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Points...Points...Who Has the Most Points?
Florida's Drought, Finally Some Relief!


COMMENTARY: by NPG President Donald Mann

Any solution to today's immigration problem isn't supposed to be easy. It can and will be exceedingly painful. Anyone who has been trying to keep track of all the provisions of S. 1348, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill presently under debate in the U.S. Senate, certainly has my sympathies these days. This piece of legislation is a mish-mash of bad ideas that seem to get worse on a daily basis.

No sooner do we learn of one ridiculous specification - such as providing free U.S. taxpayer-paid immigration attorneys to illegals in the agricultural sector who wish to challenge decisions about their status in America's courts - than another loony stipulation in the bill pops up. Senator Cornyn (R-Texas) had to offer an amendment that would strip the bill of language that would allow felony-level convicts and those illegal aliens who have already been ordered deported from the United States from sharing in any of the benefits of this bill. The question is: Why wasn't such logical language included in this measure in the first place?

The surprises in this swiftly-drafted, ever-evolving legislation seem endless. But you can rest assured that there are hundreds of big business lobbyists and dozens of major special interest groups in Washington holding their breath about the fate of this bill. They hope that the subtle, supposedly harmless prerequisites they helped insert into the bill's language during the back room negotiations escape detection and debate and survive intact.

The more we learn about this legislation each day the more odorous it becomes.

Thankfully, the American people are proving that they can understand most of the key provisions in S. 1348 and are raising their voices against it. Here at NPG, we are rousing our thousands of members to make their dissent known to their Senators. We've issued a national press release outlining how passage of this measure will be a disaster for America and could send our nation's population skyrocketing to 500 million by 2050. In addition, we've taken out an ad in The Hill newspaper this week clearly laying out NPG's objections with a prominent plea for Senators to "Vote NO on S. 1348."

What has been most shocking to me as this measure has been so carefully scrutinized in recent weeks is why more reporters in the national media along with the bill's most vocal opponents are not stressing the most obvious and basic flaw of this legislation - this "solve all of our problems at once" bill is totally unworkable.

Any person in their right mind, in or out of government, who thinks that the Department of Homeland Security (the very agency whose failure to control our borders in recent years escalated today's immigration crisis) is going to be able to totally secure our borders...register 12 to 20 million illegal immigrants...keep track of them for years on end...collect fines and overdue taxes from them...create a totally new nationwide employer verification system...establish a new "point-based" immigration system that will involve millions of records of those wishing to enter America...and oversee a new guest worker program that will have millions of low-skilled workers come and go in and out of our country in the coming years...is absolutely delusional. In a bold headline on May 29th, the front page of the Washington Post said it all: "Immigration Agency Mired in Inefficiency"

This is the classic story of "the Emperor has no clothes" come to life. Few government agencies -- except for perhaps the War Department in World War II -- has been asked to take on such a massive number of new tasks in such a short period of time. And there has been minimal talk about the billions of dollars - perhaps tens of billions of dollars - it will cost to establish these myriad programs, hire and train the people who will staff them, and get them up and running.

No group wants to see our nation's borders secure and our country adopt a realistic, workable and rationale immigration system more than NPG. However, it is disheartening to think that no matter how the final vote goes on S. 1348, we may be simply witnessing an exercise in futility as Congress debates wishful and impracticable programs that are years away from reality.

To review NPG?s recommendations on both legal and illegal immigration reform, see the following publications:
Zero Tolerance for Illegal Immigration: An Urgent Policy Need
Toward Negative Population Growth: Cutting Illegal Immigration by Four-Fifths
A False Choice: Citizenship or Mass Deportation


POINTS...POINTS...WHO HAS THE MOST POINTS?

It's hard to track all of the provisions of S. 1348, but Robert Pear's recent article in The New York Times does a decent job of giving an insight into how the new point system designed to pick future immigrants would work.

The idea of making major changes as to who gets to share in the American Dream has been under discussion for years. Now, those who have been pushing for a "merit-based system" that would give added weight to individuals with certain job skills, education and other attributes (including speaking English) are hoping it survives Congressional debate and goes into effect. As written, the criteria for a new point system favors professionals but some say it is far too weighted in that direction to the detriment of family unity. A number of amendments in the coming days could decide what form the point system will take and how long it will stay in effect. Some Members of Congress have made it clear that this single issue could sway their vote on final passage of an immigration bill.

