June 30, 2003
There was a time when America needed immigrants to work in its factories, to help build its infrastructure of roads, bridges and tunnels, to go West to farm its plains, and all the other tasks necessary to nation-building. That era is over. Now immigration, especially illegal immigration from Mexico, Central and South America, is the source of major economic and social problems.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has just declared the Mexican government’s "Matricula Consular" card, issued to Mexicans living in the U.S., to be an unreliable form of identification, posing a criminal and terrorist threat.
Nowhere is this more evident than in California. It is being destroyed by U.S. immigration policies. A June 2000 report by Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS) dramatically confirms this. Based on information from the California Department of Finance, along with statistics provided by the U.S. Census Bureau, it reveals that, between 1990 and 2000, one single decade, "virtually all population growth in California is due to direct immigration and births to immigrants."
When you combine direct immigration (57%) with births to foreign-born women, 98% of California’s rise in population over the passed decade is making life difficult, stressful, and costly for its citizens. Migration from other States to California is no longer a factor. During the last decade, California had the largest population jump in history, fully 13%, adding 4,208,000 people. That’s more than the entire population of Ireland. If this trend were to continue, the State’s population would double in 40 years.
By contrast, California’s native-born (U.S.) population increased by a scant 2%. This is attributed to the fact that many Californians are moving to other states. Out of 5,588,653 births between 1990 and 2000, those of native-born Californians increased by only 90,000, while births to immigrants rose 45%!
The CAPS report concludes that "Mass immigration is the cause of most of California’s most pressing problems: too many people living in poverty, the shortage of schoolrooms and teachers, the closing of hospitals, and the impact of overpopulation on biodiversity. For all of the above reasons, California’s present and predicted future size is a wakeup call for the State and the nation."
To understand California’s immigration problem, during the same decade, all of the northeastern States from Maine to Virginia, combined, gained less than four million people, i.e., native-born along with both legal and illegal immigrants. However, it’s worth noting that, during the same decade, the population of illegal immigrants in New Jersey doubled.
I was recently in Los Angeles and even a brief visit demonstrated the problems this massive influx of immigrants is creating. Highway congestion in that metropolitan area is a nightmare. California’s answer, however, is to build more highways. The CAPS report estimates that more than three million new vehicles were added to roadways in the past decade. Statewide, there is an increasing water crisis. It is locked into disputes with other States, and even Canada, to secure sufficient water for its exploding population.
Education is suffering statewide in California. "The State’s university system, once the envy of the nation, has fallen in quality combined with increased demands for admission by an ever-growing number of applicants," says the CAPS report. In the schools, from kindergarten through twelfth grade, enrollments rose from 4.8 million in 1990-91 to almost 6 million 10 years later. By 2000, "there were more Hispanics than other children enrolled in the State’s schools." California is currently spending $6,837 per student, "so more than $16 billion was spent last year on students whose native language was other than English."
California has been so mismanaged by its governors and legislature that it is billions in debt. This most politically correct, politically liberal State continues to struggle to provide affordable electricity and, as noted, is desperately trying to provide water. The CAPS report does not address the issue of crime, integral to the increase in immigration, but it too must be considered. Soon enough it will begin to export its immigration problems to contiguous States.
The simple fact is that Mexico has a deliberate policy of flooding California and the American Southwest with its population. By doing so, it insures those immigrants will send billions back to Mexico. This is much easier than trying to solve its own massive economic problems or addressing widespread corruption underwritten by drug cartels.
California is the template for the problems our virtually non-existent immigration policies represent. It is a national problem and the solution is just too obvious, just too politically incorrect. The U.S. has to significantly restrict immigration or it will undermine all aspects of our economy, our national security, and the quality of life in this nation.
Alan Caruba is the author of Warning Signs, a new book. His weekly column is posted on the The National Anxiety Center . His book, A Pocket Guide to Militant Islam, is available from the Center.