account for over 70 percent of U.S. population growth.
* The Census Bureaus projects that, by 2050 more than 80 percent of the explosive growth then underway will be attributed to immigrants and their descendants who have arrived here since the 1990’s.
* If Immigration were completely restricted today we would achieve Zero Population Growth and the Census Bureau projects that this would leave us with a population of 314 million by the year 2050.
* According to the group, “Population-Environmental Balance” 93 percent of U.S. increases in energy use since 1970 can be traced to our population growth.
The preceding list of facts should make it abundantly clear that immigration is going to be a primary factor in the degradation of both economic and environmental sustainability over the next 100 years. And it’s not like the American people are opposed to restrictions on immigration. A Wall Street Journal/NBC News Poll (1998) found that 72 percent of the respondents opposed high immigration and this closely mirrors the opinion of immigrant populations. A Hispanic USA Research Group survey (1993) found 89 percent of the Hispanic Americans strongly support an immediate moratorium on immigration.
So if the American people favor reductions in immigration and immigration is a primary factor in maintaining economic/environmental sustainability, why is immigration not being discussed by the primary national media outlets (e.g. CNN, ABC, NBC etc.) as it relates to the future energy needs of American? While this is beyond the scope of this article I will speculate that it is somehow out of sync with the agenda of the multi-national corporations that have assumed ownership of the national media outlets. For some reason they don’t want immigration to become part of the energy debate.
While we can’t determine the motivation of the primary national media outlets we can take a closer look at Bush’s Energy Secretary, Spence Abraham. In 2000 U.S. Senator Abraham (Republican) lost his seat to Democrat Stabenow despite the fact that contributions from the energy conglomerates allowed him to significantly outspend his opponent. Many believe that his demise was due to his support for a successful piece of legislation that doubled the number of high tech immigrants that would be allowed into this country: from 100,000 to 200,000 workers a year. The bill was signed into law in the last quarter of 2000. But his involvement with immigration policy doesn’t end there.
Before he was defeated for reelection, Abraham was chair of the Immigration Subcommittee. As chair he led the opposition to reduced immigration that was proposed by the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform. In Senate testimony during the month of March 2001, Abraham stated, "The clear cause of this electricity crisis… is an imbalance between supply and demand."
Ric Oberlink, spokesperson for the Los Angeles-based Californians for Population Stabilization responded to Abraham’s statement. "That’s exactly right. The question is how this imbalance developed. Per capita consumption has been flat in California for 25 years. All the increased demand is due to population growth and nearly all of that is coming from immigration. We may yet learn that manipulation by producers is a factor in price increases, but you can’t manipulate prices in times of surplus. You can only do that when supplies are short."
According to the California Energy Commission, per capita consumption of electricity in California was 7,292 kilowatt-hours in 1979. It dropped to 6,952 kilowatt-hours in 1999–a 5 percent decrease. However, during that same 20 years the state's population grew from 23 million to 33 million — a 43 percent increase. So once again it becomes apparent that immigration is the primary factor responsible for the imbalance between the supply and demand of energy in this country. And once again it raises the question: Why won’t the Bush Administration, and the national media, allow the immigration factor to be considered as we debate options for our energy future?
* A complete halt to both Legal and Illegal Immigration.
* Reward 3rd world countries that make efforts to reverse population growth through broad "Planned Parenthood Programs." These will include (1) making contraception methods widely and cheaply available (e.g., birth control pills, condoms, IUD's, Morning After Pills etc.).
Negative Population Growth
A national membership organization founded in 1972 to educate the American public and political leaders about the detrimental effects of overpopulation on our environment, resources and quality of life.
http://www.npg.org/
Population Connection (formerly Zero Population Growth)
Population Connection (formerly Zero Population Growth) has been educating young people with it's award-winning Population Education program and advocating progressive action to stabilize world population at a level that can be sustained by Earth's resources.
http://www.populationconnection.org/
Center for Immigration Studies
It is the Center's mission to expand the base of public knowledge and understanding of the need for an immigration policy that gives first concern to the broad national interest. The Center is animated by a pro-immigrant, low-immigration vision which seeks fewer immigrants but a warmer welcome for those admitted.
http://www.cis.org
NumbersUSA
To examine numerical levels of annual legal and illegal immigration. To educate the public about the immigration-reduction recommendations from two national commissions of the 1990s
http://www.numbersusa.com
Immigration Watchdog
This website provides plenty of videos and other information on Immigration, the North American Union and related topics.
http://www.immigrationwatchdog.com/
Population by the Numbers
You MUST watch the following 14 minute video by clicking below. This is a presentation by Roy Beck, from Numbers USA. You will be amazed as he explains the devastation that will occur if we allow our Congress to pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform after this November's election (2006). This short presentation provides the key argument in favor of restricting both further legal and illegal immigration into the United States.
Population by the Numbers by Roy Beck
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4094926727128068265&q=roy+beck&hl=en