The US should think long and hard about the high number of Latino immigrants

Congresswoman Jordan was worried about the adverse impact of high levels of legal and illegal immigration on poor citizens, disproportionately Latinos and African-Americans. The principal beneficiaries of our current immigration policy are affluent Americans who hire immigrants at substandard wages for low-end work. Harvard economist George Borjas estimates that American workers lose $190 billion annually in depressed wages caused by the constant flooding of the labor market at the low-wage end.

The healthcare cost of the illegal workforce is especially burdensome, and is subsidized by taxpayers. To claim Medicaid, you must be legal, but as the Health and Human Services inspector general found, 47 states allow self-declaration of status for Medicaid. Many hospitals and clinics are going broke because of the constant stream of uninsured, many of whom are the estimated 12 million to 15 million illegal immigrants. This translates into reduced services, particularly for lower-income citizens.

The US population totaled 281 million in 2000. About 35 million, or 12.5 percent, were Latino. The Census Bureau projects that our population will reach 439 million in 2050, a 56 percent increase over the 2000 census. The Hispanic population in 2050 is projected at 133 million – 30 percent of the total and almost quadruple the 2000 level. Population growth is the principal threat to the environment via natural resource use, sprawl, and pollution. And population growth is fueled chiefly by immigration.
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The author is really grasping at straws if  he thinks Obama shares his concerns.  Obama was elected because he is of non-white  immigrant stock and his policies will all be coloured by that fact.  Obama favours the capitalists, because he knows which side his bread is buttered, and longs for the day when whites are made into a minority – simply out of spite.

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US birth-rate mirrors recession

Newly-released US census figures show a strong slowdown in the birth-rate that began before the economic crisis hit.

High house prices, which peaked in 2006, may have also played a role in discouraging couples from having more children.

And more recently, there is evidence that immigration into the US has dropped sharply, further lowering the population growth rate.

Half of all children under five in the US are from minority households.
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If you look at some of the other entries in this blog you will notice that they predict a lower birth rate as a result of the recession.  This is what historically has been observed to happen.

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Border arrests of immigrants falling to 1970s figures – US

The downward trend in apprehensions began about three years ago, about the same time the federal government started fortifying the border with more agents, fencing and infrastructure.

The border enhancements weren’t enough on their own to stop immigrants from entering the country. But with the U.S. economy in a tailspin, few incentives remain for immigrants to endure the increasingly difficult border crossings.

“A lot of people who would have come here illegally and stayed illegally are not bothering to come to the U.S.,” said Demetrios Papademetriou, president of the Migration Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. “The information that they are getting basically says there are no opportunities here.”

Many immigrants still try. For them, U.S. economic troubles seem trifling compared with the meager salaries at home. But the downward trend appears to break with past immigration patterns, when federal crackdowns in one place only led immigration flows to shift to other areas.

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Welcome respite.

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Mexicans Threaten War Over US Border Militarization

University of California Riverside ethnic studies professor warned of an impending war between United States and Mexico at a lecture sponsored by the Chicana/o Sudies Department, Feb. 25 at Sierra Hall.

Dr. Armando Navarro asked an audience of more than 70 what position they would take should the United States wage a war with Mexico while promoting his latest book, “The Immigration Crisis.”

“We’re in a critical junction as it relates to immigration. The focus will be on militarization of the border,” said Navarro.

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War is what it will come down to sooner or later.

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US Illegal Immigrant Population Declined 2008

The number of illegal immigrants in the USA fell for the first time in at least four years, as the nation’s tough economy discourages people from sneaking into the USA, the Homeland Security Department said Monday.

The decline still left the country with 11.6 million illegal residents in January 2008, down from a record 11.8 million a year earlier, according to a Homeland Security report. There were about 4 million illegal residents in 1990, according to federal agencies and researchers.

Growth in illegal immigration since 2000 has been driven largely by Mexicans, who now account for 61% of illegal residents, the Homeland Security report says.

Nevada’s 280,000 illegal immigrants account for 11% of its population, the highest proportion of any state, according to Census figures and the report. In Arizona, 9% of residents are illegal migrants.

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This figure is surprisingly high when you consider the amnesty for illegal immigrants.

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Hispanic “share of US population is a demographic time bomb”

It’s not a bad thing that Republicans and Democrats represent different interests; any successful society needs a north pole and a south pole, a yin and yang. The problem with excessive immigration is that we’re getting too much yin and not enough yang, as it were. And because today’s immigrants side with Democrats on not just immigration policy but a host of other issues, Nadler’s prescription of me-too Republicanism on immigration can’t change that. The fact that John McCain—the exemplar of the me-too approach—couldn’t carry the Hispanic vote even in his home state of Arizona, where voters knew full well his expansionist, pro-amnesty views, suggests that the way out of the hole some Republicans find themselves in is not to keep digging.Implicit in Nadler’s argument is a kind of fatalism, an acceptance that mass immigration is inevitable: He encourages Republicans to win Hispanic votes through supporting mass immigration, without weighing the benefits of that approach against the benefits of a successful attempt to significantly decrease immigration. He calls the growing Hispanic share of the population “a demographic time bomb, triggered by the ordinary migrations of Hispanic citizens.”

But mass immigration—legal or illegal—is not inevitable; it’s an artifact of government policy that can be ended by changing that policy.

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High teen birth rate a challenge for Latinas

Utah’s Latina teens have an alarmingly high birth rate: They are nearly four times more likely than other 15- to 17-year-olds to have a baby.The Utah Department of Health is releasing the report on Latino health disparities today as part of a series exploring the challenges facing Utah minorities.

It shows that while nearly 18 of every 1,000 girls ages 15 to 17 in the general Utah population had a baby in 2006-07, 66 of 1,000 Latinas had one.

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Portland is too White says Oregon news reporter

As the nation’s first African American president prepares to take office this week, metro Portland — with its overwhelmingly white population and leadership — is demographically out of step with 2009 America.

Among the nation’s 40 largest metro areas, only four — none of them in the West — are whiter than Portland, new census figures show.

“Oregon was virulently racist for much of its history,” says Bragdon, the Metro leader. “And if you don’t have a large minority population, that becomes self-reinforcing over time.”

Portland will grow less white and more diverse — just more slowly than the rest of the country, experts say. Latinos in particular will play a much bigger role in the metro area’s future.

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