FEATURED STORIES

Georgia Fires: Biggest Southeast Fire in a Century
America's Birds: Paying a Price for Sprawl


COMMENTARY: by NPG President Donald Mann

Those of us who care greatly about America's spiraling population growth and out-of-control immigration still have to hold our breath a few days longer to see whether or not the U.S Senate passes S. 1639, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill.

I am pleased that NPG and other concerned groups continue to play such a supportive role in educating the American public - and Members of the U.S. Senate - about the terrible flaws of this legislation. The massive grassroots effort we have seen mobilized against this disastrous legislation reflects the fact that countless opinion polls show that the vast majority of Americans are against this bill. It will be a terrible blow to democracy if a majority of our Senators turn a deaf ear to the people's concerns and pass what is surely an unrealistic and unworkable bill.

Whatever the final vote on S. 1639, the big loser will be the American people. The politicians and behind-the-scenes powerbrokers in Washington, D.C. are working desperately to railroad this massive piece of legislation through Congress. They refuse to go through the proper channels of conducting hearings where all the nuances of the bill can be exposed to the light of day and supporters and opponents alike are offered the opportunity to speak for and against it. Sadly, these self-serving, disgraceful antics on the part of the Senate's leaders only serve to make people even more distrustful of government.

To be sure, the bill the Senate will debate will definitely not improve the immigration crisis in our country. In fact it may even make it worse over the long term by setting ridiculous precedents for future dealings with illegals.

If anything good results from this debacle it's that the fierce, all-encompassing debate over illegal immigration has brought this subject into the national spotlight and changed the political dynamics of this issue for a long time to come. It shows that our American ire can be brought to a boiling point - especially on an issue that affects every American community and family.

Now, as the Senate proceeds with debate on S. 1639, we cannot back down on our opposition. We must continue to make our feelings known to our Senators in record numbers - especially regarding our feelings on key amendments. So I urge all NPG members to stay very much on top of this issue, make phone calls and send e-mails whenever they are necessary. Certainly, there are many powerful people in Washington who know quite well how to work the clash and confusion of our democratic debate to their advantage. However, in the end our grassroots power can still prevail.

There is the possibility that S. 1639 will be weighted down with some "killer" amendments that will drive away some of today's Senate supporters and destroy any chance of the bill finally getting through the Senate. And of course, if the Senate does okay this legislation, debate will then move to the U.S. House of Representatives. Talk around Capitol Hill is that House Speaker Pelosi would definitely love for the Senate to kill S. 1639 outright. That way, many of her Democratic colleagues - especially those who won with the narrowest of margins and who are the key to her holding onto the majority - will not have to face making the hard choice between selling out to the special interests pushing this legislation or casting a vote that would truly reflect their constituents demands. Mrs. Pelosi is a very astute politician who knows full well that the voters will not forget who cast the votes to empower the illegal immigrants and change our nation forever.

Where does the immigration debate go from here? Stay tuned. Anything is possible in Washington's highly-charged political atmosphere.


GEORGIA'S FIRE: BIGGEST SOUTHEAST FIRE IN A CENTURY

It has been burning since mid-April and somewhat disappeared from the national headlines, but the wildfire that has so thoroughly charred a good portion of land at the Georgia-Florida border still lingers. To date, its footprint of 30 miles wide and 58 miles long covers an area 2.8 times the size of New York City.

A recent AP story noted that this wildfire now exceeds the recorded 3 million acres burned in South Carolina in 1898.

Firefighters acknowledge that they were lucky that this fire did not hit in a more populous area. Though the fire has claimed a number of homes the blaze mostly spread through trees, brush and grasses that "turned tinder-dry by severe drought in southeast Georgia." Tropical Storm Barry helped douse the flames in early June but hot spots still linger.

Mark Ruggiero, who commanded state and federal firefighting efforts left the area this month but noted: "I suspect this thing will be burning in September." Click on the link above for the full story.


POLITICS AND THE NEWCOMER'S FUTURE IMPACT

It is vitally important that Americans understand all that is at stake politically in the immigration debate, not just now, but in the long term.

