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Contact:David Simcox
Phone:703-370-9510
Email:npg@npg.org


NPG PRESIDENT WARNS ABOUT POPULATION IMPACT OF NEW IMMIGRATION BILL

Calls on Congress to "Back Off" from trying to correct all immigration problems in one massive piece of legislation.

Alexandria, VA (June 1, 2007) - Citing skyrocketing population projections, astronomical costs and citizens' lack of faith in the government's ability to responsibly implement and enforce its broadly written provisions, Donald Mann, President of Negative Population Growth, called on Senate leaders to defeat or shelve S. 1348, now under consideration in the U.S. Senate.

Mann stated: "Passage of this legislation, as written, would result in an astronomical spike in America"s population whereby our nation would be forced to accommodate tens of millions of additional people. This number is over and above the 12 to 20 million illegal immigrants already here who could become legal if S. 1348 is passed."

He added, "The U.S. Senate has to be up front and honest with the American people on this legislation when it comes to the gigantic economic and demographic shift that would result if it is passed. Automatically giving permanent residency to 12 to 20 million illegal immigrants - and possibly even more when the real numbers are revealed - while opening our nation's doors to a never-ending flow of 'guest workers' is a recipe for disaster. It can only lead to a future population crisis that will significantly impact our quality of life and take a giant toll on our nation's limited resources.

"No group wants to see today's immigration crisis solved more than NPG. But the Senate is biting off more than they can chew. If they continue down this path America will end up with a terribly flawed immigration program that will be severely detrimental to our nation's economy, society and environment," Mann stated.

"Passing this legislation will put America on the road to disaster where there is no turning back," Mann said.

"The American people have spoken loud and clear on this issue," Mann continued. "Our NPG polls of recent years, as well as many other national polls, consistently reaffirm that Americans support tough actions against illegal entry, employment and residence. The American people want more, not less, restrictive limits on immigration and population growth."

Mann challenged the results of a New York Times poll taken last week which claimed to show widespread support for certain provisions of S. 1348. "Even the Senators don't know all of the complexities of the legislation under debate and this headline-grabbing poll only adds to the propaganda that this bill is good for our nation," said Mann. "The more the American people understand all of the nuances and complexities of this legislation, the more you'll see them wake up to the fact that it is a population time bomb."

"Plenty of people can make a good case for a bad law - but in the end it is still a bad law," Mann declared.

He added, "Even if the Senate does follow through with this legislation I am at a loss as to how Senators expect today's overwhelmed and under-funded U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service to turn into an exceedingly efficient, state-of-the-art operation overnight. S. 1348 provisions would even further stress the limited resources of a broken agency. For the U.S. Senate to pass any legislation when the bureaucracy to enforce it does not exist is pure folly."

Mann continued: "The dual solution to today's immigration crisis lies in Congress funding whatever measures are necessary to seal our borders against the continuing flow of illegal immigrants and enforcing current laws against employing illegal immigrants."

Mann noted that Members of Congress should table S. 1348 and tackle each immigration issue separately instead of passing such an inferior piece of legislation. "It is important that we have focused debate on the individual issues of guest workers, new visa programs, family chain migration, anchor babies and, the most challenging of all - how to handle those who broke the law by entering our country. We have to weigh any and all solutions for these important issues against the future population burden they will place on our nation and people," he said.

Mann concluded: "Quick fix solutions aren't the answer. Reasonable, workable and severely restrictive immigration programs that take into account the real long-term costs when it comes to population are what's best for our country."

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