Australia, Britain and Canada already use point systems and it may be wise for the U.S. to borrow the best provisions of those plans as they write the new law.

In the Times article, the author cites the conclusions reached by the Migration Policy Institute, a non partisan research center that analyzed the likely effects of the Senate bill by examining U.S. Census data. Their conclusions include:

Immigrants from many Asian countries would do well. In the last 15 years, more than three-fourths of immigrants from India, and more than half of those from China, the Philippines and South Korea had bachelor's degrees or higher. Most immigrants from India and the Philippines report speaking English well.

Immigrants from Latin America would "face more difficulties" in getting green cards. More than 40 percent of recent immigrations from this region are in the preferred age range, 25 to 39, but many lack educational credentials and English language skills. More than 60 percent of adult immigrants from Mexico have not completed high school. Just 5 percent have college degrees. Only 15 percent of recent Mexican immigrants are proficient in English.

The United States has received comparatively few immigrants from Africa, but many of them have characteristics that would help them earn points.

About two-fifths of recent African immigrants are in the preferred age group. Two-thirds are proficient in English. And 30 percent have a bachelor's or higher degree. Click on the link above for the full story.


THE PEOPLE SPEAK ON IMMIGRATION...

The true value of polls comes in how you ask the questions.

With the debate going on in the U.S. Senate on the multi-faceted immigration bill there are any number of poll results flying around that focus on this issue. Depending on whether or not you support this legislation you can probably find some poll numbers - or sponsor your own poll with loaded questions - that will make the numbers work in your favor. Such was the case last week when The New York Times splashed poll results all across the front page of their paper that seemed to indicate widespread support for certain provisions of S. 1348. The Times poll was a perfect study in the art of propaganda. The questions were very general and terribly one-sided. It was easy to dismiss the poll's value in contributing anything more to the debate than to try to swing public opinion toward having the Senate pass a broad, inclusive, and less restrictive measure.

In the past four years, NPG has invested thousands of dollars in two major polls and we know that the American people are very much on our side in their desire to get control of America's borders and rein-in immigration. Our ongoing "U.S. Voter Opinion Survey" that mails to more than 500,000 people over the course of each year continues to reaffirm that the majority of our nation's citizens understand that immigration and population growth must be brought under control now - before it is too late.

Pulse Opinion Research, part of the highly respected Rasmussen Polling group, recently ran a poll and we think that their questions are on target, fair and balanced. Most important, the poll responses clearly reflect how Americans feel on the most controversial provisions of the current immigration bill. Click on the following links to review the results of the poll.

Eagle Forum

Numbers USA


FLORIDA'S DROUGHT, FINALLY SOME RELIEF!

South Florida gladly gulped up the rains from a tropical storm this past weekend after months of one of the most severe droughts in the state's history. Last week, water levels in Lake Okeechobee, one of the largest fresh water lakes in the nation, fell to record lows. The lake, which is traditionally used to replenish regional water supplies has had to step back from that role in recent weeks. Without this weekend's new influx of H2O, the southern part of the state was facing a nightmarish situation.

According to an article in Fort Lauderdale's Sun-Sentinel, "South Florida relies on the lake and the Everglades for its backup water supply, but both sources are struggling amid a 17-inch rainfall deficit since November 2005." The state went through a similar drought in 2001.

The Sun-Sentinel article quoted Eric Buermann, the new chairman of the South Florida Water Management District as saying "It is nature telling us that we have to be more focused on where the water comes from. We need to modify our behavior...seek out alternatives and conserve."

He added, "We have to look across the board at what we are doing. We just can't build, build, build and assume water will be there."

Florida's slow real estate market these days might be a blessing in disguise if it slows down the flow of more people into the state. At present, the Sunshine State is the nation's fourth most populous state and the third fastest-growing state. The U.S. Census Bureau reports a 2000 population of 15.9 million and projects a population of 28.6 million by the year 2030. Considering its roller coaster of recent droughts, it will be interesting to see how many people end up settling in an area that already has a hard time providing fresh water to its current population.. Click on the link above for the full story.


QUOTABLE

"The past quarter-century an unprecedented wave of illegal immigrants has crossed our borders. The flood is so great that no one - no one - can see or fully imagine all the many implications, all the country-changing facts of it. No one knows exactly what uncontrolled immigration is doing and will do to our country."
Peggy Noonan
Wall Street Journal Columnist - May 26, 2007


"If the American people knew what was in this bill, there would be a massive outcry against it."
U.S. Senator David Vitter (R-LA.)


