- In this three part series, you may enjoy Maria Fotopoulos,
Senior Writing Fellow at www.capsweb.org as she examines amnesty for 20
million illegal aliens now residing within the United States. She addresses
the key word 'sustainability' in "No home for amnesty in a sustainable
America."
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- THE CURRENT STATE OF IMMIGRATION
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- "Since first rewarding illegal aliens with amnesty
and a path to citizenship in the 1980s, the U.S. population has continued
to grow inexorably with no end in sight," said Fotopoulos. "The
U.S. Bureau of the Census makes low, middle and high projections for future
population growth. On the high end, by 2100, U.S. population may be more
than 1 billion. The decade starting in 1990 saw the biggest population
increase of any prior 10-year period in U.S. history.
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- "In California, which absorbs about 21 percent of
the country's immigrants, the state's continuing population explosion is
attributable to immigration and the higher-than-average fertility rates
of new immigrants. The state has an estimated 3-5 million illegal aliens
among its population of 39 million.
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- "Hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens settle
in across the U.S. from every imaginable country from A to Z-Afghanistan
to Zimbabwe, with Albania, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Jamaica,
Mexico, Somalia, Sudan and others in between.
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- "Our neighbor to the immediate south, however, accounts
for the largest percentage at 56 percent. Estimates suggest that as many
as half of all Mexicans living in the U.S. are here illegally. Of all deportations,
Mexico represents 70 percent, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Deportations doubled from 1999 to 2008 to nearly 360,000, of which 97,000
were criminal deportations.
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- "With a population of 13.6 million in 1900, Mexico's
population has now ballooned to 111 million. A well-known litany of poverty,
drug trafficking and government corruption in Mexico, coupled with inadequate
border and immigration enforcement on the U.S. side, has led to the ongoing
exodus of Mexicans from their home, with the tacit support of the Mexican
government.
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- "While people illegally crossing the Mexico- U.S.
border by foot or vehicle is a familiar image and the source of 60 percent
of illegal aliens, the other 40 percent arrived legally and overstayed
their visas."
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- AMNESTY UNDER PRESIDENT OBAMA
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- "Scantly mentioned by either presidential candidate
in the 2008 race, the issue of illegal immigration was overshadowed by
the severe recession when President Obama took office," said Fotopoulos.
"But it was clear that the President favored both an amnesty and an
increase in the number of immigrants allowed into the U.S.
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- "Among the five cornerstones promoted on the White
House's immigration webpage were plans to "increase the number of
legal immigrants to keep families together and meet the demand for jobs
that employers cannot fill" and "support a system that allows
undocumented immigrants who are in good standing to pay a fine, learn English,
and go to the back of the line for the opportunity to become citizens."
With Obama in office, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid moved quickly with
a placeholder bill for amnesty legislation, S.9, the Stronger Economy,
Stronger Borders Act of 2009, calling for "reforming and rationalizing
avenues for legal immigration."
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- "In a major speech on immigration in summer 2010,
Obama called for amnesty in the guise of immigration reform, blaming the
"pressure of partisanship and election year politics" for derailing
his plans for a "pathway for legal status" for millions living
in the U.S. illegally. Despite the rhetoric and intense pressure from open-border
advocates, it is unlikely that Congress will take up immigration legislation
before the November 2010 elections; there simply is not enough support
to get a bill passed.
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- "Hence, open-border groups began pushing Obama to
implement a de facto amnesty through executive action, a temporary halt
to nearly all deportations as well as the issuance of work permits to illegal
aliens. Breaking news of this development led Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa)
and seven other senators to write Obama and ask for a "commitment
that the Administration has no plans to ... change the current position
of a large group of illegal aliens already in the United States."
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- WHAT CITIZENS SAY
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- "Poll after poll indicates that the majority of
Americans view illegal immigration differently than the Obama administration
does," said Fotopoulos. "A USA Today/Gallup Poll found that
80 percent of Americans are concerned that illegal immigrants burden schools,
hospitals and other government services, and 77 percent believe that they
drive down wages. A New York Times/CBS poll found that 82 percent think
border enforcement is insufficient to keep illegal aliens from coming to
the U.S., and a Rasmussen Reports poll showed 79 percent did not think
the government was doing enough to secure the border.
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- "Several surveys have shown broad, national support
for the Arizona law. The Associated Press reported that its recent poll
found "almost twice as many people support the Arizona law as those
who oppose it." Like other states-and border states in particular-
Arizona has been under attack in recent years by both an unchecked increasing
illegal population and crime. From 2000 to 2008, the number of illegal
aliens in Arizona skyrocketed by 70 percent, and 14 percent of the prison
population was illegal aliens.
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- "In addition to widespread public disapproval of
illegal immigration, there are problematic implications to implementation
of any amnesty legislation. A known weak and nonperforming agency, the
USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) would be responsible
for processing millions of people which will take time and millions of
dollars. Past amnesties have been plagued by fraud and abuse. One of the
biggest problems would be accurately identifying applicants- their actual
names, history and background. Many applicants will have a long history
of scamming the immigration benefits system by using alternative names,
fraudulent or stolen Social Security numbers and ITINs (Individual Taxpayer
Identification Numbers), or counterfeit birth certificates. The Mexican
government-issued matricula consular card is notoriously unreliable."
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- For more information please contact: www.capsweb.org
- info@CAPSweb.org
- Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS)
- 1129 State Street, 3-D
- Santa Barbara, CA 93101
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