An article by reporter June Kronholz that ran in the Wall Street Journal in late April offered a very interesting overview of how the influx of new residents - both legal and illegal - will affect the redistribution of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Kronholzs' article basically focuses on the population numbers involved in America's upcoming political shift using the projected demographics of two Washington think tanks that analyzed U.S. Census Bureau data. She does not predict how the new residents will vote - if and when they do - but references how they could very much upend the somewhat predictable voting patterns that exist today in certain states. The basic numbers alone show that the next 20 to 30 years will definitely see a seismic shift in the political power of different regions and especially a number of key states.

The first indicators will show up after the 2010 census where approximately nine House seats will move from the Northeast and Midwest to the Sun Belt - a trend that has been ongoing for the past forty years.

Yet the real political changes will hit after the 2020 census, and definitely the 2030 census, when the millions of illegal immigrants now in the U.S. would be eligible to vote if the powers-that-be get their way to put these folks on a road to citizenship.

"After the 2030 census," the think tanks predict "Florida, where almost one in five residents is an immigrant, will add seven congressional seats. California, which has 9.6 million immigrants, will add two. And Texas, which added 788,000 immigrants between 2000 and 2005, will add eight."


AMERICA"S BIRDS: PAYING THE PRICE FOR SPRAWL

A report from the National Audubon Society released in mid-June told the story of the disastrous impact of urban growth on much of our nation's bird habitat and population.

Reuters reported that some of the most common birds in the country are in "deep decline due to suburban sprawl, big agriculture and pesticides."

Greg Butcher, the society;'s conservation director, noted that "Twenty of the most familiar 'backyard birds' in North America have lost more than half their population in the last four decades" and tied the declining number to their environment which is fast being depleted by urban sprawl. Butcher also noted that pesticides play a role in declining numbers in that birds can not only be poisoned directly by the pesticides themselves but the effectiveness of the pesticides in killing weeds and insects "eliminated two sources of food for wild birds." There is even a tie-in to the birds with today's energy crisis as, according to Reuters, "The demand for corn-based ethanol is tempting some farmers to put back into production land that was set aside for conservation." And global warming comes into play as longer warm seasons in some forests lead to more predators. For a full report on the study's conclusions go to www.audubon.org. Click on the link above for the full Reuters news report.


POPULATION AND IMMIGRATION NEWS NOTES

ONE PART OF CONGRESS SAYS NO TO "SANCTUARY CITIES"

Anti-illegal immigration forces scored a little noticed, but very important, victory in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday, June 15th, when Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO) succeeded in attaching an amendment to the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Bill to withhold federal emergency services funding for "sanctuary cities" that protect illegal immigrants.

The Rocky Mountain News noted that passage of the amendment "stunned critics and supporters alike" in that the vote of 234 to 189 in favor (with 50 Democrats voting in support) gave an insight into the very difficult road any immigration reform bill will face in the House if it does eventually get through the Senate. Tancredo noted: "The issue has come to fruition...It is really a good indication of just how much closer to the people the House is than the Senate is."

A SIGN OF THINGS TO COME?

Positive news is always welcome in the battle against population growth. That is why we were pleased to hear from CUSP - Comprehensive (approach to) U.S. Sustainable Population - that the Albemarle County (VA) Board of Supervisors voted earlier this month to begin a study to examine the feasibility of defining a sustainable population size based on the Albemarle-Charlottesville community's environmental capacity. CUSP believes that this is the first time a local government in the USA has voted funds for research of this nature. It is timely news in that NPG's first-ever "National Survey of Elected Officials on Population Issues" mailed just last week. Our survey is designed to reach more than 10,000 elected leaders at all levels throughout the country to gauge their individual opinions and personal feedback on population and immigration issues and their impact on the community they serve.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT FOLLOW-THROUGH

A recent survey of 1,600 Latin American illegal aliens (taken June 9 thru 19) by Bendixen & Associates for New America Media gave an insight into how willing undocumented immigrants already in our country would be to apply for legal status under the new Z-visa envisioned in the Senate's Comprehensive Immigration Reform legislation. The results indicate that not all of them would be willing to comply with new regulations or take the steps needed to eventually become citizens.