"Last week's so-called immigration agreement is not a compromise in the traditional sense of the word. The proposal was written in secret by a small group of Senators and the Bush administration. The bill may not be a compromise, but it is compromising to this country's economy, national security, and very foundations as a democracy rooted in the rule of law."
U.S. Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY)


"Globalists try to tell us that bringing in more workers will expand and enrich our economy. That's nonsense. If millions of low-skill, low wage workers could build a country's wealth, Africa and South America would be the richest countries (sic) in the world, and obviously they are not."
Columnist Phyllis Schlafly - June 5, 2007


"In 1986, Congress approved a similar compromise plan that in return for amnesty for most immigrants here illegally promised an end to porous borders. Those promises were not honored. The amnesty legislation instead actually encouraged further disrespect for our laws and led directly to the situation we face today."
Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) and John Cornyn (R-TX)


"When Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) declared last week that unnamed 'stakeholders' would decide whether Congress overhauls immigration law this year, Latino organizations in Washington understood exactly what he meant. After laboring in obscurity for decades, groups such as the National Council of LaRaza, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and the National Immigration Forum are virtually being granted veto power over perhaps the biggest domestic issue coming before Congress this year"
Washington Post - May 17, 2007


"One group is a large number of American businessmen who depend on cheap Mexican labor and frankly don't give a hoot if getting it involves transforming the United States into something unrecognizable after they're dead....Even if a bill gets passed that appears to have real teeth in it, you can bet that in a year or two, when the public has gone back to sleep, most of the 'teeth' will be adroitly pulled by small bits of legislation that escape wide attention. And 'border enforcement' will again be as laughable as it has been since the 'reform' of 1986."
Columnist William Rusher - May 24, 2007


"Most American families are taxpayers during their working years and tax takers during retirement. Not the low skill amnesty family. The low skill amnesty household takes more from the government than it pays at every level. Therefore claims that we can save Social Security and other programs by importing young immigrant workers are simply myths."
Columnist John Hawkins - May 24, 2007


"In 1986, when there probably were 3 million to 5 million illegal immigrants, Americans accepted amnesty because they were promised that border control would promptly follow. Today, the 12 million illegal immigrants, 60 percent of whom have been here five or more years, are as numerous as Pennsylvanians; 44 states have populations smaller than 12 million."
Columnist George Will, May 24 2007


"Under current immigration policies, America is importing another underclass, one with the potential to expand indefinitely."
Heather MacDonald, The Manhattan Institute


"America is no longer a sparsely populated country in need of more workers to exploit our abundant natural resources. We have all the population our resources can comfortably support, and then some. Immigration cannot solve our economic problems indefinitely. Someday Americans will have to learn to harvest our own food, paint our own houses, care for our own children and do our own landscaping, because it will be impossible to import others to do those things for us. Why not now, while there is still room to breathe?"
Richard Hussong
Groton, Massachusetts
The New York Times, Letter to the Editor 6/3/07


WHY THE NPG JOURNAL?

The NPG Journal (offered free to all recipients) exists to give more widespread distribution to timely news stories and articles related to population, immigration, environmental and political issues that currently affect our daily life -- or have the potential to seriously impact our future. NPG President Donald Mann offers his personal insight and commentary on individual stories, especially those that challenge, confirm and/or complement our NPG Research and Forum Papers. The goal of the NPG Journal is to greatly expand NPG's educational mission. As NPG celebrates its 35th Anniversary we continue to emphasize the need for Americans to speak up on population issues and keep our nation -- especially our elected leaders on the national, state and local level - focused on taking action to help resolve today's immigration crisis and work to halt, and eventually reverse America's out-of-control population growth.

We welcome your feedback to articles posted on the NPG Journal and urge you to forward us the e-mail address of friends you think would like to receive a complimentary copy of the NPG Journal on a bi-weekly basis. Contact us at www.npg.org.


ABOUT NPG:

Negative Population Growth, Inc. (NPG) is a national nonprofit membership organization with over 30,000 members nationwide. It was founded in 1972 to educate the American public and political leaders about the devastating effects of overpopulation on our environment, resources, and standard of living. We believe that our nation is already vastly overpopulated in terms of the long-range carrying capacity of its resources and environment