- Last week, I sat down in Washington, DC with Leah Durant,
Executive Director of "Progressives for Immigration reform." www.progressivesforimmigrationreform.org
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- Together, Ms. Durant and I watched a sobering slide show
by Dr. Jack Alpert on sustainability: www.skil.org
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- Later we discussed what we saw and what her organization
strives to accomplish.
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- Ms. Durant served as an attorney with the Civil Division
of the United States Department of Justice. She works for sustainable
living initiatives within the U.S. and internationally. She earned a B.A.
at the University of Maryland and a J.D. from the University Of Maryland
School Of Law.
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- "Progressives for immigration reform is a non-profit
organization that supports the principles of protecting workers' rights
and ensuring fair wages for America's workforce," states the PFIR
website.
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- PFIR's website includes information on all aspects of
immigration. The Pulse Opinion Survey, conducted April 2009 revealed:
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- · 67
percent of liberals felt the level of population growth caused by immigration
negatively impacts the quality of life in the U.S.
- · 58
percent felt that current levels of immigration are harmful to the environment.
- · 63
percent said that current levels of immigration hurts job prospects for
American workers.
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- How does immigration impact American labor?
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- "The number of immigrants living and working in
the United States is growing at an unprecedented rate," said Durant.
"Statistics issued by the U.S. Census Bureau indicate that 1.6 million
legal and illegal immigrants settle in the country each year, with the
U.S. netting somewhere around 1.25 million new immigrants yearly. The large
number of new immigrants added to the workforce through legal and legal
immigration has major implications on the availability of jobs for many
Americans. Unemployment rates in the U.S. are now the highest in over 16
years. Statistics issued by the Bureau of Labor for January 2009, reveal
a national unemployment rate of 7.6 percent, with 11.6 million Americans
reportedly out of work. (Currently at 9.6 percent and 15 million Americans
out of work.)
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- "In the midst of the current economic crisis, growing
numbers of Americans are being displaced by lower cost legal and illegal
immigrant workers. Many businesses take advantage of illegal and cheap
foreign labor as a way of reducing costs and increasing profits.
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- "Of particular concern is the impact that continued
large-scale importation of workers has on those Americans at the lower
end of the socio-economic scale. According to the Current Population Survey
(CPS), which is collected monthly by the Census Bureau for the Bureau of
Labor Statistics, in Fiscal Year 2008, 1.45 million new immigrants gained
legal authorization to work in the United States. In addition to these
new, legal foreign workers, The Pew Hispanic Center estimates that during
that same year, 7.7 million illegal aliens were employed in the United
States. Nationally, some estimates for the number of American workers displaced
by immigration each year are as high as two million.
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- "Adding millions of newcomers to the work force
creates unfair competition and reduces wages and the availability of jobs
for all workers. It is essential that immigration policy consider the impacts
that mass immigration has on native-born and legal American workers."
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- How Does Immigration Impact Growth?
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- "The nation's ongoing debate over the number of
legal and illegal immigrants entering the country each year has raised
legitimate questions about the sustainability of current U.S. immigration
policies and the size of nation we wish to become," said PFIR. "Although
political sensitivity has often curtailed the discussion of the impact
that immigration has on U.S. population size, the fact is that immigration
accounts for 63% of our nation's population growth. For over 30 years,
immigration has served as the largest contributor to the increase in U.S.
population. As a direct result of its immigration policies, the United
States is now the third most populous nation in the entire world and grows
at a rate of more than twice that of China. In fact, the United States
has the fastest population growth of any industrialized nation, and is
surpassed only by India and Nigeria.
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- "The United States currently adds 1.25 million
immigrants (net) to its population every year. Without a return to more
traditional levels of immigration, somewhere in the neighborhood of 300,000
per year, U.S. population is slated to increase from 307 million today
to 468 million by the year 2060.
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- "Public opinion polls demonstrate that stabilizing
the size of U.S. population is a concept that most Americans are willing
to embrace. Whether America achieves a sustainable population will be determined
by the responsibility of the actions we take as a nation. In order to attain
the goal of population stability, the U.S. must take control of its immigration
system by implementing policies having a positive impact on U.S. population
growth. This goal can be reached only by curtailing large-scale immigration
and ending the policies of chain-migration, which serve as the source of
our rampant growth."
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- How Does Immigration Impact The Environment?
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- "According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the vast majority
of population growth in the United States is the result of legal and illegal
immigration, plus the higher than replacement fertility rates of most recent
immigrants," said PFIR. "Due in large part to our present growth-rate
of 1.1% per year, immigration-driven growth has huge implications for the
future of environmental conservation. As the United States careens toward
a population surpassing 400 million by mid-century, it becomes painfully
clear that achieving our environmental objectives will largely hinge upon
the immigration policies we chose to enact.
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- "Because of the need to provide for rampant population
growth, the United States has experienced accelerated ground water degradation,
pollution, the destruction of forests, national parks and natural habitats,
along with the over-consumption of precious natural resources. The good
news is that by regaining control of its immigration policy, America has
the ability to reverse this threatening trend. By taking steps to reduce
immigration, America can reduce our population's devastating impacts on
the environment before it is too late."
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- We enjoy a choice in 2009. If we continue on our current
path, the choice will be taken from us. Please visit www.progressivesforimmigrationreform.org and
take action for all Americans and future generations.
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- ________
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- To take action: First and foremost, join www.numbersusa.com and
become one of nearly a million Americans making impact with pre-written
faxes and phone calls to change immigration policies toward a stable future.
Bi-partisan and highly effective!
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