05/17/2007
Ann Curry reported on the Today Show on NBC on May 17, 2007 that one third (1/3) of the US population is now "foreign born", underlining again that we are "a nation of immigrants", a polyglot group of people from all over the planet. [VDARE.COM note: MSM Wishful thinking? It’s actually closer to 12%].
This phrase, "a nation of immigrants" and the lines from Emma Lazarus' 1883 poem on the Statue of Liberty, "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free" have been used repeatedly by the open door lobbyists as emotional linchpins of the growing debate over how many and how should immigrants come to America.
Of course, that poem was misinterpreted to justify open borders and in fact the Statue of Liberty’s history has been gotten quite wrong. Fortunately, according to an October 2000 NY Times article, we learn that Barry Moreno, a National Park Service librarian, spent five years researching and writing The Statue of Liberty Encyclopedia. Moreno and other scholars say that the statue was originally intended to be an anti-monarchy, anti-slavery symbol. Immigrants, and the Lazarus poem, were not popularly connected with the statue until the 20th century. [
Cracks Found In the Myths Around Statue; Park Service Librarian Writes Book to Clarify Lady Liberty’s Origins By Glenn Collins, October 28, 2000 PDF]
Anyway, if over 100 million of us were not born here, as a Democrat, I am not saying that this fact is bad in and of itself.
What I am saying is that, to quote another Democrat, Roy Beck, President, of NumbersUSA, "the Golden Age of Immigration into the US" was between 1925 when the last major reform in our laws occurred until 1965 when the present grotesque statutes were enacted, since then bringing at least 40 million new immigrant aliens, both legal and illegal, who have added their rapidly multiplying offspring to the current population of the US, largely causing our population to expand by 80 million people from 1970 through 2003. Many of those here illegally are not even counted!
Assimilation of those 1925 to 1965 immigrants into the American scene occurred successfully. So did that occur with aliens coming in earlier mass migrations. Most of those coming since 1965 did not necessarily come for permanent residence and citizenship, but more often as border crossers from Latin America motivated by the lure of jobs.
In 1940, the US population was about 150 million. Now it bloated to over 310 million and we are going to add at least another 100 million by 2050 if present open border policies continue to unravel every aspect of American life.
For example, Yeh Ling-Ling, executive director of Diversity Alliance for a Sustainable America, said that according to U.S. Census Bureau data, most Hispanic immigrants have low incomes. They, therefore, do not pay enough taxes to even offset the cost of educating their children, which averages $7,500 per child per year nationally … [Immigrants, Boon Or Bane, The Morning News, Springfield Arkansas May 11, 2007]
As the fact of taking tax dollars away from citizens to educate illegal immigrants really continues to grow, more citizens will be motivated to vote their pocketbooks.
Right now, as promised by Senator Majority Leader, Harry Reid (D-NV), that body is planning to vote on a bill (S1348) on Monday, May 21st that would authorize fast tracking citizenship for at least the number Reid estimates, 12 million aliens here illegally now, but many authorities estimate the number at 20 million and postulate that the new law would bring in millions more.
The serious questions of impact, environmental, cultural, and economic, seem to pale before the question of how many terrorists are among those already here. Without a careful review and followup by the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and the CIA, that vital question is being ignored by the rush of current lawmakers to follow the orders of their corporate paymasters, the religious and ethnic lobbyists, and Democrats who say, "Si, Si" to more predominantly Hispanic voters (who are assumed to be Democratic voters) without regard for our national interests.
We can only pray that the few voices of reason in both Houses can stop the current rush to massive new legislation for a broad amnesty which will fail to bring us true immigration just as the 1986 reforms and all its predecessors. Bush eagerly awaits the chance to sign this new amnesty bill. Based on his record with everything else he has backed, Americans should be especially leery of his endorsement of this initiative. Again, business money talks loudest.
If, like the mighty Titanic, we hit this huge block of dangerous legislation (the McCain Kennedy bill that passed last session was 700 pages which many who voted for it had not read), we seriously risk the same fate of that tragic liner, going down as a nation too weak to find solutions for its problems, to greedy to build the proper safeguards, and distracted by peripheral pleasures of man the lifeboats offered by sound leaders who back true reform.
However, do email these Senators (I have), as they are the potentially "swing votes" on killing this amnesty express train:
They all have web sites; go there NOW and give them your personal (not mass emailed) message.
In coming out strongly against S1348, American Legion Commander Paul A. Morin, noted the need to insure these features in ANY new legislation:
Such reforms are not really hard to do. It is simply a matter of will. And over 80% of American citizens want it done. We are getting to the point of desperation over this failure by our government at all levels to do our bidding on this key issue and so many others. Frankly, it is high time to throw out all the rascals who salute only their paymasters and not us citizens.
Donald A. Collins is a freelance writer living in Washington DC and a former long time member of the board of FAIR, the Federation for American Immigration Reform. His views are his own.
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