Apply for a Z-visa:

YES 83%
NO 14%

Of those who said YES, the percentage that were willing to meet some possible requirements:

94% - Be fingerprinted and agree to a background check
89% - Be able to show a work record
85% - Register at a government office
83% - Pay fines of thousands of dollars per person
63% - Return to home country to pick up the visa

Of those who said YES, how interested they are in eventually obtaining a green card, the interim step to citizenship:

44% - Very interested
32% - Somewhat interested
22% - Not interested
2 % - Undecided

NPG NOTE:

Much can be made of the above numbers. A quick calculation reveals that those who are worried about creating a "permanent underclass" in our country without citizenship are on target. This survey shows that millions of people would fall into this category based on the current estimate of 12-20 million illegals (and most likely more) already within our borders.


QUOTABLE

"No matter which scheme we are to consider concerning the fate of the unknown millions of illegal aliens present in our country, one common factor remains: The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) would have to provide identity documents to those millions of undocumented aliens who have absolutely no documentary evidence to verify their true identities".

"There is absolutely no way this program would have even a shred of integrity and the identity documents that would be given these millions of illegal aliens would enable every one of them to receive a driver's license, Social Security card and other such official identity documents in a false name."

Michael Cutler
Retired U.S. Immigration and Naturalization
Service (INS) senior agent

"The grant of citizenship is a transfer of political power...access to the ballot box also provides access to the American taxpayer's bank account."

Robert Rector
Heritage Foundation Economist

"The net result [of the debate on immigration reform] has been empty promises about controlling the border, paired with various schemes to legalize the illegal immigrants, and washed down with fraudulent statements that insult our intelligence."

Thomas Sowell
National Columnist

"Most significantly, the $4.4 billion [added to S. 1639] will do nothing to change CBO's [Congressional Budget Office] conclusion that the bill will only reduce illegal immigration by 13 percent. CBO assumed the bill's enforcement items would be funded when it published its June 4th cost estimate. If the Senate bill is enacted, CBO projects an additional 8.7 million new illegal immigrants will be in the U.S. in 20 years. These new promises do nothing to prevent that."

Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL)
June 19, 2007

"The reform agreement was worse than the status quo, and the status quo was a disaster."

John Krumholtz
Director of Federal Affairs
Microsoft, Inc.

"Once we have committed to a sound policy of enforcement, Congress needs to face up to another reality. The current immigration system is a hodgepodge of programs and visas that doesn't work."

Congresswomen Virginia Foxx (R-NC)

"Even backers have chafed at the broad approach. Underscoring the tenuous nature of the bill's support, Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.), who has backed the measure, immediately raised the question after it stalled June 7: 'Is comprehensive too much'"

"When you deal with one word which is 'comprehensive,' which means all-encompassing, you have to deal with a system that is huge. A visa system by the millions, a broken border, interior enforcement, employer sanctions - all of those things-are broken," Feinstein said on the Senate floor.

"There may be some decision made that comprehensive, all inclusive, is too much to tackle in one bill, that perhaps we should do parts of this bill [one] at a time"

"Immigration in Four Easy Pieces"
Politico - June 21, 2007

"Our current enforcement might be termed the 'wink and nod' enforcement. People talk about how employers should enforce the law, but then turn their heads, and wink and nod, as a lawn service, painting company, cleaning service or installation crew staffed by illegal aliens working for a subcontractor does the work."

Jackie Cushman
Atlanta Freelance Writer

"The belief that all 12 million illegal immigrants will show up at a federal courthouse to sign up for a special visa and pay a fine is silly...Does anyone really believe that immigrants will work here for two years, go home for one year, return for two years and then go home again as this legislation proposes? Only someone inside the 17 (sic) square miles of logic-free environment called Washington, D.C could seriously believe this is a solution."

Congressman Sam Graves (R-MO)

"If I were the only one writing this bill it would be much different."

Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) who has been
the White House "point man" in the
immigration debate

"If the bill (s. 1639) is going to pass the Senate, I want it to be the least bad bill possible."

Hugh Hewitt
Columnist

"In all the years that I have been here I have never known when the establishment really wants something that the establishment can't have it. And the establishment really wants this bill [Comprehensive Immigration Reform]"

Paul Weyrich, Chairman
Free Congress Foundation


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 gowth. 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

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.