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 onservatives
welcomed the Census Bureau announcement last week that it would
not "adjust" its statistical figures for the purposes
of federal funding. What they failed to notice — and what the
Center for Immigration Studies now has pointed out — is that
the Census Bureau also said an unprecedented 8 million illegal aliens
live in the United States.
In a slower news cycle, this might have been front-page news. Ten
years ago, the illegal-alien population was estimated at 3.5 million
— meaning that it grew by about half a million per year through
the 1990s. (The actual annual inflow was probably even larger; CIS
estimates that perhaps 700,000 illegal aliens enter each year but
that 200,000 of them either return home or legalize their status.)
At least three of the September 11 terrorists were illegal aliens,
according to INS commissioner James Ziglar — and authorities
still lack complete information about several others. "If a
Mexican day laborer can sneak across the border, so can an al Qaeda
terrorist," says Steven A. Camarota of CIS. "While the
vast majority of illegals are not terrorists, the fact that hundreds
of thousands of people are able to settle in the United States illegally
each year indicates that terrorists who wish to do so face few obstacles."
The new Census Bureau report also shows that the U.S. foreign-born
population, comprised mainly of legal immigrants, grew from slightly
less than 20 million in 1990 to more than 31 million in 2000 —
an increase of 57 percent. During the height of the Ellis Island
years, from 1900 to 1910, the foreign-born population grew by only
31 percent.
"No nation in history has every attempted to incorporate and
assimilate 31 million newcomers into its society," says Camarota.
"The experiment is by no means over. If policy remains unchanged,
at least 13 million legal and illegal immigrants will likely settle
in the United States over the next ten years."
Changing that will require strong public support. In June, it simply
wasn't there: 42 percent of Americans believed immigration levels
should remain as they are, and 41 percent thought they should be
decreased, according to a CNN/USA Today poll. The latest survey,
however, shows a dramatic shift: 58 percent now say immigration
levels should be decreased and only 30 percent say they should go
unchanged.
Recommended Reading
Did you know that 87 percent of the baggage screeners at Dulles
International Airport aren't citizens? Writes Linda
Chavez: "As a frequent Dulles passenger, I've often wondered
why none of the people screening my bags were American. And, even
before Sept. 11, I worried that nearly all of them appeared to hail
from countries that support terrorism."
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